Dying Prayer

Psalm 88 is titled “Prayer in the face of death” in my Bible. It was written by Heman the Ezrahite, and it’s… sorrowful. Depressing. Hopeless.

I wonder if God answered Heman’s prayer and healed him physically. Or did Heman die?

Anyway, I read this and started thinking: What will my prayer be in the face of death?

When I’m staring death in the face, knowing it’ll be over soon, what will I pray? How will I feel?

Will I beg for more time, another chance? Or will I be ready to go?

Will I freak out? Or will I be filled with peace?

Will my family and friends know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I went home to be with Jesus? Or will there be uncertainty?

How will people remember me? What will my legacy be?

(Okay, got a little off track there, but you get the point.)

I believe that our prayers and feelings while facing death will depend on how we lived our lives. Were we saved? Did we have a relationship with Jesus? When we sinned, did we ask for forgiveness and make it right? Did we try to treat others like we wanted to be treated? Were we growing closer to God and others, growing stronger in faith and obedience, growing in love, etc.? Did we talk about Jesus to others, saved and unsaved?

If the answer’s “no,” then we got some work to do! And even if the answer’s “yes,” there’s still work to do; I mean, you can always do better, right? 🙂

Let’s prepare ourselves now for our dying prayer.