How to Pray When You Are In Distress

Psalm 31:1-16 ESV

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!

Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!

For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;

you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my refuge.

Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
    but I trust in the Lord.

I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
    because you have seen my affliction;
    you have known the distress of my soul,

and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
    you have set my feet in a broad place.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    my eye is wasted from grief;
    my soul and my body also.

For my life is spent with sorrow,
    and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and my bones waste away.

Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
    especially to my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
    those who see me in the street flee from me.

I have been forgotten like one who is dead;
    I have become like a broken vessel.

For I hear the whispering of many—
    terror on every side!—
as they scheme together against me,
    as they plot to take my life.

But I trust in you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in your hand;
    rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

Make your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your steadfast love!