Work during the week—but leave weekends for worship and recreation.
| posted 1/30/2009
1 of 1
1 Why, O LORD , do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
It would seem so. Our prayers may go unanswered year after year. We may wrestle continually with a problem and never find spiritual insight to explain it. Or we may endure ongoing suffering with no relief in sight.
Many factors can contribute to such a dilemma. Though we may discover some reasons for this problem, there may be other factors that are impossible to determine in this life.
David's poetry in the Psalms often expresses a feeling of abandonment by God (Psalm 10:1). He was not alone with such feelings: Job, Moses, Jeremiah, Elijah and other Biblical people of faith echoed David's emotions. Even Jesus felt this way when he quoted David's haunting cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Psalm 22:1; see Matt. 27:46). If those with such great faith rode emotional waves like these, we can at least know we're in good company when we experience similar frustrations.
Ironically, David paints an entirely different picture in other psalms. He describes God as always being with him; for example, when he asks, Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? (Psalm 139:7)
At times, we may sense God's presence covering us like a warm blanket of love and protection. At other times, we may feel nothing but an eerie and depressing silence. Psalms such as this one show us that such feelings of abandonment are not unusual. But as David reminds us elsewhere, we can be certain God is always with us no matter how we feel.
A sample from the best-selling Quest Study Bible. Copyright Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. www.Zondervan.com. To order, click here.
share this page
