Remember, there is no point at which God does not love us.

1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.
(Psalm 13)

Psalm 13 a psalm composed by David. This psalm shows David’s crying out to God for help and relief. David feels that God has abandoned him. We must notice and accept that David does feel abandoned by God. Sometimes we may leave people with the impression that they will never feel this way once they become a disciple of Jesus. But this is clearly not the case. There are times when God feels distant, and David felt those times. The protection, refuge, and safety of the Lord seems to have been taken away.Our minds may tell us to give up, to give in, and tell us things that are not truthful. The feelings of loss and abandonment are so great that one is unable to see when the end will come.
It is important that we recognize that this is the nature of trials. Very rarely are we able to see when the trial will end. Even worse, we are unable to see what the final outcome will be from the trial. This is the type of emotion upon which David expresses these words. When we consider the life of David, being a man after God’s own heart, it is easy for us to only recall the positive things that happened in David’s life. Yet we cannot forget the suffering, trials, and traumas that David endured. He lost a son because of his sins.
So what can we do when we feel abandoned by God? The first thing David does is turn to God in prayer. This psalm is really a petition to God about what he is enduring.David is asking God to turn his face, see what is happening, and give David regard and consideration. It is strange to me that this is often the last thing we may do when we feel abandoned by God. Many times, when in such a sorrowful situation, we feel that God has turned his back on us. Yet, that is not what we are to do.
Notice that David tells God he feels this way and asks God to look at him again. Instead of throwing in the towel and giving up on God, we need to turn to God and tell him to give us consideration and regard. Why would we feel that we could not tell God to look at us and pay attention to us? Yet we will throw our hands in the air and say that God does not care. Do not do that. Instead, call out to God. Tell Him to look upon us.
David not only asks God to look upon him and give him consideration, but also asks God to give an answer to what he is asking. Sometimes we wonder why we have not received an answer to our prayers. We have many things to consider that the scriptures tell us concerning unanswered prayer, such as asking selfishly or not according to God’s will. But there is another thing that we must ask ourselves. Have we asked God to answer? We may respond that we would not have asked if we did not want an answer. But that is not necessarily true. Sometimes prayer is used to appease the conscience or to tell others that we prayed, therefore justifying in our minds that we can take matters into our own hands. But prayer is not simply about asking God for something, but also asking God to answer our request according to His will. This means that we have a heart that is truly ready to accept any answer the Lord gives. How often we only accept God’s answers to prayer if the answers match what we want! But to truly want an answer from God means that we are ready to accept the “no” answers from the Lord.
Always remember, there is no point at which God does not love us. There is no boundary or line that can be crossed at which point God will stop loving us. Further, since God’s love is unfailing, He never lets us down. He is always there and meets every need perfectly. Even in our sins, God continues to love us. How do we know this? We know this because God has already proven his love for us by sending his Son to die while we were in our sins (Romans 5:8). If God would show this much love when we were completely helpless, hopeless, and lost, why would we doubt the love of God now that we are trying to serve him? We have reason to trust in the Lord and have hope for tomorrow because of the Lord’s unfailing love. God will not let you down when you put your full trust in him.

Peace and love,

Sue

"Then Jesus said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me". (Luke 9:23)