Roll-Over Prayer

“ROLL-OVER PRAYER”

Psalm 69

Have you ever come close to drowning (or at least THOUGHT you were drowning)? I can remember as a young boy, swimming in a big tire tube as it rolled over and pushed my face into the water so that I could not raise my head. I could not move forward or backward and was caught with my face under water. There was a dreadful feeling that I was not going to be able to break free.

King David had a similar happening but Psalm 69; Listen to David’s Dangerous Dilemma:

Ps. 69:1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. 3 I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. 4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. 5 You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you.

In some cultures, when people were suspected of a crime, a vigilante group might grab the person, tie him up, and throw him in a river. The river would overcome the suspect one way or another and sweep him away: No trial, no imprisonment, a swift river would mean a swift solution to a problem.

Now David found himself in this type of situation: He was not bound and thrown into a raging river, but the emotional and spiritual accusations and turmoil had pushed him to a point that he FELT he was drowning.

Whether you are drowning physically, emotionally, or spiritually, what are you thinking and feeling? You are desperate, you feel like the end is very near, you want a way out, you want a way to safety, you want the threats to leave, you want help, you NEED help!

David’s dilemma was not of his own doing, and most of the time, our dilemmas are not because we are guilty of wrong doing either, even though we are all sinners. Verse 4 and 5 spell that out: “Many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me… You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you.”

David felt like his life was out of control and we can feel the same way sometime. The nasty rivers of life, the mire and muck that may bog us down in our everyday occurrences, the deep waters and floods (the extremes of life) that come close to overtaking us are often a result of circumstances beyond our control. We have to realize that there is only so much that we can control in life. We can’t control other people (and shouldn’t try because we are only responsible for ourselves), and we can’t control circumstances as hard as we might try.

Remember: God is in control but there is also a war going on, and if you don’t realize that there are other forces at work against God’s Sovereign plan, you misinterpret at least half of what is going on I the world and in your own life. You will keep on questioning God when things do not go as you anticipate they should.

Listen to David’s Sacred Solution in verse 13: “But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.” The very first thing to do is to pray to God, not to people. If God is Sovereign, in control over all, He would be the one to go to first of all.

1Peter 5:7 says: Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” The word for “cast” is derived from two root words which mean: to throw over and it has the inclination to DO IT QUICKLY. Older saints such as Charles Spurgeon, Amy Carmichael and the great missionary Hudson Taylor would use the term “to roll over all your cares on Him”. The mental image is to release all your troubles into God’s care and just walk away from the situation. “Lord, I want to roll this problem over to you. You take care of it.”

That is exactly what Jesus promised to do, to be our BURDEN BEARER. He is the one you can trust with your dilemma because He is Sovereign, all-powerful, infinitely wise, merciful, completely righteous, and He has an eternal love to give you…so you can certainly trust Him with your cares.

The second thing to do is to trust in God’s timing; that’s what “in the time of your favor” means. It does not mean that you have to wait to roll over your cares but you may have to wait for a change of circumstance, learn to draw on God’s grace through the circumstance, or wait to be released from the situation. But you can trust that God’s timing will be best, no matter what happens.