My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?

Psalm 22:1

Sometimes, no matter how hard we pray, it seems as though God isn’t listening, or just doesn’t care. The Psalms are filled with instances like the one above of the psalmists’ expressing anxiety and impatience with God, but inevitably, before the end of each lament comes praise and thanksgiving for God’s past faithfulness to his people and his promises. There is an acknowledgement that God’s timing and wisdom are beyond our understanding.

Most of us have seen children beg, wheedle, and demand to receive something and been denied because their mother or father recognized that what the child was asking for was not good for them or possibly was even harmful to the child. Well-meaning parents who give in to these pleas sometimes live to regret it.

As a wise and loving father, God knows what is best for our eternal well-being and must sometimes delay or deny that which we so dearly desire.

When the Lord brought his people out of Egypt, he led them through many trials and tests, and God’s reason for what he did was so that they would know that he was God. It is good for us today to recognize that sometimes temporary evil is allowed in order to display God’s greatness in his time.

It is especially hard to wait upon the Lord when injustices abound and when evil seems to be triumphant. Those are the times to remember his blessings, both those in the Scriptures and those in your own life, give thanks and trust in his love and faithfulness.

Do not fret because of evildoers,
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.

Psalm 37 NKJV (Full Psalm)