How long...? Immediately.

Psalm 13 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
² How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

³ Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
⁴ And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

⁵ But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Have you ever, like the psalmist felt as though God has forgotten you? We all, regardless of our level of faith experience times when it seems as though God is distant, He as the psalmist says, seems to be hiding from us. In times like that if we take counsel in our own soul, poor counsel it is. Our emotions betray us. Sorrow quickly turns to depression and despair. David was called, by God, a man after His own heart. (Acts 13:22) It’s okay to cry out to God, even to question Him. God will not be offended by our feelings. In fact crying out to God is the best way to find Him when it seems He is far off. In Psalm 18:6 the psalmist says:   In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.  Psalm 34:17-18 says:  The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.     The Lord God is indeed near. When it seems as though our enemies are overcoming us, He says:   “be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you." (Deuteronomy 31:6)

There are many accounts of God coming to the aid or taking away the despair and afflictions of His people. There are two that I want us to be encouraged by today. The first is the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. The son, through his own poor choices and decisions found himself distant from his Father. His situation was bleak, he was destitute. The account says:  But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!  I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’  So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him… the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;  and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;  for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’    If you realize that you, like the prodigal are in a distant place, far from your Father God, because of choices or decisions you have made. Take courage, decide to return. Repentance means to turn, to change your mind. When the son returned to the father his physical condition had not changed, he was destitute, looked and smelled badly. Don’t believe the lie that you are not worthy of returning to the Father. Don’t think that you first need to clean yourself up before you can return to Him. He has been watching and waiting all along. From the moment you decide to return,  He will run to you. He will celebrate and say:  this child of mine was dead and has come to life again; he/she was lost and has been found. 

The second account is from Matthew 14:22-32, when Jesus walked on water. Verses 27-31 say:  Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”  And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”      Sometimes, even when we have been walking in faith with the Lord, we can become overwhelmed by the circumstances around us. The storms of life can be intimidating, even frightening. It seems as though we are being hit from all sides. The answer for us in those times is to do as Peter did, to cry out:  “Lord, save me!”   The result will be, as with Peter, Immediately Jesus will reach out and take hold of you. When Jesus said:  “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”, He wasn’t condemning Peter. He wanted Peter to understand the reality of 2 Corinthians 5:17:   we walk by faith, not by sight    It is not the size of our faith that is important. Jesus says that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains. (Matthew 17:20) Rather it is the object of our faith that matters. Do we believe the circumstances which surround us or do we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing He is there with outstretched hand to catch us and save us even when we can’t see Him with our physical eyes.

So whether it seems that we find ourselves distant and far away from God because of our own choices and decisions or we feel as though we are being overwhelmed by the storms of life, by things that are out of control, may our response and our prayer be as the psalmist, may we pray:

 I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me. Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit.     Amen