“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”
Psalm 13:1
I remember my parents forgetting me at the swimming pool many moons ago! The tears streaming down my face as I searched frantically for them or one of my siblings have been etched into my memory forever. Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a similar situation and can relate. But I wonder if you’ve ever had the sense of being forgotten by God? It’s a feeling that happens surprisingly often to faithful followers of God. For whatever reason ‒ the death of a loved one, hardship, suffering, abuse, heart-ache, personal sin ‒ we find ourselves forgotten by God and the sound of his silence is deafening to our souls.
What I find remarkable is that the Bible doesn’t sugar coat this reality or tell you to just put a smile on your face and pretend everything’s ok. Neither does the Bible presume that this sense of forgottenness and silence is in itself sinful. Instead, in the midst of our forgotten silence the Bible ‒ and especially the Psalms ‒ teaches us to go to the very one who has forgotten us: God himself. The Bible also gives us the words to voice our forgotteness to him. Psalm 13 is but one of many examples: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and everyday have sorrow in my heart?” (vs. 1-2). You can feel the honesty, the struggle, the pain expressed in these words to God in prayer. Some might think this isn’t the way to speak to God. They’re wrong. The Bible never forbids us to cry out to God, to bear our soul to the Lord with honesty and raw emotion. Psalm 13 is our proof.
The Psalmist is not simply lamenting to God, pouring out his heart to him, and asking how long. He’s doing so in the context of faith. That’s clear in how the Psalm ends just a few verses later: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me” (vs. 5-6). This too is how we must ask our questions: in faith and in an unwavering trust in the goodness of the Lord’s unfailing love and mercy! We ask God to break through the deafening silence confident that he will again shower us with his love and mercy.
This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did! He poured out his heart to God on the cross. He didn’t use the words of Psalm 13, but instead used the equally chilling words of Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It was a question dripping with faith, and yet God forgot him and was silent for three hours as he poured his wrath upon his own beloved Son. Jesus knew why and so do we. The Bible is clear. God forgot his Son and was silent in order to make peace with all God’s other sons and daughters whom he also loved, but who had rebelled and sinned against him.
Now that Christ’s redeeming work is done, so is God’s forgotten silence! Those who cling to Christ in faith can now rest assured that they are the sons and daughters God will never forget or be silent with forever! This doesn’t mean we will never feel forgotten by God, hear the deafening sound of his silence, or ever have to pray Psalm 13 again. Trust me, you will. But now, because of Jesus, we pour out our souls to God with a firm confidence that his forgotten silence will not last forever.