Looking Forward, Backward

Psalms 13 " How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?...... But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." (v.1,2;5,6)

David paints a clear picture through his words of what abandonment feels like . We find him in a desperate hour wrestling through an internal dialogue between two separate striving entities within his struggle, that is umpired by faith-based reasoning. David’s first emotional state that he captures is one of insignificance (being forgotten). He then debates with himself, knowing that his intimate God could not forget him. He moves up one step in this argument and expresses that apparently, God must be hiding from him. But this invites a new challenge to David where he questions why God would hide away and silently allow him to be alone in his sorrow. David then reflects upon himself as if in second person, as his "reasoning self "debates with his "emotional self", to give counsel to his own soul. In order for David to move forward, his reasoning self is invited to assure his emotional self of the historic journey that both his reason and emotion have shared together. He encourages himself through reflection, recalling the times in his life where he had trusted God in similar situations of doubt. He offers himself the assurance that God has always proven himself to be merciful towards him. When David reflected on God's faithfulness in the past, his feelings of abandonment were replaced with a renewed hope. David portrays for us the answer to how we can deal with "feeling alone and abandoned". He encourages us to embrace the truth of God's mercy revealed in overcoming past hardships. Then with this assurance, we will be able to look more confidently towards the future. David's insight helps him to move beyond the present moment, knowing God has used such times in his life to build upon his faith. David's current troubles compel him to embrace his future in renewed hope, by leaning on the lessons of God's reliable deliverance.

God is fully aware of the anxiety we are facing individually and the fear that burdens our nation in current times. The answer to overcoming the struggles of this oppressive season is by reminding ourselves of God’s faithful deliverance from the the past. As our faith has been tried and has matured from past struggles, we can be confident that we will come away from this dilemma stronger than we were. It is because of our hope, based on faith that we know we will be restored. Let us celebrate where we will be, confidently embracing the blessings which are in store for us by relying on the proof of God's faithfulness toward us. We have every reason to celebrate in the middle of our trials. Just keep looking forward, backward, my friends.