Does God Ever Forget About Us?

Psalm 77
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.
1 I cried out to God for help;
    I cried out to God to hear me.
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
    at night I stretched out untiring hands,
    and I would not be comforted.
3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
4 You kept my eyes from closing;
    I was too troubled to speak.
5 I thought about the former days,
    the years of long ago;
6 I remembered my songs in the night.
    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
7 “Will the Lord reject forever?
    Will he never show his favor again?
8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
    Has his promise failed for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
12 I will consider all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

One of the things I love about the psalms is how real they are.  The psalmists often speak out of a deep anguish in their hearts, usually resulting from feeling that in some way God has left them.   In this case, the psalmist was wearied from crying out to God, and this lasted well into the night without any reprieve.  Usually when we cry out to God, at the very least we feel His peace and His presence, even though our circumstances may not change.  But in this case the psalmist was left asking questions like:

Has God rejected him forever?  Has He run out of mercy?  Will He show favor again?  Is this a result of His anger?

The psalmist is stuck in a place we might call, “the dark night of the soul”.  He knows God to be faithful, yet He is not experiencing any relief from his sense of abandonment.  Worst of all, he wonders if he has been cut off from God’s unfailing love and mercy.   Then, the psalmist shifts to recalling God’s acts of deliverance in the past.  He remembers the great miracle of God parting the Red Sea to deliver his ancestors from the Egyptians. 

As New Testament Christians, we may have circumstances or things that happen to us that may prompt similar doubts and questions.  When things happen that we didn’t ask for, or things that don’t happen when we ask for them, we wonder if we have lost favor with God.  As believers in Jesus, we look back to the saving act of Jesus going to the cross for us.  When we wonder if God is with us, we remember Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross as God’s proof of His unconditional love for us.  

Importantly, in the Words of Institution during Holy Communion we say, “Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to the disciples saying, take and eat this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  In Holy Communion, we remember what God has done for us, and experience His real presence in our hearts and lives.    

While there may be times we cry out to God, we can know God will never leave us or forsake.  He has given us the Holy Spirit as a sign of His presence and a deposit guaranteeing our future inheritance.  

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