“I will meditate upon all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.” Psalms 77:12, Amplified Bible

Have you ever felt absolutely abandoned by God? Has it ever seemed as if He just didn’t care about you anymore, or that He just didn’t want to provide for you anymore? If you have, you’re not alone. Many, if not most, of God’s children have felt the same way at some time or another.

In Psalm 77, the Psalmist Asaph describes a time in his life that was so troublesome that he couldn’t sleep (verse 4). He was speechless when it came to articulating his pain (verse 4), and God, he felt, had abandoned him and his nation. “Have His [God’s] mercy and loving-kindness,” Asaph wrote, “ceased forever? Have his promises ended for all time? Has God deliberately abandoned or forgotten His graciousness?” (verses 8, 9). In his despair, however, Asaph found the way to cope with such times, and his “coping mechanism” should be ours. What was Asaph’s “coping mechanism”? Pray and remember the deeds of the Lord.

Asaph prayed earnestly during this time of trial (verses 1-3), and he also recounted numerous examples of God’s provision and protection of Israel in the past. By recounting God’s past watchcare, he understood that if God chose to watch over Israel in the past, He would surely choose to do so again.

Does God sometimes withdraw Himself from us, making it seem as if we’ve been abandoned? Yes, but He does so for no other reason than to draw us closer to Him in both prayer and remembrance. If you are in an “abandoned” state right now, first pray earnestly to God. Secondly, take comfort by remembering how God has specifically and miraculously supplied your needs in the past, taking comfort in the fact that if He’s done it before, He will do it again!