God Is Never Far From Me

– Ponderings:

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”
The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion. (Psalm 116).

Christian songwriter Mark Miller composed a song, “I Believe.” He wrote: “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining; I believe in love even when I don’t feel it; I believe in God even when he is silent.”

The song is even more impactful when you know the story behind the lyrics. Miller’s inspiration came from a poem written by an unknown Jewish prisoner on a wall in a WWII concentration camp. The words of the poem are:

I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when he is silent.

I believe through any trial,
there is always a way
But sometimes in this suffering
and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter,
to know someone’s there.

But a voice rises within me, saying hold on
my child, I’ll give you strength,
I’ll give you hope. Just stay a little while.
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining

May there someday be sunshine
May there someday be happiness
May there someday be love
May there someday be peace….

I’m not sure I could write such words in any circumstance. I hope so, but I’m not sure we can know with certainty until we’ve been there. But I’ve had times when I felt that God was silent. I’ve had times when it seemed my prayers lost their power.

I don’t know what the psalmist was going through when he wrote the words of Psalm 116, or whether the person who wrote those words on the wall survived or died in the camp. But their words inspire me and remind me that God is never far from me.

In Psalm 116, the psalmist offers a personal testimony: “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice.” There’s something profoundly intimate in those words. This is not a generic declaration of God’s goodness—it is a love forged in the furnace of affliction. Here, we are reminded of a God who listens. A God who leans down to hear us when we are gasping for breath, who stays close when others drift away.

The psalmist continues, “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘Lord, save me!'” These words are raw, real, and relatable. Lent pulls us into a space of truth, where we don’t tidy up our prayers. We cry out and trust that God hears. “You, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.”

God hears our cries, but God also has a promise for us. Someday there will be sunshine, someday there will be happiness, someday there will be love, and someday there will be peace. We have God’s Word on that. The Lenten journey leads to the cross, but it also leads beyond it—to the empty tomb.

Prayer: Loving God, you are with us always, even when we can’t hear you. You have heard my cry when no one else could. Help me walk with honesty, sit with sorrow, and cling to hope. I love you, Lord—not because I must, but because you first loved me. Help me to live in response to your grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.