WATCHWORD:
1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.
7 Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? 8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?
10Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” 13 Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?” Psalm 77:1-2, 7-9, 10-13
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:66-69
Meditation:
God, Where are You?
Ever wonder why God doesn’t seem to act on your behalf when you pray? Is it possible we have been misled into thinking that, through prayer, God can smooth our paths when adversity sours our lives? What could be more important than knocking harder on the door of heaven when God seems to go silent in the midst of our rough times?
I think we have all had those times when we wonder where God is in our darkness. So, maybe the question is, what should we do when we don’t’ know what to do or where else to turn? How do we get through those times?
In the Psalm passage above, our friend Asaph apparently has a problem that is causing him anguish. He can’t sleep, he is exhausted. We don’t know what his problems are, but he is filled with sorrow and disappointment, maybe in the loss of a friend, or his finances have been drained, or, perhaps, nothing is going right for him and he can’t handle it. He is ready to give-up, his spirit is crushed. Can you relate?
Think about this little scenario: One of your good friends received a cancer diagnosis. What’s our response? Pray about it? Yes, probably. Your spouse has an incurable illness, what do your friends say to you? “I’ll pray for you?” Yes, that is most likely our response. Hmmm. How comforting is that?
Ray Stedman in an article entitled “Why Doesn’t God Answer Me?” makes this statement on the matter of prayer: “If we advise someone in distress to “pray about it”, and that person has prayed and received no answer from God, then we have not really helped. Encouraging what seems to be a pointless activity may temp someone to simply give up on their faith, thinking, ‘Faith doesn’t work. God doesn’t respond to prayer.’
I don’t believe that Stedman is making an argument against prayer. I think he is pointing out what we already know, that in our own faith journeys we reach a point where our belief is tested and we may wonder where is God?
I wonder. Do think it’s easy for us to think that problems should go away just because we are Christians and just because we pray to God? Is that our mindset? Now that I’m a Christian, my faith will solve every problem, relieve every doubt. I sincerely doubt that is your mindset, besides, that thinking can only lead to more doubt.
Even with our deep faith in the Lord, we know that is not exactly how our path will be made straight. We’ve lived enough years to know that even with faith, life is still full of problems and doubts. How can you live your life without pain and doubt, even in the face of our deep trust in God? Only in fantasies and fiction.
So, what is the answer? Well, let’s look at Asaph. How does he respond from the point of despair? “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” 13 Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?” If that sounds a bit like count your blessings, that’s because it is. When our patience is tested, waiting for God to act, it becomes helpful to know how blessed we are, how we are the recipients of His gifts.
If we are honest with ourselves we would admit it’s hard enough to endure affliction and to deal with all that it entails, but if for some reason our faith collapses under the pressure, we are done. We cannot navigate the storms that will come our way without faith in God.
Then, amidst the doubters, Peter answered: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Amen.
A Concluding Thought:
If you are going through a trial and it seems that God is silent, please know that despite how it feels, He is there with you, hurting and weeping with you. He is also helping you to grow in your character and your faith. Through difficult times, we learn lessons that cannot be learned in any other way. God’s silence does not signal His absence or his disinterest.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, it is astounding how many ways we find to doubt You. At times, we doubt Your power and Your ability to do actual miracles in our lives. In other situations, we doubt that Your methods and solutions are the best way to go. We fool ourselves into believing that our ways will be superior to Your ways. And, most importantly, we doubt that all You are doing is the result of your great love for us. Our heads believe in Your love, but our hearts are lagging behind. Have mercy upon us, Lord. Help us with our disbelief. Forgive us for looking through worldly eyes instead of asking You for heavenly vision. Thank You for Your endless grace and patience. More than anything, we want to walk in Your will. We pray all of this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.
