I have watched six babies come into the world: two were my own sons, one was my sister’s son, and three were my granddaughters. This July, I am looking forward to being at the birth of my first grandson. One thing has been consistent through each unique and marvelous experience: they all came out crying.

The first sounds we make as infants are the piercing and unsettling cries of fear. I doubt these tears are tears of sorrow; babies are not experienced enough to know sadness. But they do understand fear—the strange breezes of cold air on their skin, the bright lights, the loss of their perfectly private, warm, and safe “room.” Tears and fears, that’s the way we come into the world. From our first breath to our last, we should expect them.

That is one of the most striking features in the unique book of Psalms. I have come to appreciate how deeply emotional they are. Most of us like to think that we are honest about our emotions, but really, when you read the Psalms, don’t you have to wonder if we have ever been this honest in our own prayers?

“I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes
Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
the Lord accepts my prayer.” (Psalm 6:6–9 NIV)

These ancient poems are full of sighs, cries to the God who hears. As a matter of fact, if you were to take all 150 psalms and break them into categories, one of them being psalms of lamentation, you would find that there are more psalms in this class than in any other. The biggest piece of the Psalter are tears and fears.

Yet still, sometimes Christians believe a little myth, and the myth goes like this: If I am a good little girl, God will not let anything bad ever happen to me. Now if you read your Bible at all, and you are careful to not pick and choose only pleasant passages, you would realize this thinking is nowhere found in the cannon of Scripture.

The thing we need to realize is that though life is full of problems, God has promised to deliver us out of them all. Psalm 34:18–19 says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (ESV). There was hardly a time in the life of King David that he wasn’t in one way or another engulfed in tears and fears.

It seems to me that when the Lord comes into a person’s life, their heart actually becomes more vulnerable, more sensitive to pain and hurt. Have you ever noticed that great saints are often great sufferers? For starters, you could take the greatest human heart that ever lived, Jesus Christ, as the best example. “During the days on Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (Hebrews 5:7 NIV).

So what do we do with our tears and fears? Expect them. Pray them.

In Psalm 5, David was surrounded by enemies; trouble loomed. And we can learn from him how to pray. He prayed:

“Give ear to my words, O Lord,
consider my sighing.
Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.” (Psalm 5:1–3 NIV)

Like David, we ought to deal with emotions by praying them honestly before God. Remember, He is not easily shocked; He sees you in the context of your entire life, not just in this given moment of pain. So tell Him how you feel. We have a God who listens and answers prayers.

Here are some points that stand out about David and his prayer:

  1. There is a growing clarity. He sighs, moans (that is the meaning of the Hebrew word sometimes translated meditation), then he cries aloud, and finally, he progresses to directed, articulate, expectant prayer. Don’t rush your prayers. Wait and process your emotions in God’s presence until the sighs and cries give way to disciplined prayer.
  2. Set aside the morning, the first part of the day, for prayer time. How much better it is when we pray first before we venture out to face the day and its challenges.
  3. Be specific. David asks for justice in his situation, and then he asks for personal direction and guidance: “Lead me, O Lord…because of my enemies—make straight your way before me” (verse 8).
  4. Be hopeful. “I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” (verse 3). How confident is a heart that knows and loves God! With each trial and test over the course of his life, David grew in confidence that God not only could but would deliver him out of his fears.