Have you ever experienced times when if feels like God is not there? It seems that no one cares for you and that you’ve been completely forgotten. It’s easy for self-pity to set in and you start a downward spiral. How should you respond in those times? King David of Israel reveals how he was able to loosen the wearisome bonds of despondency and regain God’s perspective in Psalm 13. We see David’s desperate plea for help in the opening verses,

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
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? (Psalm 13:1-2)

Have you ever felt like God had abandoned you? David cries out to God with four questions in two verses. His pain seems interminable as he asks, “How long” All of us have experienced situations when it seems that no relief is in sight. David however, did not abandon all hope. He cried out to God with a determined prayer,

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. (Psalm 13:3-4)

David realized that if God did not intervene then he would not survive. It’s been said, “You don’t realize God is all you need until God is all you have.” Prayer is the conduit that enables you to connect with God and gain His perspective. As the Psalmist realized God’s faithfulness afresh, he concluded resting on God’s dependable promise,

But 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. (Psalm 13:5-6)

Notice the stark contrast – David ends on a note of confidence. The word “lovingkindness” is the Hebrew word חֶסֶד (cheçed), and it conveys the idea of goodness, kindness, faithfulness. This word occurs over 200 times in the Old Testament with over half of its occurrences in the book of Psalms. Are you experiencing God’s lovingkindness? My mentor, Stephen Olford, liked to say, “Joy is the flag that flutters at the mast when King Jesus is in residence.”

As we go through life there seems to be a downward pull from the world, our own flesh, and the devil. We must not remain in the swamp of despair but realize that God is greater than our situation. Oswald Chambers gives us a helpful perspective,

Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, “Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.”
(My Utmost for His Highest, June 27)