“O God my rock,” I cry, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?” Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?” Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again – my Savior and my God! Psalm 42:9-11 NLT
Many scholars attribute this Psalm to David, and they believe he was probably running from his son Absalom and the rebel armies at the time. This flight naturally disrupted his life in every way, even his ability to worship at the Tabernacle with God’s people. The author of the Psalm freely admits several times in just eleven verses that he is discouraged and sad. God feels far from him, God is silent, but his enemies are not. His enemies taunt him – they point out the obvious lack of response from God to his trouble. If David’s God is the true God and loves him, why aren’t things changing?
His enemies aren’t the only ones with questions. David has questions. God is not talking, but David is. He questions God, wondering why God has forgotten him. He questions himself. He doesn’t know why this has happened. What is wrong with him? But the crucial part of his struggle is not the ridicule he is facing. It’s not missing his home. It’s not even missing the worship that was so dear to his heart. He is longing for the intimacy with God when he was so close to God that he constantly felt His presence. He compares himself to a thirsty deer, longing for a drink of cool water.
But during His agony and deep discouragement, He doesn’t go silent on God. He keeps talking to Him. He believes that for whatever reasons He doesn’t understand, the silence is a season, not forever. He anticipates the day when He will overflow with joy again. Although he feels forgotten by God, He keeps “knock-knock-knocking on heaven’s door.” He says in the depths of His discouragement that what He chooses to believe is fact, not what he feels.
“But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life” (v. 8). And he was right. God had not and never did forsake him. David found that goodness and mercy followed him all the days of his life.
- Believing in God’s faithfulness in the face of His silence is a choice. You can choose and find Him faithful.