Praying When God Feels Far Away

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Why are you so far away when I groan for help?

Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer.

Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief.

Yet you are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.

Our ancestors trusted in you,

and you rescued them.

They cried out to you and were saved.

They trusted in you and were never disgraced.

Psalm 22:1-5

Trust is a precious commodity in any relationship—slow to build and all-too-easy to undermine. Faced by dark and hopeless circumstances, we can start feeling abandoned by God and lose our trust in him. Yet it may be comforting to know that we’re not the only ones who have felt that way. “Why have you abandoned me?” David cried. Jesus repeated these same words as he suffered on the cross (Mark 15:34). But such a straightforward question implies an intimate and trusting relationship between the petitioner and God in the first place. And David didn’t give up waiting for God to answer him, for he knew that God has always responded to the cries of his people.

Do you feel alone and abandoned by God? Remind yourself of some ways God has worked in your life. God never abandons his people.

• O God, though I feel alone, I trust in you . . .