A prayer for those overwhelmed with trouble

Lord, hear my prayer!
Listen to my plea!
Don't turn away from me
in my time of distress.
Bend down your ear
and answer me quickly when I call to you,
for my days disappear like smoke,
and my bones burn like red-hot coals.
My heart is sick, withered like grass,
and I have lost my appetite.
Because of my groaning,
I am reduced to skin and bones.
I am like an owl in the desert,
like a lonely owl in a far-off wilderness.

I lie awake,
lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
My enemies taunt me day after day.
They mock and curse me.

I eat ashes instead of my food.
My tears run down into my drink
because of your anger and wrath.
For you have picked me up and thrown me out.
My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.
I am withering grass.

Let this be recorded for future generations,
so that a nation yet to be created will praise the LORD.
Tell them the LORD looked down
from his heavenly sanctuary.
He looked to the earth from heaven
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to release those condemned to die.

And so the LORD's fame will be celebrated in Zion,
his praises in Jerusalem,
when multitudes gather together
and kingdoms come to worship the LORD.