June 21, 2026

You can find the order of worship and songs here.

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How should we pray when our soul is troubled? What do we say to God when our heart is heavy? It may not be obvious. But even to ask such questions is to have conquered. It is all too easy to not pray when we are troubled. Many people decide in their hard experience that God is not worth the bother. The disappointment of unmet expectation turns to bitterness, and the embittered heart says to God "You never loved me and I am done with you." Yet the saints whose hearts are in God's keeping pray when their hearts are heavy even as they struggle to find the right words.

Psalm 86 is a rich and fertile soil where our prayers grow. David is obviously troubled. And with his trubled heart he prays, "Incline you ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy … Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day … listen to my plea for grace." But with his pleas for mercy comes a defiant worship. "For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you … There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours." David's praise comes before, not after, God's answer to his pleas for mercy. Indeed, worship is what keeps our hearts from sinking and puts steel in our spine.

Also noteworthy is David's prayer in 68:11–12, "…unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart…" In times of trouble our hearts are pulled in a thousand different directions. Our souls are fractured and torn asunder. David's prayer here for a united and whole heart is a prayer to find his sure footing on God's immovable sovereignty and drink deeply from his bottomless grace. This is how we worship and pray when our heart is heavy. This is our victory in battle.

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Growth Resources

In June we are reading "The Christian Race" by J.C. Ryle. See also 12 for 26.

Announcements

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This Week's Prayers

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