I’m reading through a daily devotional this year called God’s Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson, best known as the translator of The Message Bible. This one was from a few days ago, but it made enough of an impact on me that I remembered it and thought I would share it.

There is something to praying the Psalms. If we prayed the Psalms through, we’d cover all the gamut of human emotions. There is nothing in the human experience that isn’t in the Psalms at some point.

But also it’s a good reminder to pray honestly. I’ve been as guilty as anyone of praying what I thought God wanted to hear or what might make me sound holier than praying what was really on my heart.

Why bother trying to fool God? He already knows what you’re feeling and thinking. Praying isn’t about telling God something He doesn’t already know. It’s about coming to see things from God’s point of view and having your perspective reset.

I love that God hears me when I have no words. God can take those groans and sighs that go too deep for words and turn them into prayers that can’t be refused. God can take “Thy will be done” and answer it in ways you might never have expected but in ways that turn out way better than you could ever have planned it had you had your own way.