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Author: Memos Sakellariou

(Isaiah 8:17)
“I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will put my trust in him.”

It is easy for anyone to believe in God and for some to worship Him when things are going well. When He provides you with food, friends, family, health, and of course happy moments. In general, when everything goes according to your plans and desires. However, the situations and circumstances of life are NOT always pleasant. Life does not always unfold as you have planned.

So how do you worship God when many aspects of your life go wrong?
What exactly do you do when God seems distant, thousands of miles away from you?

The deepest, most genuine level of worship and praise of God is when you worship and adore Him regardless of circumstances and pain. To thank God amidst sorrow and trials. To trust Him when you are tempted and have dilemmas. To surrender your life into His hands while suffering and to love Him when you feel He is very far from you.

A theologian once said: “Every relationship contains moments of closeness and moments of distance. And in our relationship with God, no matter how close it is, the pendulum will swing from one side to the other.”

It is precisely at that moment that our worship of God becomes challenging. The Lord, to test and mature our relationship with Him, will pass it through periods that will seem as if He is very far from us, from moments that will appear as if He has abandoned us. That is exactly why there are some days in our lives that it seems as if our soul is walking in darkness!!!

King David had experience of such days in his life. He understood them because he had lived them. The Lord had called him “a man after His own heart,” yet let us see what the Word of God tells us:

(Acts 13:22)
“And when God removed him, He raised up David as their king, about whom He testified: ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.’

Even though the Lord had called him that, let us see what was happening in his life.

(Psalm 10:1)
“Lord, why do you stand far off? Do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

(Psalm 22:1)
“To the chief musician, set to ‘The Doe of the Morning.’ A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?”

(Psalm 43:2)
“For you are the God of my strength; why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”

Of course, God had never left David. Just as He will not leave you and me. Indeed, the Lord continually repeats:

(Hebrews 13:5)
“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with what you have, for He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'”

We can trust the Word of God. We can rest in the hands of the Almighty God, who knows how to keep His promises. This is purely a matter of choice on our part. Will we rely on our feelings, perhaps even on the circumstances in which we live, or will we rest in the Lord of Hosts?

(Psalm 18:2)
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”