Episode #412: When You Feel Misunderstood Pray This – Praying Scripture

Hey, friends. In today's episode, we're praying through Psalm 139. This is a passage of Scripture that I love and I refer back to often because it represents to me the closeness of God. How well He knows us, how attentive He is to us, and how even in the times when He feels far, He's not. And when we feel misunderstood, God fully understands us. There's language in this Psalm today that helps me feel seen and known by God.

And I've been thinking about this in the context of being misunderstood. It's pretty easy for us to misunderstand one another. We go through life with our own lenses, our own experiences, and sometimes when we feel misunderstood, there can be a yearning, a longing to simply help the other person perceive us more correctly, help them understand where we're coming from, help them see how what we're doing is for their good, even if it doesn't feel like it. There's times when we can feel misunderstood or marginalized or mistreated because of someone's assumptions or misunderstandings about us. I was thinking about that as I prepped for this episode today. And so if you can relate to that feeling, if there's a person in your life who you wish they really got you or you wish they would know you more as you truly are, or if there's a misunderstanding that you're navigating or a place you just feel lonely and not understood, not met where you are, I pray that using Psalm 139 becomes a tool that's encouraging and useful to you today as we spend these few minutes with God together.

And I'm gonna read it for us today from the New Living Translation simply because it's more everyday language. But I invite you, use whatever translation that you like. Starting in verse 1 of Psalm 139 in the New Living Translation.

"Oh, Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts, even when I'm far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand."

I'm gonna pause there for a minute.

God, that really is incredible. It's beyond my understanding that you know everything about me, that you know my thoughts, that you see me everywhere I go. You know everything I do. You know what I'm going to say before I say it, and yet you place your hand of blessing on my head.

The Psalm continues in verse 7:

"I can never escape from your Spirit. I can never get away from your presence. If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you, the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.”

God, I thank you that I never have to be alone. No matter where I go, you are there. That it's your hand that guides me. It's your strength that can support me.

Lord, I ask for your hand to guide me. Make me aware of how you're leading me. I ask for your strength to support me. I don't wanna do things in my own strength. I don't wanna depend on myself. I wanna turn to you. I want to trust and rely on you.

Verse 13:

“You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion. As I was woven together in the dark of the womb, you saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered. I can't even count them. They outnumber the grains of sand, and when I wake up, you are still with me.”

God, I thank you that you have made me wonderfully complex.

God, I thank you that you see me even when I feel unseen or misunderstood, that you know me and your thoughts about me, they are precious.

God, I admit that when I feel misunderstood, I can put too much emphasis on other people's thoughts about me. And so that's what I wanna talk with you about today. And that's what I invite you to talk with God about too.

And here's a question you can ask Him, and it's the same one that I'm gonna take to Him as we close out this episode:

God, your thoughts are precious to me. What's something true that you think about me that I can hold onto today?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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