O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you. 2 May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry. 3 For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave. 4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like a man without strength. 5 I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care. 6 You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. 7 Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah

8 You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape; 9 my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, O LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you. 10 Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up and praise you? Selah

This Psalm is different from most others that come from a heart of dejection and despair in that the Psalmist does not change his tone and praise God before he concludes. When we continue to read this Psalm it is more of the same tone until the last verse. There are times in our lives that we all feel this despondency and hopelessness. We all have times that we feel we have been left all alone. As the old song puts it; “Nobody knows the trouble I see. Nobody knows my sorrow.” Add to this that we pray to God in earnestness and still do not feel his presence or see his response. We don’t see our problem being solved or our hardship taken from us. In fact, at times it seems to only get worse instead of getting better. We pray as earnestly and sincerely as we can utter from our broken hearts and our loved one still leaves this life or our finances go from bad to worse or that thing we feel we need so badly does not become reality.

We all need someone to talk to about our problems. Who better than the God who can do something about them and who loves us enough that he wants to do it for us? While we may not see or feel God or his response to our plea, we can know that he is with us and is hearing us. In the first verse of our Psalm, he begins by acknowledging God as his Lord and the one who saves us. So today, we must trust him as Lord and know that he will save us.

O God, help my unbelief and forgive my stubbornness. Help me to empty my heart of pride and selfishness and fill it with compassion, love and concern for others so that I truly consider them more important than myself. I ask for wisdom to teach and encourage others, especially those in my family. During this Christmas season help me to not be overcome with the glitter and stuff and forget about you and your Son. In his name I pray.

May God bless each of us to draw closer to him and trust him more.