Hearing God’s Love Song in Hard Times

Have you ever wondered if God had forgotten you? Had stopped loving you? Perhaps you’ve thought your sorrow, grief, fear, loneliness, fear, or (you fill in the blank), would never end. In times like those, it’s not always easy to trust in God’s unfailing love.

Like a violent storm at sea, life is filled with circumstances that toss us around and threaten to pull us under. The psalmist David intimately knew about these storms of life. The 13^th psalm expresses his feelings during one such time:

¹ How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
² 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?

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
⁴ and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

Four times David asks “how long?” How long must I struggle? How long, oh God, must I wait for your answer?

He calls out to God for help. “Look, answer, give.” Then David makes a choice.

In the midst of his despair, David purposefully chose to trust God and lean on His unfailing love. David chose to anticipate God’s coming deliverance. (Check out Ali’s post from last Thursday for a great explanation of chesed, the Hebrew word used for God’s unfailing love.)

There will be days. Days when evil appears to win… when God seems absent… when the circumstances of life feel unbearable… Days that make us question God’s love for us. “If God loved me then…”

Circumstances do not define God’s love

But our circumstances do not define the depth or quality of God’s love for us. God loves us in and through every circumstance.

Even when our circumstances have left us hopeless, our hope can begin anew in the God of unfailing love. Trust in His faithful love is not misplaced. This firmly placed trust will birth confidence that God will act on our behalf. And as this confidence grows, joy in our good and gracious God will take root and bloom.

Truths to cling to

Sweet believer, when we don’t hear God or we don’t see His activity, we can still choose to trust in His love for us because He is faithful and His love is unfailing. We can choose to cling to the truths about Him we see in Scripture even though our circumstances might seem to indicate something different.

God is always there. Even when we don’t sense His presence.

God is always working. Even when we don’t see His activity.

God always loves us. Even when we don’t hear Him say it.

Will you choose to trust in Him and cling to His unfailing love today? If so, listen to “Oceans” and let it be a prayer of your heart. “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders… I will call upon your name… My soul will rest in your embrace, for I am Yours and You are mine.”