Abiding in the PsalmsSample

God, where are you?

This psalm deals with a relatable feeling, the cry of “God, where you are? Why have you abandoned me? I’m asking for your help but you’re not responding. Are you even there?”

When you are asking these questions, this psalm can help by showing what is important to focus on.

Remember that God is good, and His goodness is not dependent on your circumstances.

Remember what God has done in the past. Remember times in your life where He has answered your prayer or helped you through a hard time. Also look at what God has done throughout history; He helped his people in the Old Testament, He sent His Son Jesus, He empowered the miracles Jesus performed. That will remind you of God’s character, who He truly is. 

Remember the unchanging nature of God. He has been there since the beginning, and He is not going anywhere.

Jesus said these very words when He was on the cross dying. However, you can take great comfort from this psalm because it shows you that God’s plan was always to save you. God helped David write a psalm that says “my bones are out of joint”, “they pierced my hands and feet”, “they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots”. All of these things happened to Jesus as He died on the cross, so that God could save you. If God has planned from the beginning that He would save you, if He was thinking of you hundreds of years before Jesus died when David wrote this Psalm, He has not forgotten about you today.

As David is in his crisis, his focus is on God’s presence in the midst of his crisis, not on God changing the situation. When you find God in your crisis, praise Him because “He has not hidden His face from you”. Take delight in remembering that He does listen to your prayers.

The psalm ends with more reminders: remember that this is God’s earth so He is in control, remember that He keeps you alive so He has not forgotten you, and remember to tell others about all that He does for you.