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? Psalm 13:1-2 NIV
The Psalmist, King David, is feeling alone. Haven’t we all felt this way, as if all of a sudden, the Lord just got up and went away for a while and forgot all about us? Is this really the truth? No, he is always there. He is always all around us, just like he promises so many times in the Bible. The Lord is never more than a breath away from us, never more than a prayer away!
As he remains in this mindset, we then see King David appeal to the Lord, almost as if he is negotiating with God. We all do this! He then says:
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 13:3-4 NIV
David felt the Lord needed a reminder of what would happen if he didn’t work in his life. He makes an appeal to the Lord, basically saying, “If you don’t help me I’ll die, and all your enemies, Lord, will take great joy in it. Haven’t we all been there?
Finally David comes back to the heart of the matter when he says:
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
God never leaves us; he is always right there!
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:12-14a NIV
We are never alone in Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our God is always within our midst. We must continuously seek him with all our heart.
Jesus said to his disciples, on the night he’s to be arrested, “You believe at last! But a time is coming, and has come when you will be scattered each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me” (John 16:31-32)
Jesus reminds us of this, as he is going to the cross. He reminds us, in the worst of times, that the Father is always there. It’s a promise from God that will never change.
Praise our Lord! Always!
Barnabas
Special thanks for this guest submission by Barnabas.