A Prayer to Pray During a Setback - Your Daily Prayer - April 21

What to Pray During a Setback
By Meg Bucher

“Then he said to me, ‘This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.” - Zechariah 4:6 NLT

The garage door slowly rose. I pulled in, put the car in park, and shut the engine off. Sitting, staring, and sobbing … After a string of good days, the past twelve hours felt like square one. I put myself on auto mode, walked into the house, placed my coffee on the counter, and stared at a chair. It seemed to pull me in for a good cry, and I listened. Loud, sad, cries of despair, as I fought to grip the hope of forward progress I had felt in the last few days. Those cries said better than any word count could.

Setbacks are hard. Setbacks snap us out of relief and back into fight or flight. A setback can threaten our thought life to believe the progress was a mirage. Setbacks make it seem like God isn’t listening, isn’t there, or doesn’t care. The verse from Zechariah reminds us of our weaknesses…and God’s strength. Setbacks are hard. But they aren’t permanent. Jesus is in it with us, compassionate towards our pain. For those experiencing a setback today…

Let’s pray:
Father,
Today, we feel stuck …setback …and discouraged. We come to You, perhaps without words at all, to describe our desperate need for You. God, You are faithful, full of mercy and compassionate towards us. When we hurt, we do so alongside a Savior who understands how we feel and is sympathetic to our pain. Oh, God, thank You for the friend we have in Jesus. We are a mess today, Father. Yet, You see us as the beautiful creation You knit inside our mother’s womb, with a specific purpose and unique gifts. The perfect Father, You are there for us in every way. Provider, Healer, and Defender, You love us fiercely. You are jealous for us!

God, though setbacks aren’t pleasant, we know You will pull us through them. Even though this one feels like it might take us out, we put our confidence in You. We choose to sit at Your feet and cry out in desperation, to the only One who perfectly and completely understands our souls and cares for our hearts. Father, repentance is hard. Hurt is hard. Pain which happens to us, and pain that we lump upon ourselves …is hard. Please soften our stubborn hearts as we sit and weep at Your feet, desperate for direction and hurting for encouragement. Help us to hear You, remember who You are, and Whose we are. 

Father, place Your word in our hearts and write it on our minds. For Your word is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12 NLT) You know us, fully. Lift our spirits and restore our hope, God, to see this setback for what it is …temporary. Help us to confidently trust You, and cling to the Hope we have in Christ Jesus. You promised us a difficult journey on earth, but You also promised a full life. Full of joy, peace, contentment, forgiveness, and love. Help us to embrace You as You bring us back to the place of progress.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Cecilie Arcurs

Meg is a graduate of Ashland University. She is a writer, author, editor, and digital content creator. She stepped away from her job in Internet Marketing in 2008 to raise her daughters, which gave her passion for writing a chance to shine through her blog, Sunny&80… Life within the Love of Christ. Meg has served as a Children’s Worship Team Leader and Middle School Leader for her local church. She founded and led the Breakfast Club Bible Study for Tweens, has served as a Young Life Leader and Committee Member, and led Women’s Bible Study. She has also volunteered as a content creator for her local church, studied Bible/Ministerial Training through Global University, and completed COMPEL PRO Writers Training. A contributing writer for Salem Web Network since 2016, Meg is now thrilled to be a part of the team at Salem Web Network. You can find her entire library of books on her Amazon Author Page. 

Related Resource: What If God’s Heart Toward You Is Kinder Than You Think?

In this episode of Talk About That, you will laugh along with stories about children’s books, volleyball mornings, St. Patrick’s Day, and even the questionable legacy of the Power Team, but underneath the humor is a thoughtful conversation about one of the deepest questions of faith: how God truly sees us. John and Jonnie reflect on weakness, mercy, and the struggle many believers feel in accepting that God is not only patient with them, but genuinely pleased to call them His own. It’s an honest, encouraging reminder that our relationship with God is not built on performance, perfection, or “having it all together,” but on His love, grace, and fatherly delight in His children. You'll come away challenged to see yourself less through the lens of self-criticism and more through the steady, compassionate eyes of a God who knows you fully, loves you deeply, and may just be rooting for you more than you realize. If you laughed out loud listening to this episode, be sure to follow Talk About That on Apple and Spotify!