I sometimes wonder where God is. I feel alone. Abandoned. I take inventory of my life and I believe that I have been faithful to God but where is he when I need him most? I feel like I’m at the end of my rope.
I think I feel like David must have felt when he wrote Psalms 13. Listen to what he wrote –
“O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?”
Boy do I feel like that! Is there an answer to the way I feel?
Of course there is! I wouldn’t be writing this if there wasn’t! We get a hint in the last part of the chapter –
“But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
I will sing to the LORD
because he has been so good to me.”
David knew that God is always faithful. In our self-pity, God is always there. As I look back over my life, I can see countless times when I thought that God was absent when in fact, he was right there with me. It was my lack of faith that caused me to be miserable. I need to take the focus off of me and turn my focus to God.
When I am down, I tend to read the Psalms. The words are so honest and emotional. They could almost be written today! They show me that I am not alone with my feelings. So I read on. In Psalm 14, David stops being so pitiful and starts worshiping God. Psalm 15 -17 is acknowledgment that God is his God. In Psalm 18, David was feeling better. He was thanking God for rescuing him from Saul! Psalm 19. David is into full fledged worship! His is conducting one big personal praise service. The praise service continues through chapter 21. I’m beginning to see a pattern.
Psalm 22. David has a setback. Self pity enters into his conscience again. Woe is me!
Psalm 23 – Worship begins again.
Psalm 24 – Acknowledge that God is the one true God.
Psalm 25 – Honest Prayer.
Psalm 26 – Confession.
Psalm 27 – Worship.
Psalm 28 – Worship and Praise.
Psalm 29 – Praise.
Now we finally reach redemption. In Psalm 30, David says –
“You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever! ”
So that is the key. We are all in the same boat. From Psalm 13 to 30, David showed us that when we think God has left us, there are ways to get back on track. God doesn’t leave us. For a moment, we leave God. When we reach our 13, we have a path to follow to get to our own 30.
This is where I am at. I’m moving from 13 to 30. I’m ready for some joyful dancing!