The time of terminal illness is a time for urgent praying and real dealing with the eternal and holy God. It is not a time for distancing ourselves from the Saviour or carelessness in formulating our prayers. We must approach the Lord and come straight to the point.
The twenty-fifth Psalm is such a pattern. It begins with the language of dependence. 'Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O, my God, I trust in Thee: let me not be ashamed.'
It moves in a spirit of dependence to a declaration of teachableness. 'Shew me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day.'
Finally, before making his requests, the psalmist pleads the promises of Scripture and the very nature of God Himself on his own behalf. 'Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies and Thy loving-kindnesses: for they have been ever of old.' Like the promise made to Abraham, 'In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee,' so the example before us pleads that those mercies and loving-kindnesses which have for ever characterised God should be shown to the psalmist; and then, in turn, to us, the latest in a long line of needy believers. This is how we must pray!
Of the many things which may be on our hearts to beseech from God, the most pressing and immediate may be our pain and the discomforts of affliction. While an onlooker may be disposed to affirm that there could be more spiritually valuable things to request than freedom from pain, the one who is so suffering will see it quite otherwise. Even a few moments' release is bliss to us, and would be of great encouragement. It would remind us of the final bliss when there shall be no more pain.
The believer will still be glad to cry out and forgive all my sins. We still feel the defilement of sin. Even on our beds we can think sinfully, and our reactions to our sufferings have not been altogether perfect.
So we are glad, as believers, still to have access to the throne of grace for forgiveness. We are glad to be able to appear even at this moment -- however briefly, before our holy God without sin; not that we have not sinned, but that our sins have all been blotted out in response to our cry. We value now, more than ever, the application of the blood of our Saviour to cleanse us from our sins.