Forgotten?

Lord, I don't know what is going on. I don't understand what you are doing in my life and sometimes I wonder if you are here at all. I keep praying, but I'm not sure that you are listening. Are you ignoring me? How long will this last? Have you forgotten about me?

Have you ever been at a place in your life where you felt like God may have forgotten about you? Was there a time when you wondered if God was ignoring your prayers? Maybe you have been wondering if God understands your situation. You ask questions like how can God let my life continue this way? Does He know what He’s doing? Does He hear my prayers? Does He even exist?

Have you ever asked questions like these? Maybe you are asking them right now. These are not uncommon questions, but they can be scary questions. Most of us don't want to question God, but there are times in life when the problems seem too big and God seems too far away. We ask questions like: Why would God let my wife get so sick? Why did God allow that awful car accident? Why won’t God let me have a child? Does God want me to be single my whole life? Why would God allow me to loose my job? Why would He let my car break down at the worst possible time?

One of the things that I love about the Bible is that God used real people to write it. He used people who had experienced good times and people who knew what it was like to experience pain. They were people who knew what it was like to love and to be loved. They knew what it was like to have a family and to work hard everyday to make ends meet. They knew what it was like to be sick or to have a sick relative. They knew what it was like to have a bad day, a bad week or a bad year. They had felt the pain of betrayal and they knew the hurt of putting a loved one into the ground.

David is one of my favorite biblical writers. David lived a life of extremes. He began as a shepherd and later became a king. He knew what it was like to be on top, but he also knew what it was like to loose everything. At one point he was a man after God's own heart, and at another point he was a man after another man's wife. At one point he killed a giant with a sling and a rock and at another point he ran from his son who wanted to kill him.

As you may know, David wrote a lot of the Psalms that we have recorded in the book of Psalms. In many of them we find David praising God for who He is and thanking Him for the good things that He has done. In Psalm 8:1 we read O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. In 9:1-2 we read I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exalt in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. It’s wild to think that the same man that penned those verses also wrote Psalm 13:1-2:

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

These aren't the kinds of verses we post on facebook or print on the side of coffee mugs. We would rather highlight verses with a “positive message." We prefer to read about a good God who gives sweet gifts to His children. But the reality is that life doesn’t always feel sweet, and sometimes we have a hard time remembering that God is good.

I love that we have a guy like David who cries out to God and admits that he feels forgotten. He feels like he is loosing everything, but David doesn’t let his feelings of abandonment have the final say. In verses 3-4 we find David begging God for help.

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him," lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

David feels like God is gone. He feels alone and forgotten, but he doesn’t let his feelings dictate his actions. He continues to cry out to God for help. He still sees God as the only one who can save him.

I’m not sure what happens between verses four and five. I don’t know if God changed David’s circumstances or not, but I do know that by verse five David has a renewed trust in God’s love and faithfulness. He no longer views God as a distant and forgetful dictator. He writes:

But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Life is not easy. Do you ever find yourself complaining about your situation? Do you ever think that your plan is better than God’s plan? Do you ever wonder if God even has a plan? Maybe you are like David and you feel forgotten. If so, I hope you can take comfort in knowing that David, a man after God’s own heart, also had moments of doubt. You are not the first person to feel like you are all alone. You are not the first person to question God’s presence.

I also hope that you will cry out to God for help. You may not feel close to Him, but He has promised that He will not leave us alone. I hope that you will remember that God is faithful to His children. You can trust in His love and faithfulness. You can rest in His salvation. That doesn’t mean that our lives will always work out the way that we want them to. Life is not easy, but God is faithful. We do not have a God who we can see with our eyes or touch with our hands, but we have a God who will never leave us, never forsake us and never forget us.

When you feel alone or forgotten it is important to remember and meditate on God’s promises. I encourage you to take time to read another Psalm of David, Psalm 139. David spends most of the chapter praising God for His presence and His faithfulness. It is an awesome reminder of God’s intimate knowledge and care for His children.

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