A Prayer for Those Betrayed by a Friend

 A Prayer for Those Betrayed By A Friend by Kevin Cauley

Have you ever wanted to give up on prayer? Perhaps a loved one or a close friend betrayed you. A friend with whom you shared the secrets of your heart as you walked through life together.  The phrase “stabbed you in the back”captures well the pain. So where do you turn? Who will listen to you pour out your broken heart?

David himself knew the pain of a close friend’s betrayal.  Such a heart breaking betrayal can discourage prayer.  In the depth of our imaginations, we ponder pay backs for all the hurt. We plot the ruin of the treacherous friend. It feels like a guilty pleasure. Something you know you shouldn’t even think about but how it soothes your pain to plan your Judas’ demise. This very human instinct produces prayer discouraging guilt, asking, “Will God really listen to me feeling and thinking the way I do?”

David does something heroically difficult. Instead of soaking his feelings in sweet revenge, he confidently takes his  weaknesses to the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16). He turns to the very One he trusts to hear his lament, and to save him from his despair.

Here is a pattern to help us pray when our heart is broken:
1. David opens with a plea for God to hear His prayer, and he shouts out to God, “Why are you hiding from me? Don’t hide from me when I really need your help!”
2. He pours out how his heart really feels about His friend’s betrayal, even all the gory details of how he would like to see his friend’s life end.
3. He calls on God trusting Him to save his life. The Lord redeems his soul by restoring peace in the midst of the battle.
4. He invites us to cast our burdens on God who will bring justice to the world. People of bloodshed and deceit will receive their comeuppance.
5. Lastly, he boldly confesses his trust in God who hears and answers prayer.

This doesn’t seem like polite religious prayers, minding our manners, while we agonize silently.  This is raw, real heart felt prayer.  It’s the kind of prayer God really hears.

There was once a woman and her child who abandoned to their pain discovered they too were under the care of God’s gracious eye’s. Like Hagar, when you pray in your desperate moment, you too will discover God’s gracious eye’s are upon you. So confidently cast your burdens on God and trust that He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).