Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence

"Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up" (Psm. 94:17,18). "For I said in my haste , I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee" (Psm. 31:22). Ever felt that way? I have. I can remember times when I felt like I had just been cast off by the Lord. I may find myself there again sometime, I don't know. But regardless of how I may have FELT, I never BELIEVED that God had forsaken me. Real faith in God just keeps on trusting, believing, and being determined to do what is good and right in the sight of God. That is the ONLY remedy to getting through dark times when one feels abandoned on every side. It isn't unusual either. Understand that a great man of faith wrote the words that are quoted above from the Bible. Some of the greatest men of God in history felt so alone in their adversities that some of them even wished they had never been born (Job 10:18,19; Jer. 20:14,15). Others requested death from the Lord (I Kin. 19:4; Job 6:8,9). Some have suggested that these great people of faith were motivated by self pity in these honest expressions of despair. That only tells me that they have never been where these people were at spiritually, and have not felt as they felt, for the reasons they felt these things. In fact, depression and self pity do not qualify one to identify with these renowned souls. The only way anyone could understand the plight of those we read about in the Bible, is if they have walked where they walked, and suffered for the reasons that they suffered.

Even our Lord Jesus felt the overwhelming dejection of isolation for righteousness sake: "Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children... Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" (Psm. 69:7,8,20). No my friend, that was not self pity that motivated those words; and neither was it self pity that moved the other pillars of faith in the Bible to honestly express their grief before God. In order to identify with these honest souls, one must persevere in the way of righteousness, and let nothing turn them to the left or to the right, regardless of what may come upon them. But even in the case of failure, and the duress that comes with it, we can honestly and humbly "cast [our] care upon the Lord," knowing that "he cares for [us]" (I Pet. 5:7). David knew what it meant to be despaired over failure, and he knew how to come out of it; that being by honest confession of his failures and hoping in the Lord's mercy: "There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long... Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee: (Psm. 38:3-6,9). Friend, the bottom line here is honesty, humility, and faith in God's love for us. Simply stated, he has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;" and he meant it. Still does in fact. Never give up your determination to "keep thyself pure," or your trust in the enduring love of God for you (I Tim. 5:22; Psm. 42:5). Amen.