23 Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face
and forget our misery and oppression?
25 We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us;
rescue us because of your unfailing love. Psalm 44:23-26
Upon first reading this you get the impression that the sons of Korah are joking around. Arise! Wake up, God! Quick, get up!
But they’re not. They’re feeling abandoned and vulnerable.
Within my reading audience are men, women, and children who understand this. They know what it’s like to do the right thing day after day week after night and they’re prayers seem as empty and hollow as can be. You’ve cried out to God. You, like the sons of Korah, have wondered aloud if He might have taken a quick nap because the prayers have gone unanswered, the situations are worse now than when you started praying, and you just can’t seem to “find God.”
Recall Elijah in the wilderness lamenting that he was the only prophet in Israel. Imagine the shock when the Lord revealed that there were in fact 8000 such men of God.
I say all that to say this, you are not alone. The God who seems distant really isn’t. He’s not busy watching over the affairs of 6 billion people and all of a sudden forgot about little ol’ you.
No, the breakthrough will come. The sun will be brighter and the food will taste better, but that day will come. Keep reaching out, crying out to God.
He is there.
A great part of the Christian journey is the seeking, for it is in those dry and lonely days that God is moving the most.