Life is hard! Christian Counseling often offers answers that seem unbelievable, undoable, easy for others, but not for me. I agree that looking to the Bible for answers can make you feel weak. You are not weak for seeking answers from God.

Answers to problems often come in unique ways. Here is one way that praying for myself has been helped through the counsel of one of my favorite pastors, John Piper. I have listened to and relistened to this audio devotional by John Piper and commend it to you.

In ways I won’t go into I am at the end of my own human strength. I confess I often struggle to allow God to be my solution when everything seems to be falling away. I know that some of you are similarly struggling to hang onto God. Especially because this circumstance makes no sense!

May this prayer be a template for you as you deepen your dependence on the LORD. This prayer springs from an understanding of Who God is from His Name Yahweh from Exodus 3:15 (ESV), “God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

Yahweh means “I am”. This personal name of God points to His divine attributes. I have fashioned this prayer from these ten attributes enumerated in John Piper’s devotional on the name Yahweh.

1. God, You had no beginning. Yahweh, you have always existed. I plead with You to make it plain to me that Your having no beginning makes You aware of the genesis of my problems. There is nothing about my care that has escaped your attention from the very beginning of my pain.

2. God You will never end. You will never go out of being because you never were outside of being. You ARE Being. My finite problems seem infinitely difficult to cope with. I submit this lie to you and humbly ask You to make plain to me that Your being present in affliction is enough because You, “the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3-10) are always present.

3. God You are reality. There exists no reality outside of you unless you make it. My problems are real. I do not desire to escape from reality, but ask for your widening, deepening, and heightening (Ephesians 3:18) of my ability to see what IS real during what seems so beyond our real ability to handle.

4. Yahweh, You are utterly independent. You do not rely on my perfect understanding of my situation. You are independently wise. Reveal to me what I do not know. You are independently powerful so act in my situation. You are independently loving; teach me what love is despite hating the affliction you are sovereignly calling me to endure.

5. LORD I believe that everything that You are allowing or causing in our lives is to make us more dependent on you. Holy Spirit you know my circumstances right now are hard, please give me the grace to grow in dependence on You and not to think I can “do this” any other way.

6. All the universe in comparison to God is as nothing. All that awes me in this world is in comparison to You, nothing. By Your Holy Spirit help me to see the lie the world sells as merely a shadow of what You have in store for me today and “on that day’. Keep my focus on that reality and no other.

7. God is constant. This truth allows me to rely on you today in the same ways I relied on you yesterday. It means I can rely on you tomorrow in the same ways that I relied on you today. God grow my reliance on you as the one Constant in my life.

8. God is the absolute standard of truth, goodness, and beauty. LORD help to see and acknowledge the beauty that You have provided for me to enjoy. Give my the grace to practice the presence of God and see your beauty throughout my day despite the suffering that lingers.

9. God does whatever He pleases, and it is always beautiful and in accord with what is good. God, I know it pleases you that I suffer. It pleases you that I learn new ways to cling to you in dependence. LORD, I ask that You would be pleased in my learning the lesson of this suffering so that I might move into deeper and more abundant life for Your glory.

10. God is the most important and most valuable person in the universe. Everything I am is because of You. Thank you for creating me in Your image and giving me the seal of the Holy Spirit that I might live for you. Make my life valuable and important to the extent that it reflects You truly to a watching world.

I pray this all in the strong, matchless name of Jesus my Savior. Amen.