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Psalm 55 is a wandering prayer of David. He begins:
Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not your self from my plea for mercy!”
Twenty-three verses later, he ends:
“But I will trust in you.”
Between that request and statement of faith, David wanders all over the place.*
After asking God to listen he begins thinking about the trouble he is in and what he wishes he could do about it.
(v.3-8)
He comes back to talk directly to God, begging for his deliverance. (v.9)
He gets caught up again in what he is experiencing. The pain, danger, and betrayal. (v. 10-14)
He asks God to execute judgment. (v. 15)
He talks to himself. Reminding himself of God’s attentiveness to his needs. (v. 16-19a)
His thoughts go back (in contrast to the character of God) to the betrayal of his friend. (v. 19b-21)
He talks to himself again. (v.22)
He talks to God acknowledging His righteous character and placing his hope in Him. (v. 23)
David wanders in prayer. From requests, to pondering the situation, to talking to himself, to acknowledging God’s character. Back and forth. Here and there.
Does that encourage you? A prayer that wanders here and there is included in scripture! There are a lot of them. Why? Partially because the writers of these prayers are human. And the thoughts of humans wander.
Our thoughts wander in our normal conversations. How often do you have a conversation with a person where you are able to focus 100% on what is being said? Normally something said will take your thoughts in a different direction. You pull your attention back to the person in front of you or change the conversation to take them where your thoughts led. Good friends understand this. For an outsider, it is often very hard to follow the twists and turns in the conversation of two good friends.
Pouring out your heart to God is like talking to a good friend, the best of friends, who wants to hear all that is on your mind. Talking to God in prayer does not only consist of direct requests. It includes mulling over the situation and reflecting on the promises and character of God that pertain to a given situation. It may include a stern “talking to oneself.”
To keep myself from really wandering, I like to pray out loud as often as circumstances allow. I am usually silent when my mind wanders to ponder or reflect. If I am silent too long, I shake off the fog and speak out loud to God again. “Where were we? Oh Lord, help me to know how I should pray about this?”
Of course, this is where having my prayer journal in front of me helps to keep me on track. I don’t want to encourage a mindless, tumbling of scattered thoughts and call that prayer. I just hoped to be honest about the natural pauses and pondering that has always been a part of prayer and is included in the Psalms.
I got this idea of a “Wandering Prayer” from a comment Kevin DeYoung made in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBE-Mwcn1gg