I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
The verse is the cry of a discouraged and distressed soul who feels forgotten by God and mourns because of the oppression of the enemy. Even while asking why He seems to have forgotten him and why he must go mourning, the speaker still addresses God as his rock, his firm refuge. The questions give voice to real pain under suffering and the reproach of enemies, yet the sense of being forgotten and forsaken is only a painful feeling. The sufferer is not truly abandoned, friendless, or forsaken.
Affliction does not mean that God has abandoned those who trust Him, for He watches over them. He uses trials to purify rather than to destroy them. The distress of this lament stands together with trust in His continuing loving-kindness, song, and help found in its surrounding words.
The verse warns against looking on the dark side and thinking and talking unbelief. The downcast are to hope in God rather than distrust Him. They are to take their troubles to the Lord as a present help in every time of need, rather than taking them to human beings for sympathy.
The verse is the cry of a discouraged and distressed soul who feels forgotten by God and mourns because of the oppression of the enemy. Even while asking why He seems to have forgotten him and why he must go mourning, the speaker still addresses God as his rock, his firm refuge. The questions give voice to real pain under suffering and the reproach of enemies, yet the sense of being forgotten and forsaken is only a painful feeling. The sufferer is not truly abandoned, friendless, or forsaken.
Affliction does not mean that God has abandoned those who trust Him, for He watches over them. He uses trials to purify rather than to destroy them. The distress of this lament stands together with trust in His continuing loving-kindness, song, and help found in its surrounding words.
The verse warns against looking on the dark side and thinking and talking unbelief. The downcast are to hope in God rather than distrust Him. They are to take their troubles to the Lord as a present help in every time of need, rather than taking them to human beings for sympathy.