How to Pray When Everything Falls Apart

July 12, 2026

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When life goes off the rails and you’re filled with confusion, guilt, or anger, how do you actually pray? In this message from Jeremiah 10:23–25, Matt teaches how honest prayer turns us back to God instead of sideways at people or down into bitterness.

SERMON NOTES

JEREMIAH 10:23-25 (NLT)
(23) I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. (24) So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die. (25) Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you—on the peoples that do not call upon your name. For they have devoured your people Israel; they have devoured and consumed them, making the land a desolate wilderness.

DIRECT ME

Jeremiah doesn’t start this prayer with a request. He starts with a confession.
You can map out your next steps, but you can’t control the outcome.
Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)
Trusting God’s sovereignty means believing he is not confused by what confuses us.
My life is not my own. I can’t plan my own course…. God… DIRECT ME.

CORRECT ME

He didn't ask to escape correction. He knew it's what he needed. He asked God to correct him with mercy instead of consuming him in wrath.
Hebrews 12:5-6 (NLT)
This means when God corrects you, he’s coming to you as your Father. His correction is an expression of love, not the end of it!

AVENGE ME

Imprecatory Prayer: An invocation of divine justice against evil.
“For the followers of the crucified Messiah, the main message of the imprecatory Psalms is this: rage belongs before God…By placing unattended rage before God, we place both our unjust enemy and our own vengeful self face to face with a God who loves and does justice." –Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:

Have you ever experienced God directing your life?
When things fall apart, where do your feelings of guilt or shame usually go — toward yourself, toward others, or stuffed down? How could you start bringing those feelings to God instead?
Jeremiah asks God to correct him “but please be gentle.” How does that idea of God correcting you with gentleness change the way you think about His role in your struggles right now?
Have you ever prayed an imprecatory prayer, expressing your anger over injustice and evil? How did God respond?