Do You Feel Forgotten?

How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

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 (NIV)

Do you ever feel forgotten? Do you feel your prayers are only bouncing off the ceiling?

I’ve been struggling with that for most of the last year. I’ve gone through about every emotion that one can go through. It’s been hard to pray, to study, and as evidenced by the haphazardness of this blog; it’s been hard to even write down my thoughts.

I don’t know about you but I don’t really enjoy pity parties and I’m not one to go back down the road of bitterness – there’s nothing there for me of any good anyway. If it weren’t for the constant love of friends and family – and their prayers, I might truly believe that God had forgotten about me. But I’ve seen and experienced too much – even and especially in the midst of this year of struggle – that tells me that God is still faithful – even when I am not; especially when I am not.

I find that what melts my hard heart the quickest is the sound of music praising God; even when I don’t feel like singing, I find that the words and music find a way into my spirit. They lift me up out of my pit enough to see beyond my situation and circumstances, and enough to realize that there is more to life than my own little world. Whether it be familiar hymns or current worship songs, I believe it it is like water to the soul. Hmm, Psalm 23 comes to mind 🙂

Today, I pray that you and I can see that God has been good to us, will be good to us,  and that we can and should lift our voices in song praising Him.

Father, show us that You have not forgotten us. Bring to mind all that You have given us and where You have been with us all along. Thank You for our salvation, especially from ourselves. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

Be well,

Steve