Penthos---Prayer of Tears

"O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in anguish.
How long, O Lord, how long?
I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes."
{Psalm 6:1-3; 6-7}

I can't remember the last time I was so filled with sorrow that my bones were in agony. What is it that is putting David (the writer of this Psalm) in such anguish? And is it something that should cause me to ache with anguish since I'm a slave to Christ? ....drench my couch with tears... That's some intense sobbing. I wish I could have the convicted heart of David. His conviction was so strong that he weeped and weeped to the point of agony. So often we just look at our sin as mess-ups that can be forgiven at the utterance of a prayer. It's so much more than that! Our sin is what killed Christ!! That's something to truly cry about! David knew this and grasped it. We should be so close to the heart of God that when we sin and hurt him, we want to cry like He does.
Now, in this Psalm I think the main reason for David's tears is that he is exhausted and beaten down by persecution and is crying out to God asking, How long??!! Have you ever been persecuted so constantly and strongly that you just burst out in sobs because you don't think you can take it any longer? That's where David's at. The evil that he sees around him breaks his heart. It breaks his heart because it breaks God's heart. David was a man after God's own heart, so much so that the things that made God cry, made him cry. How awesome is that? It's like, when someone hurts your best friend...even if they didn't hurt you directly, by hurting one you love so much they are hurting you. It should be like that with us and God.
I'm reading this book right now called Prayer by Richard Foster (amazing book), and in this chapter it talks about something called Penthos...a greek word basically meaning Prayer of Tears. Penthos literally means: a broken and contrite heart, inward godly sorrow, blessed holy mourning, and deep, heartfelt compunction. There are numerous Psalms that are written in this way. As I read through more and more of them, I found myself praying for sorrow! It sounds weird. But I realized as I was reading that this convicted, broken, inward godly sorrow type of prayer is just one more way to know and draw nearer to the heart of God. I want that. I want to drench my couch in tears, tears shed for my God.

Sippin' Hot Cocoa

Ever feel like Time is speeding up and you're doing all you can to just keep up? I know I do. I feel like I'm always running at the heels of Time and it's just looking back laughing at me with a look that says, "You'll never catch up." And if you think about it, that's true. Life is a big game of "catch-up". We can't stop, slow down, or speed Time up. We can't control it in any way. Makes me feel powerless. But just because we can't control Time, doesn't mean we have to let it control us.
Don't let Time take moments away from you. It's as if we spend our lives waiting for "those moments" to come...but when they do, we just let them pass by without a second thought. We don't even realize they were even moments until days, months, or years later when ur sittin' around just sippin hot cocoa reminiscing. But then, they become nothing more than precious memories. This makes me believe that moments should be treasured as much, if not more, than memories. Memories last a lifetime and are numerous. Moments, recognized as moments, are so rare and disappear as fast as they come. People always say, "Live in the moment!" But how can we live in a moment if we can't even recognize one? Learn how to recognize a moment while its there, don't wait for it to become a memory.
I feel the need to clarify...moments aren't easy to recognize. It's not going to scream in your face to let you know its there. It simply will come. You just have to be looking for it. And its not always going to be a big event, or involve a lot of people, or any people for that matter. In fact, I've found that the moments that become fond memories are the moments when there's not a lot going on...other than life. Life, in its simplest form, creates the greatest moments. As I sit here sippin my hot cocoa, the flashes of moments that run through my mind include things like stayin up all night with one of my girls just talking til we can't hold our eyes open any longer, cranking the music up in the car while cruisin down the road with the windows down...screaming the lyrics at the top of our lungs and dancing as crazy as is possible in a car, sittin around bored out of our minds until something so little makes us laugh so hard our stomachs hurt and tears are rolling down our faces. Moments come in the little things. Don't let them pass you by.
I find with each new page I turn in my life, I look back on past pages and chapters with a sense of satisfaction, but also regret of having not made the most of every experience. So, as I press on in this book of life, I challenge myself everyday to live with no regrets. Our time on this earth is so fleeting...like grains of sand falling through our tight grasps. Don't get to the last chapter of your life without ever once recognizing a moment. Cherish the memories, but keep your eyes open for the moments. Don't let Time steal them away from you.