Have you ever felt betrayed or forsaken? Life can be full of little rejections and large betrayals that leave us feeling adrift and unloved. Abandonment by family or friends is a terrible blow that can leave you so far down, you can’t even imagine getting up again. Have you ever experienced that? I have.

King David certainly felt this way, as his life was filled with strife and trials, mostly of his own making. In our Psalm today, he cried out to God about his plight, and began with the terrible cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) It is one thing to be forgotten by a friend or undermined by a colleague, but to feel that God has abandoned you is a soul-shattering thing. Yet these very words were uttered by our Lord on the cross in his moment of agony.

But in the second half of this psalm, David has come around to the reality that God never leaves us or forsakes us. He gives us permission to feel this way for a time, but strongly asserts that God never despises or abhors us in our times of sin and trial: God will never hide his face from us, and always hears us.

Psalm 22 (New King James Version)

I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴ For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.

I think this says a lot about doubt. Some people believe that doubting God is a sin. David says otherwise. This psalm assures us that there will be times when we are unsure of God’s activity in our mess, but we are never forsaken. Everyone who seeks God will find God. The poor and the prosperous alike will eat and be satisfied:

²⁵ My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
²⁶ The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
Let your heart live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the ^[nations
Shall worship before You.
²⁸ For the kingdom is the Lord’s,
And He rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the prosperous of the earth
Shall eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust
Shall bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep himself alive.

In the end, God is God. Jesus promised us at his own leaving that he is with us always, even to the very ends of the earth. So if you are struggling with your faith today, take heart! God is here. God is with you. God is working things out for you.

³⁰ A posterity shall serve Him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
³¹ They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.

So while you wait in your trial, take time to remember God’s righteousness. Bow before him and worship his name. You are precious to him, and he will never abandon you.

God With Us by Michelle Robertson