Charles Spurgeon Commentary Lamentations 3:56

"Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry." — Lamentations 3:56 (ASV)

Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

Is that not a beautiful description of prayer, when the soul cannot find words, nothing but a "breathing"? Did I say nothing but a breathing? Why, that is the very essence of prayer.

"Prayer is the breath of God in man,
Returning from where it came."

Vocal sounds in prayer can be uttered by hypocrites. Our children have their dolls or their little animals that they press to make them squeak, but there is no life in them; so there may be a sound, yet no life, but I never heard of anything that really breathed and yet had no life. And when your soul breathes itself out before God in prayer, although it cannot utter any articulate sound because of the sorrow of your heart, there is spiritual life in you.