Out of the Depths Have I Cried Unto Thee...

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD."

This verse brought Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the great fish to mind.

2 saying, "I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.
4 Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.'
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.  (Jonah 2:2-7 ESV)

The depths did not silence the voice of the Psalmist or Jonah.  The floods surrounded Jonah and the billows passed over him. Out of the depths his cry of faith came.  When I am in deep distress my prayers are not pretty...they are not practiced...they come straight from the depths of my soul and they are never more  heartfelt or real.  Oh, to have that kind of earnestness and faith always in prayer...the kind that trust bravely and cries out to You alone...The kind that when answered give You all the glory.