Five prayers for when hope runs out

When you cannot see a way forward

Pray this standing at a window, or anywhere you can lift your head.

God, I have looked at this from every angle I have and there is no way through that I can see. I am not asking you to explain it this morning. I am asking you to be the one who sees further than I do. Lift my eyes off the size of this. My help comes from you, who made everything I am looking at, and I am going to keep saying that until some part of me believes it. Amen.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Salmo 121:1-2, BSB

When the waiting has gone on too long

Pray this when you have prayed the same prayer for months and nothing has moved.

Lord, I am tired of waiting and I am tired of pretending I do not mind. It has been longer than I thought I could stand, and I am still here, and you have still not answered the way I asked. I will wait anyway, the way a night watchman waits for morning: without knowing the hour, and certain that it comes. Hold me steady in the dark part. Amen.

I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning— more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Salmo 130:5-6, BSB

When you have stopped believing it will change

Pray this when hope itself has started to feel like a risk not worth taking.

Father, hope has become the thing that hurts. Every time I let myself want it, and it does not come, something in me gets smaller. Your own book says that hope put off makes the heart sick, so you already know exactly what this feels like and I do not have to explain it. I am not going to force an optimism I do not have. I am just going to stay here in front of you, sick heart and all, and ask you not to let it harden. Amen.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12, BSB

When someone you love has lost hope

Pray this for the person you are worried about, using their name.

God of hope, I am praying for someone who has run out. I cannot talk them into it and I have stopped trying. Fill them with joy and peace that does not depend on me being clever or on their circumstances improving today. Send them one person who stays. Let something small go right this week. And show me what is mine to do, and what is only mine to pray. Amen.

If you are worried that this person may be in danger, do not leave it to prayer alone. Say something to them, stay near, and help them reach a doctor or a mental health service. That is not a lack of trust in God; it is part of the answer.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13, BSB

When you only need enough for today

Pray this first thing, before the day makes its case.

Lord, I am not asking for a plan for the next five years. I am asking for today. Your mercies are said to be new every morning, so I am here for this morning's. Enough strength for the hours in front of me. Enough kindness to get through one conversation I am dreading. Enough hope to keep facing forward. Tomorrow can have its own. Amen.

Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

Lamentations 3:22-23, BSB