When You Can’t Cry Out: Help from Psalm 130

Sometimes the hardest thing to do when we are afflicted is to pray. On Sunday, Pastor Scott led us through Psalm 130, which opens with a desperate cry,“Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!” But what if we feel too numb, too broken, or too guilty to cry out?

The Psalms serve as God’s prayer book for His people. They give us Spirit-inspired words that help us pour out our deepest emotions before Him. Psalm 130 is no exception. It is not only a record of someone else’s prayer but also a guide for us when prayer feels impossible. So what does this psalm teach us about praying when we can’t find the words or don’t know where to begin?

1. Start with Honesty

The psalmist doesn’t pretend. He starts with a heartfelt cry of desperation, “Out of the depths…” We often assume we need to clean ourselves up before coming to God, but that’s not how grace works. God stoops down to meet us in our needs. Apart from His grace, we cannot “fix” ourselves. God does not ask for perfection from us before we call upon Him, instead he calls us to honesty and humility. He invites us to “cast all our cares” upon Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). So start by coming as you are and simply saying: “Lord, I am in the depths. Help me.”

2. Remember God Hears the Weakest Voice

The psalmist continues, “O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive…” (v. 2). When you feel like your prayers are too weak, too broken, or too small to reach God, this verse reassures you otherwise. God bends His ear to hear even the faintest cry. As Psalm 34:17 declares, “When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.” And Paul reminds us in the New Testament that even redeemed believers often don’t know how to pray as they should. Yet in our weakness, the Spirit comes alongside us, interceding and strengthening our prayers, making them effective before the Father—even when we cannot put them into words (Rom. 8:26–27).

3. Bring Your Sin Into the Light

Sometimes the depths are not only about pain but also about guilt. “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, who could stand?” (v. 3). Think back to the garden. When Adam sinned, the man who once walked freely with God now hid among the trees in shame. Guilt and fear often keep us from calling on the Lord. But Psalm 130 reminds us of hope: “But with you there is forgiveness” (v. 4). And God promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). You don’t need to clean yourself up before you pray. Forgiveness is the very reason you can come.

4. Lean on God’s Word When You Have No Words

The psalmist declares, “I wait for the LORD… in his word I hope” (v. 5). When prayer feels impossible, let Scripture itself be your prayer. Read Psalm 130 out loud. Repeat its words until they become your own. The Puritans often described this practice as “pleading the promises”—bringing God’s own Word back to Him in prayer.

Jonah models this for us as Pastor Scott mentioned on Sunday. From the belly of the fish he prayed, “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple” (Jonah 2:7). Jonah's entire prayer was stitched together from the Psalms. Jonah 2 is a prayer where Jonah literally prayed the words of Scripture back to God. Jonah didn’t invent new words in his desperation—he leaned on God’s Word already hidden in his heart.

When your words run dry, let God’s Word carry you. Open the Psalms. Speak back His promises. Plead His truth. In doing so, you’ll find that even when you cannot pray for yourself, Scripture will teach you how to lift your cry to the Lord.

5. Look to Christ in the Depths

Psalm 130 ends with a note of unshakable hope: “With the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption” (v. 7). That hope finds its fullness in Jesus Christ. He entered the deepest depths, death itself and the judgment we deserved, so that we might be lifted up into life with Him. When we feel like we cannot hold on we rest that it is He who holds us!

Psalm 130 does not demand a perfect prayer. It provides words for the weary, the guilty, and the broken. When you feel like you cannot cry out, open this psalm and let it cry out for you. God hears, He forgives, and He redeems, even from the very depths! Blessed be the name of the Lord.