Weekly Devotion: How to Hope When God Feels Absent

By: Asha Kennedy

How can we persevere with hope when God feels absent?

This week’s psalms are full of lament. We read pleas for God to intervene and we read of his perceived absence. 

While we know God is omnipresent, in times of trouble we can also feel abandoned. How do we trust the plans God has for us when we cry out to Him and we don’t get a response? 

In Psalm 74, all hope seems lost as the enemies have made a mockery of God and seem to be living a good life while the believers are suffering and waiting for God to redeem them and save them from their enemies. We see the same cries for help in chapter 77, but there’s a shift in the laments as the believers are reminded of God’s power. 

In Psalm 77: 11-12, we are reminded that God did not abandon His people. This scripture reads: “But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.”

Interrupting our lament to remember God’s mighty works is essential. It is the hope we can cling to even when God feels absent.

You may be enduring the loss of a child, an unexpected hospital stay, a heartbreaking season of infertility, the complexity of pregnancy after loss, or just the ups and downs of life that can make being rooted in faith and trusting God difficult.

You may feel abandoned by your loved ones or God, but we must be anchored in the hope in Christ! His character is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. His promises are true.

God, you are a mighty fortress. Though at times it’s difficult to trust in you, I do. Remind me of your promises this week. Draw near to me as I cry out to you. You are the source of my salvation and strength. Things may not make sense right now, but I must trust in you and lay my burdens at your feet. So God, be near. Even if I can't feel You — stay near. Even if I can’t say the words — stay near. Even if the healing doesn’t come the way I prayed — stay near. In Your mercy, restore me. In Your timing, redeem what is broken. In Your love, remember me — and remember my child. In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.

Dig Deeper into How to Navigate What is Ahead with Real Hope

Reflection Questions:

1. Where in your life do you need to trust in God's ability to bring victory or deliverance? 

2. What do these psalms say about God’s justice and mercy in the midst of tragedy?

3. What does the repeated plea, “Restore us, O God,” mean for you personally at this moment?

4. Can I still believe that God is strong and good even in this hospital room or after this loss?

Put Your Faith Into Action:

While it may be easy to allow the enemy to trick you into thinking that all hope is lost and God has abandoned you, remember that you are a child of God. 

This week, remember to keep the faith and know that God is on your side, no matter how things may feel right now. God loves you and cares for you. 

Use this week’s scripture and the additional scriptures to speak the promises of God to yourself and over your life. Find ways to rejoice in the small things this week!

• Lament: record your grief in a journal to look back on later to see how God delivered you through this very moment of time.

  • Reread Psalm 74 and 80 to guide you, as needed.

• Honor the legacy of your child lost by giving to another family at your local hospital.

  • This can be gifting a card, a basket, etc. to your local hospital on a specific day or when you feel led to do so.

• Find God in each moment this week.

  • Look for God while completing mundane tasks this week. How can you see God moving in the people and events around you? Where can you stop and pause to give God glory?

Further Reading:

Isaiah 43:2

2 Corinthians 4: 8-10

Verse to meditate on and memorize:

Psalm 80: 3 “Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.”

​​Asha Kennedy lives in Texas with her black lab mix, Whiskey. She's mother to Kennedy Grace, in Heaven. Asha volunteers with Praying Through ministries because she's seen the work of the ministry first-hand and wishes to give back just a portion of what the ministry has done for her; she's been blessed with prayer, encouragement, and fellowship and hopes to do the same in her volunteer service.