How to Pray When You're Frustrated

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Every gift counts and now every gift is doubled. trainaposter.com It's about to start in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Today on Encouraging Prayer, we're going to be talking about a topic I think we can all relate to. Hi, this is Rachel Torres, and today James and I are going to be diving into the challenging topic of frustration in prayer. James, where do you want to start? Well first, Rachel, it's great to have you back. Robbie's away at retreats for a couple of weeks, and so it's just good to have you with us.

Thank you. So, yeah, well let's start by talking about something that happened to me this past week. We had this ongoing internet problem at the church. We just got it fixed yesterday.

But for the longest time, we hadn't been able to nail it down, and we do a lot of meetings online, and we don't have a formal IT person, so this kind of fell to me. And the longer it went on, it went on for about four weeks. Well, let me just ask you this. Have you ever been on a technical support call with someone in another country, and the call drops and you have to start all over again? Now, I've never actually had that specific thing happen to me. I've been on one of those calls before, but if it did, I imagine I wouldn't be too happy. Yeah, I'll tell you, it happened to me three times the other day. Oh my gosh.

Anyhow, after three different technical support calls, which accomplished very little, I think I got a case number out of it, you know. I find myself fuming in the sanctuary. Why, Lord, I pray. This is such a waste of time. My time could have been spent on so many other things. And, you know, I know it was an impetuous prayer, but at least it was real.

So let's start there. When you're frustrated with the situation, you can let God into it by praying about it right then and there. Yeah, that makes sense. But James, can't that also lead to more frustration? I mean, you were already asking God why, and if nothing changes, where do you go from there? You know, I'm glad you asked that, because you're absolutely right.

I think that's a really important insight. Sometimes we just don't get the answer to that question. We think, well, if I bring God in, then all of a sudden things will be fixed, right? But, you know, when it doesn't happen, that can be hard on your faith.

Think about Joe. God never told him why things happened to him the way they did, and we're not talking about the earth-shattering consequences he faced here, like the loss of loved ones, or grave illness, or huge financial setback. What we're talking about here is the small stuff. You know, it feels like I'm being pecked to death by a duck stuff. And the challenging thing about this is that Jesus tells us that God cares about the little things in our lives, the smallest things. The hairs on our head are numbered, he says. But here you're dealing with something so small, and maybe you've prayed about it beforehand, and you're still in a mess, and it's like, well, God, where are you?

Do you really care? Yeah, I think we've all been there at one time or another. So in those situations, what do you do? Well, I think the answer is pretty simple, but it's not always easy, especially when you're emotionally upset.

And I have to admit that I'm not very good at this type-A personality that I am. I think what we have to do is push pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and just quiet ourselves in God. So asking why really doesn't help much. So just don't go there. That's right. Take a small step of faith away from the heat of the moment, and pray something like, Jesus, I receive your peace right here, right now, and I give this to you. You know, practically speaking, it's often when we calm down, the solutions we're looking for come to mind.

Exactly. And if we run to God in that, the solutions are even better, because then they'll come from Him. I also think about Psalm 131, where David says, My heart is not proud, Lord, and then he says, I've calmed and quieted myself.

I'm like a weaned child with its mother. And then he says, Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore. That's summarizing three verses, and there are only three verses in that Psalm, but it seems like calming down is the main point of it, and just going to God. So it's like David is counting to three, he's doing it before God, and he's letting him in.

I like that. You know, that's a good reminder for the next time I'm frustrated. I know, right? And I think the key thing here is to accept the fact that we don't have all the answers, we have to humble ourselves, life is tough, and we need to work through all of our problems with God right there in the moment. Yeah, it seems like our natural tendency is to only ask for God's help once we've gotten into trouble. Often it's like that. You know, God also reminded me of something else about this as well, and it's not easy either at first, but once we get the hang of it, it'll help.

What's that? Well, I could imagine some of our listeners might want to smack me for saying this, because I didn't want to accept it at first, but I knew I had to. But we need to keep thanking God for anything we can think of, because the challenge when you're dealing with a frustrating problem is that it can become all-consuming. It's just all you see, all you think about.

That's what I did the other day. But in reality, compared to the other blessings in your life, it really is something small. So it may seem large in the moment, but thanking God for any good thing helps us put it in perspective and realize how blessed we really are. Yeah, that's actually really helpful. And you're right, it does work.

Yeah, it does. Philippians 4, 6 and 7 sums it up. But we often sort of go over that with thanksgiving part too quickly, and it really is the key. So as we wrap up today, I'm going to ask that God help me with this, help you with this, help our listeners with this. Let's go there now.

Okay. Lord, thank you. Thank you that we can come to you, no matter how we're feeling, no matter what the circumstances. And you are there, an ever-present help and trouble. So, Lord, we ask that you would give us more grace to look to you, to let you in, and to look and listen for the solutions you alone can provide. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.