Prayer for the Overwhelmed

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.

1 Peter 5:6-7, CSB

Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Deuteronomy 4:34, CSB

...with a strong hand and outstretched arm.
His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 136:12, CSB

El Shaddai,

All-Sufficient God,

Bearer of burdens,

Wiper of tears--

The cumbersome, carking cares

Burdening the cross-country backpack of my life

Bend me over with overwhelming weight.

They bow my face to the dust

From which I came,

To which I shall return.

The griefs, the conflicts, the shames, the worries,

The pain, the weakness, the disease,

The disaster, the needs, the difficulties,

The despair and discouragement crying out in every all-caps headline:

They are too heavy to carry,

Too precious to discard.

You call me to cast my cares on You

Whose care I am.

To cast--

To hurl, throw, sling--

Even that unburdening takes more

Than I have to give.

What I cannot cast, Lord,

Would You take?

As I lie prostrate in this wilderness dust

(Perhaps the best place to catch

The splashes of Your poured-out grace),

Would You come under the whelming weight of worry

With me, rolling the burden

Of my self and my cares onto Your shoulders?

Would You free me from all burdens

But Your cross?

May the only pressure on my shoulders

Be Your light and easy yoke

And Your mighty hand--

The hand that brought Israel out of bondage,

The hand that kept Your patriarchal promises,

The good hand upon Ezra for his favor and protection,

The upholding hand of power in Isaiah's prophecy,

The impenetrable Good Shepherd hand securing Your own?

Fix my heart's gaze on Your hovering glory in fire and cloud;

Anchor my soul in Your sure and certain promises.

Even when all my eyes can see is desert, dust, thorns, and thistles,

Keep my eyes fixed on the invisible but

Fast-approaching eternal glory

Soon to outweigh and overwhelm

The momentary afflictions overwhelming me today.

Keep my eyes on Jesus,

The Pioneer and Perfecter of faith,

Whom You crushed beneath the burden

Of my sins and sicknesses, iniquities and pain;

Who for the joy of justifying His people

Endured the cross

And now sits at Your mighty right hand.

Only in Him do I come to You, Lord.

Hear my prayer for His sake.

Amen.

If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your faithful love will support me, Lord.

When I am filled with cares,
your comfort brings me joy.

Psalm 94:18-19, CSB