Have you ever felt defeated, deflated, and bone weary? 

King David of Israel felt this same soul-crushing weariness. Despite God’s promise that the Savior would be one of his descendants and despite the fact that he was called “a man after God’s own heart,” David struggled with his faith and his faithfulness to God. He had a man murdered rather than admit that he slept with that man’s wife. His own son Absalom coveted his throne with a zeal born of hatred. Another precious son died as a consequence of David’s sin. Deceit. Betrayal. Sorrow.

In Psalm 22:1,2, David groans, “My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” 

How often do we feel like David? When we spin in a slow circle and all we see are the steep walls of the valley we are in? When God seems so far away? 

But God is near. The same David who at times felt light-years away from God later exults in the same psalm, “He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help” (verse 24).

Take heart, weary one. God hears your cries and sees your tears. He has not left you. He is there in every valley, in every circumstance, holding you close.