Unburdening Our Cares, Griefs, and Anxieties

Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:

Scripture: Habakkuk 1:1-4

The prophet teaches the people of God a vital lesson regarding prayer: True prayer is an unburdening of our cares, griefs, and anxieties. The prophet Habakkuk is painfully aware of the transgression of his people and sees the evil being committed by them (1:3). He laments the fact that it seems that the law is of no effect and that God is not issuing justice though the people deserve it. The attitude of the prophet in these verses is the focus of this mediation. Note how he says, "how long shall I cry." It appears that the prophet has issued this prayer on more than one occasion. The circumstances of his day have reached such misery that he cries out to the LORD and sets his frustration before him. In some sense, the prophet is engaging in "sanctified complaining" due to the people's sin. His cry is that they are getting away with their sin; that due to the apparent silence of Jehovah, the law has no real effect on the minds and hearts of the people.

McKim writes, "Sometimes we feel like speaking to God in these terms. We have deep complaints, anger, and desperate feelings to voice. They are so strong that we can express them to only one person: God. Are we wrong to do so? Should we be more 'restrained' in what we say to God when we pray?" Calvin also comments on this issue. He wrote, "Wherefore do we pray, but that each of us may unburden his cares, his griefs, and anxieties, by pouring them into the bosom of God? Since, then, God allows us to deal so familiarly with him, nothing wrong ought to be ascribed to our prayers when we thus freely pour forth our feelings." (70). Indeed, this is a great blessing for the Christian. We have been granted divine access to the Almighty through the work of Christ that we now enter boldly before him to cast our cares upon him. Pray is many things, but it is never less than an act of unburdening ourselves before our Father in heaven.