God is at Work, Even if Prayers Are Unanswered!
How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? —Psalm 13:1
For 9 long years, Saul hounded David as “one hunts a partridge in the mountains” (1 Sam. 26:20). “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?” David prayed. “How long will You hide Your face from me? . . . How long will my enemy be exalted over me?” (Ps. 13:1-2).
Have you ever felt like David, like you have been going through for a long time and you were in a long dry dark season that seemed like it would never change and never get any better? Does it seem like God’s solutions to your problems are either not coming fast enough or you can’t figure them out? If any of this describes you, be encouraged to know that prolonged affliction often vexes us as well. We all tend to want sudden solutions. We all tend to want quick fixes. But some things can’t be fixed. They can only be borne as we work with God as He works.
Whether any of us admits it or not, we all tend to complain to God in our troubles and then we give Him our reasons for complaining about our troubles, He listens. God does hear all of our complaints and how we all feel, and He understands them even though sometimes it may seems that it still does not change difficulties. Understand that complaining to God doesn’t always change difficulties because whether or not God changes things or not, He is at work. He is working each and every day 24 hours a day and night to bring about right outcomes and right solutions that will fix and solve your problems and ours to make them much better than they ever were before. We have a Heavenly Father who wants us to engage with Him in our struggles by working with Him to fix our problems, so very seldom are “things” fixed instantly. God wants to engage you in the process as He works in and through your circumstances to make them better. He does understand your pain, and how you may feel about what He has allowed to happen, as a matter of fact, God understands His children as no one else can. You do matter to Him, and how you feel matters to Him, as He works in and through your circumstances.
When we turn to God with our complaints, we often come to our senses and realize that no matter what, God does love us! In David’s case, his thoughts went back to life’s certainty: God’s love. David reminded himself: “I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me” (vv.5-6). Sufferings may persist, but David could sing in the midst of his trials, for he was God’s beloved child. What about you? Can you forget your difficulties long enough to remember that God loves you, in spite of any suffering or any problem that does not seem to change? When David reminded Himself that God loved Him, That was all he needed to know, and that is all God wants to remind you of and that is what God wants you to know. YOU are His child and He will take care of you! God wants you to place your trust in Him, believe that He really is in control, and He will work all things out for your good and His glory according to His plans and purposes for your life.
A. W. Thorold writes, “The highest pinnacle of the spiritual life is not happy joy in unbroken sunshine, but absolute and undoubting trust in the love of God.”
Even in your troubles, your pain and your sufferings, God’s love can be trusted.
God’s love stands when all else fails.
