The Lord is near (Phil 4:5). He is intimate with His children. His love is inseparable from us (Rom 8:37-39). It doesn’t increase with our practical holiness. And it doesn’t decrease when we sin. His nearness, His abiding in us, His presence…it’s always so near.
So, when we feel, “how long, O Lord,” in a trial, the truth is God has not rejected us or hidden His face from us (cf. Psa 88:14). He’s already given us Christ; His Spirit dwells within us; and He has poured out His love into our hearts through the Spirit (Rom 5:5).
But, if you’re in darkness right now – for whatever reason except for unconfessed sin – what can you do? What should you do? If the nearness of the Lord is true, and it is, here are some helps from a psalm all about feeling shut out by God (Psalm 88):
1) Cry out to Him…relentlessly (vv. 1, 9, 13). Be honest with God. Don’t fuss about prim and proper prayers. Spread out your hands to Him with moans and sobs if you have to (v. 9).
2) Cry out to Him. Take your doubts, fears, and frustrations to the Lord (vv. 1, 2). Process them in prayer, which is always before the throne of His grace (cf. Heb 4:16). Bring up your questions to Him; you won’t surprise or dismay Him (vv. 10-12, 14). He loves you. The worst thing we can do in a season of darkness is to deal with it on our own. So, let your prayers come before God (v. 13), even if they are weak and confused. A season of darkness is designed, at the very minimum, to make us desperate for God.
3) Acknowledge truths about God as you cry out to Him. The psalmist calls the Lord, “the God of my salvation” (v. 1). He’s saved already; he’s secure eternally. But he feels like he’s going to die. But the circumstances and those dark feelings don’t change who God is for Him. He also attributes the darkness to God Himself, not to chance or fate (vv. 7, 8, 15, 16). It’s remarkable that the psalmist is able to recognize the sovereign providence of God in all things in the midst of His afflictions. But that’s what a child of God does. Even when terrors surround you like floodwaters all day long (v. 17), your new heart will believe in God, in His truth, and in His gospel. Eventually, you will. God made the heart in Christ to work that way.
Now, of course, it’s better if you can believe in Him sooner rather than later. Yet, at times, we just have to be taken through the divine ringer to really see God as our one and only help (cf. v. 13). Even then, He hasn’t cast us off.
His love for us is just as near and as intense as it ever was or will be. And maybe, just maybe, He wants us to taste the juicy marrow of His love in a way we couldn’t have…before going through the darkness.
