Feeling Abandoned

The people of Israel had heard the stories. They had been told by their parents how God had driven out their adversaries and planted His people in their land. These accounts reminded them that they owed these victories to God. They were not saved because of their skills or resources, but only because of His help. They learned that they needed to depend on Him and remember that He was their King.

The psalmist knew that God could “command victories.” That He could save them. But, to them, it felt that God had “rejected” them. They had been like sheep scattered “among the nations” and who were being prepared to be slaughtered.

They felt like God had sold them and made them a laughingstock, humiliated and a derision to those around them. What was particularly puzzling was that the psalmist did not feel they deserved this plight. They had not forgotten about God. They still felt they were walking in His ways, and were consciously aware of His presence.

He cried out for God to save them. To remember them. To be merciful to them. To realize how much they needed Him. Yet the opening verses of this psalm demonstrate that the psalmist had worked through these problems and come to depend on God.

He declared that through His name “we will trample down those who rise up against us.” How they were not trusting in themselves but looked to Him. How they boasted in God and were giving thanks to Him.

Each of us may go through circumstances when we feel abandoned. Like the psalmist, these are times to remember the past when God delivered us and brought victory, and to be honest with Him, to cry out for His help and mercy. To renew our trust in Him.