What to Do When We Don’t Know What To Do
Psalm 13 is the deserted soul’s case and cure which resonates so much with the majority of us. The length of David’s suffering had been so long that he started to question God if he had been forgotten. We may all have been in such times of despair that it becomes so difficult to remember when better times existed in our lives. Like David, we have struggled with prolonged period of waiting for God to answer our prayers that we get a sense of being forgotten – a sense that we are no longer important to God. The painful silence from God, leaving us with unanswered questions start to breed doubt in our mind and an overwhelming sorrow overcomes us.
All of what David was feeling hit so close to home personally and made me think of the many times I have wrestled with my emotions and have doubted God’s presence in my life. Pastor Jong reminded us that although we are always left with the impression that we should never feel this way once we become disciples of Jesus, this Psalm helps us accept and notice that David, himself, also felt he has been abandoned by God. However, David became a man after God’s own heart, in part, because of how he handles the suffering and trials he encountered. Amidst his despair and his trauma, David still has hope, fully trusting in God’s unfailing love and rejoicing in God’s salvation.
He is not discounting all of the questions he had, but David knew that there is something with his relationship with God that is bigger than his questions. This part of the psalm reminds us that God’s love does not quit toward us. There is no boundary that can be crossed at which point God will stop loving us. Therefore, there is something more overwhelming to the questions that we ask and that is – God loves you and me no matter what. Like David, when you think that nothing is going good in your life, there is always reason to rejoice today and, in the future, because no matter what we are experiencing, we know that our salvation is secure. Pastor Jong struck it at the cord when he reminded us that what we are going through right now will never be enough in comparison to what Jesus went through to pay the price of our salvation. Our trials and our pain are temporary but salvation is eternal.
When I look back at my life, I thank and praise God for the disappointments and the unanswered prayers because it helped me understand that His ways are better than our ways. Just like David, it is my prayer that we continue to sing about God’s goodness amidst all our difficulties because He is the same good God who has dealt bountifully with you in the past and will do so in the future.
– Kyra Uy
