A prayer from your incompetent servant (a tongue in cheek prayer/poem)

**Robert** · February-23rd-2010, 01:29 PM

Lord...

I kneel here in anguish

in agony and pain

I try so hard to serve you

but my efforts seem in vain

loneliness is always here

my heart is always broken

I stick my foot inside my mouth

Before I've even spoken!

I try to keep my eyes on you

to focus on your glory

but keeping them glued on you

well... that's another story

I strive today to do your will

how to do it, though, eludes me

but to mess up royally

am I able? absolutely!

In that estate, I need no help

even though I revile it

as a stated point of fact

I almost sin on autopilot!

lying comes to me like breathing

each and every day

and if a see a pretty girl

I must turn my head away

my temper is a raging cauldron

full of spite and envy

( if my city ever needed geothermal heat

well, guess what? I got PLENTY!! )

I often speak without a thought

and hurt people's feelings

and my prayers before I'm done

seem to bounce right off the ceiling!

I ask many for advice

to do Your will I long

But all I seem to get in reply

"Robert, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!!!"

I try to listen with intent

to every word they utter

but when I try to practice it

my fingers become butter!

( good thing working with nitroglycerin

was not my chosen art

or else, my nickname would surely be

"Napoleon Blownapart!" )

I'm told not to focus on myself

instead, to look to you

but deep within I hurt so bad

my spleen is black and blue!

I try to give my cares to you

to put them in your hands

but I foul up even THAT

and on my foot it lands!

I listen to one who tells me

what the bible has to say

then another tells me that he is wrong

and I'm to do it THIS way!

Alas my mouth has become

my greatest enemy

for when my foot goes in my mouth

it goes right up to my knee!

I have feelings for someone

but my mouth spooked her away

( the frigid call of penguins

is how far she ran away!)

So to all I keep on asking

forgiveness with every breath

and I'll have to say "I'm sorry"

right up to my death

I'm a walking foul-up on two legs

whose tongue is tied in knots

( if this was 1792

I most likely would've been shot!)

I am a major stumbletounge

who can run his mouth with ease

but get me talking to a lady

and I loose starch in my knees!

I despise who I am

I loathe every cell

A rotten sinner like myself

should surely burn in hell

I kneel here now in broken state

my heart could not be bluer

it got thrown against a wall

and landed in the sewer!

Most of this was tongue and cheek

written with light care

but deep within lies a heart

broken with despair

Loneliness afflicts my soul

and no matter what I do

I look to you, I cling to you

but still I feel so blue

all I wish with all my heart

is someone of my very own

for didn't you say in scriptures

"it's not good for man to be alone"?

So all these things I bring to you

and leave before your throne

and quietly pray for the day

when we'll all be home

Yes, I seek to do your will

even though my heart is tattered

but this last time, instead of breaking

my heart,...

...it simply shattered.

**mattfivefour** · February-23rd-2010, 02:58 PM

Reading this hurt my heart, bro. It may have been written "tongue in cheek", but I know it springs from a place of great pain. Romans 12:15 tells us to "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep" ... and so I am weeping with you. And the pain is palpable. But remember this, Robert— "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalm 30:5b) God's plan for you is for good, not for harm. He says, "I know the plans that I have for you: plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11) Your faithfulness in serving God through all of your trials, continuing to witness and encourage the brethren as well is not being forgotten, Robert. Remember that "those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting." (Psalm 126:5) Keep sowing; you shall reap in due season if you do not give up. (Galatians 6:9). And please, please, know for a certainty that I will—as I am sure will many others on this site—pray alongside you in tears, holding you up until the day your tears are dried and you again can feel the blessing of the Lord shining into your life.