All My Desire Is Before Thee

O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath,

And chasten me not in Your burning anger.

For Your arrows have sunk deep into me,
And Your hand has pressed down on me.

There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation;
There is no health in my bones because of my sin.

For my iniquities are gone over my head;
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

My wounds grow foul and fester
Because of my folly.

I am bent over and greatly bowed down;
I go mourning all day long.

For my loins are filled with burning,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.

I am benumbed and badly crushed;
I groan because of the agitation of my heart.

Lord, all my desire is before You;
            And my sighing is not hidden from You.

My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
And the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me.

My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague;
And my kinsmen stand afar off.

Those who seek my life lay snares for me;
And those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction,
And they devise treachery all day long.

But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth are no arguments.

For I hope in You, O LORD;
You will answer, O Lord my God.

For I said, “May they not rejoice over me,
Who, when my foot slips, would magnify themselves against me.”

For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.

For I confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.

But my enemies are vigorous and strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.

And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.

Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, do not be far from me!

Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

Psalm 38

Sometimes there are no words, Amy Carmichael writes, no words to pray. But what does that matter, when all our desire is before Him? Here it all is, laid bare, spread before Him for Him to see, and none of it is hidden from His eyes or His heart.

“For I hope in You, O LORD; You will answer, O Lord my God…Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.”

He sees and knows all the desire, all the longing, all the emotion, and all the prayers the heart cannot speak.