Scripture
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
Scripture
Where do you need to trust in God’s unfailing love this week?
Psalm 13 - Devotional
Have You Ever Felt Forgotten by God?
Psalm 13 expresses a sentiment that many of us have felt. We all experience seasons where God seems distant, where we wonder if he has forgotten us.
David likely wrote this psalm when he was fleeing from Saul. (You can read more about the relationship between these two men in the Book of 1 Samuel.) His life was in real danger; nothing was going his way. He was overwhelmed with dark thoughts, and daily lived with the real possibility that he might be killed.
Perhaps we don’t have a murderous king after us, but we, too, experience seasons where we feel forgotten by God—after the death of someone we love, or when we experience sickness, or perhaps just in the day-to-day when we are overwhelmed by anxious thoughts and a world that seems like everything has gone wrong. Like David, we wait. Like David, we repeatedly ask, “How long, God? How long before you do something?”
You might read this psalm and question David’s language. Maybe you think it is disrespectful to speak to God this way.
But God wants our honest lament.
David likely wrote this psalm when he was fleeing from Saul. (You can read more about the relationship between these two men in the Book of 1 Samuel.) His life was in real danger; nothing was going his way. He was overwhelmed with dark thoughts, and daily lived with the real possibility that he might be killed.
Perhaps we don’t have a murderous king after us, but we, too, experience seasons where we feel forgotten by God—after the death of someone we love, or when we experience sickness, or perhaps just in the day-to-day when we are overwhelmed by anxious thoughts and a world that seems like everything has gone wrong. Like David, we wait. Like David, we repeatedly ask, “How long, God? How long before you do something?”
You might read this psalm and question David’s language. Maybe you think it is disrespectful to speak to God this way.
But God wants our honest lament.
It is by expressing our feelings and working through them that we can return to praise, just like David does at the end of Psalm 13.
He wants us to cry out to him and share our sorrows and grief. It is by expressing our feelings and working through them that we can return to praise, just like David does at the end of Psalm 13.
This psalm has a definite direction, traveling from down (the depths of David’s pain; how he is stuck in his own thoughts) to up, where David once again reinforces that—despite it all—he trusts in God.
Have you ever felt forgotten by God? Do you feel free to express your sorrow, grief, and even anger to God? Where can you trust in God’s unfailing love this week?
This psalm has a definite direction, traveling from down (the depths of David’s pain; how he is stuck in his own thoughts) to up, where David once again reinforces that—despite it all—he trusts in God.
Have you ever felt forgotten by God? Do you feel free to express your sorrow, grief, and even anger to God? Where can you trust in God’s unfailing love this week?
Prayer