Joyful Moments in Christ

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
    lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 13 (ESV)

A Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

Just as David prayed in Psalm 13, I also pray, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”

There are so many things wrong with the world. We have leaders who don’t know you, others who claim to know you, but don’t act like it. There are wars and rumors of wars. There are natural disasters. There is strife and contention. All around me, I see terrible things happening. How long are you going to let these things happen?

The war in Ukraine is horrible. How many people have lost their lives, their parents, their children, their friends? In Afghanistan, women have lost rights to education, freedom of movement, choices in employment and more. The Afghan men have to watch their wives, children, and mothers suffer this loss, and in many cases, they are failing to see why they shouldn’t participate in this enforcement. In both countries, refugees have had to flee with uncertainty that they will ever be reunited with their loved ones.

Closer to home, the political situation in America is a mess. Very few people love our choices of presidential candidates, yet we are forced into choosing between two candidates with significant problems. Why are you not intervening and setting up a candidate who knows you, loves you, and has the right heart to fix our problems? Why do the people permit the craziness that has ensued from the most influential people in our country endorsing the most extreme candidates? If we are going to have extreme, let’s try for extreme goodness and holiness, not the extremes that we have!

Last year, there were so many terrible earthquakes, floods, and fires. How many people lost their lives, homes, and/or families due to earthquakes in Turkey, Syria, Morocco, and Afghanistan? Storms have taken the lives and homes of many people around the world. Why do so many natural disasters happen?

Yet, I will praise you. Even if it feels slow, you turn all the bad things in the world to good. Without these events, I would not have met some delightful refugees with big hearts for education. There would not be the opportunity to show the love of Jesus by rebuilding homes and walking with people in their suffering. How many people have turned to you in their despair? While I don’t understand your ways, I do see results. The name of the Lord be praised.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Read: Great is Thy Faithfulness: A Journey From Lamentations to Hope and Joy

Read: A Divided Church: How can we be united in Christ when we differ in our politics?

Reflection Questions

Please consider the following reflection questions:

1. Reflect on a time when you felt forgotten or abandoned by God. How did you navigate through that experience?
2. Consider the current state of the world and the suffering mentioned in the prayer. How do you reconcile these events with your belief in a loving and just God?
3. How do you maintain trust in God’s steadfast love during difficult circumstances? Are there specific practices or beliefs that help sustain your faith?
4. Reflect on moments when you’ve witnessed good emerging from challenging situations. How does this shape your understanding of God’s presence and work in the world?
5. How can acknowledging God’s sovereignty and goodness bring comfort, hope, and perspective in times of uncertainty and suffering?

Please pray a prayer of lament that ends with hopeful trust in the Lord’s goodness. If helpful, you can use a prayer journal template.

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English Standard Version (ESV): Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.