I Am With You
I don’t know about you, but I find that I sometimes struggle with my faith. I don’t feel that I am a bad Christian or anything. There are just times that I find that I feel like I am experiencing a spiritual malaise or lethargy. Especially today, when we are constantly bombarded with bad news from a variety of sources throughout the day. Inflation, baby formula shortages, the price of gas, war, the pandemic, political divisiveness – some days our circumstances just threaten to overwhelm us, and we struggle to pray or further demonstrate our faith. Sometimes we just don’t feel like doing the things we know we should. God sometimes seems far off and unreachable for one reason or another, or perhaps you may feel that he has simply abandoned you.
King David faced times like these in his life. He, too, felt this kind of pain in the darkness and thought God had abandoned him. He wrote about it in Psalm 13:
“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.” Psalm 13: 1-4 (NIV)
Even though he was struggling, even in his great dispair, David knew deep down that God would never forget or abandon him. He knew, regardless of his feelings, that the Lord loved him with an everlasting love and would be there for him. He tell us this in Psalm 13, as well:
“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.” Psalm 13: 5-6 (NIV)
While it may feel like God has forgotten us in these times, can God actually forget us? Does he really ignore our pain and turn his back to us when we need him the most? I’m convinced that God cannot and will not forget us! Even when we don’t see and don’t feel, we must trust in God’s unfailing love – just like David.
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the example of David, who despite his dispair continued to trust in you and your everlasting love. Help me to follow his example when life’s pressures bear down on me and keep me under the shadow on your goodness and grace – this I ask in Jesus name, AMEN.
Chuck Bodiford