Weekly Devotion: How to Persevere With Hope When You Feel Forgotten, Unheard, and Overwhelmed by Injustice

By: Nicole Miners

How can we persevere with hope when we feel forgotten, unheard, and overwhelmed by injustice?

Psalm 94 opens with a desperate cry for God the Judge to rise up with vengeance. Vengeance here is not about personal revenge, but about God making wrong things right again. Both the author and the offender of this psalm remain anonymous, but the repetition of “how long” reveals the extent of anguish that’s been experienced over this injustice. The few details of the event reveal the arrogance of the oppressors as they mock God and His people, saying He doesn’t hear or see their suffering. They “break in pieces [God’s] people” with the cruelty of their words (Psalm 94:5). Throughout the remaining verses of the psalm, the psalmist rebukes the offenders, encourages God’s people that they will not be forsaken, and reflects on his own testimony of this very truth.

Have you ever been here? When the actions of another brought you to your knees? On the ground, you laid gutted, asking God “where were you?”

It could have been a family member who disagreed with the way you were caring for your child, when you were doing everything you knew how. It might have been a friend you trusted with vulnerable details about your family’s situation and they used them to gossip about you instead of pray for you. Maybe it was one of your child’s friends that abandoned them in their suffering, or a bully who used their struggles to embarrass them before others. Considering the circumstances of God’s oppressed people causes us to pause and ask… How can we also persevere with hope when we feel forgotten, unheard, or overwhelmed by our own injustices?

In verses 16-19, the psalmist begins to personally reflect: “Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will stand up for me against evildoers?  Unless the Lord had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer”(Psalm 94:16-19). 

When he asks who would have helped him, the implied answer is no one but God. When his anxiety was overwhelming, when he didn’t know who he could trust, when he felt so misunderstood, when he didn’t know when his relief would come, God’s presence comforted him. He was grieving and he was honest about that, but there is a shift that happens in the tone of this psalm as he remembers and declares that God would be his defense. As long as he remembered that God was watching, he could be strengthened to keep waiting for justice.

Sometimes we open our hearts to people to ask for help or prayer and we wind up hurt for it. It can be blindsiding when this happens because it usually comes from the last person you’d ever expect. You had the ones in mind you wanted to give the “cliff notes version” to, but this was your confidant. Someone you really trusted. An injustice like this can leave you scrambling and trying to make sense of it… all while you’re still responsible for your child’s care schedule. Doctor and therapy appointments, medication and treatment schedules, equipment refill and insurance review calls, specially prepared meals and supplements, answering your child’s questions and calming their fears, and wiping your own tears before tucking into bed completely exhausted. 

If this has happened to you, I’m so sorry. And if you never get to hear it from the person who hurt you, let me say it from them too… I’m so sorry.

I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to feel left for dead. When you’ve called out for help with what feels like your very last breath after a long time struggling silently, and someone says you should have saved it. For four years- through raising a medically complex child, child loss, and the complexity of pregnancy after loss- I ached with the loss of a relationship I thought I’d have for life. And one day, while still feeling bound by the grief, I called out to God on a late night drive home. I cried the whole way home, came inside, climbed the stairs, wiped my tears and went to bed. And when I woke up, there was a text message waiting for me. From 3:00 am. The apology text I had waited so many years for. Whether or not it would work out to be reconciled, I knew God had been my defense. The timing was incredible. God wrestled with this person all night long and- praise Him- they surrendered. 

Not everyone will. There’s no promise that the people who have hurt you will ever apologize or make it right. God is a gentleman and he won’t violate free will. So, while He longs to heal your pain, He might not always get to do it through the person who first caused it. What He will not do, however, is leave you alone to deal with it. You may not know exactly how to anticipate it but- just like the psalmist- you can trust that He will be your defense.

In His own perfect timing, and working all things for your good, He will come through for you.

Father God, Thank You that You see me and my family and You fight for us. You alone know the aches… You alone have seen the injustices… and yet You assure me I’m never truly alone. You comfort me with Your presence, You defend me with Your promises, and You surround me with Your people. The right people. I trust You to bring them. The ones who will help me to bring these walls down and begin to heal and trust again. Help me to lay aside offense, Lord. Help me to forgive, and even to pray for those who hurt me. Help me to be free of the pain that someone else felt first and didn’t know how to get rid of except by passing it on. I refuse to partner with the enemy in oppressing people. Instead I will press into You. Amen.

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

Reflection Questions:

1. Have the reactions of any of your friends or family surprised you throughout your family’s trials? How so?

2. How can you remind yourself that God will be your defense when your emotions start to rise?

3. Why does God ask us to pray for the person/people who hurt us (Matthew 5:44)? Are you ready to pray for the person who hurt you or your family? Why or why not?

Put Your Faith Into Action:

There’s a reason Jesus emphasizes forgiveness to His followers. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” It means that sometimes people- really thinking they’re acting with the right intentions- are unaware that the posture of their own heart is not at all aligned with Heaven’s priorities. It’s why, dying on the cross, Jesus still defended them: “...Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 

Forgiveness isn’t just for others though. It’s also for us. 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 urges believers to examine themselves before taking communion lest they take it in an unworthy manner, not discerning the Lord’s body. Verse 30 reads, “For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep (have died).” At first glance, it seems that not discerning the Lord’s body would mean not realizing that His body was broken for us or that we were healed by His stripes. A look at the broader context of 1 Corinthians 11 and the surrounding chapters reveal Paul has been talking about community, however. Not discerning the Lord’s body could actually (or perhaps also) refer to His church body- the bride! This would add context to the Lord’s emphasis on right relationships in Matthew 5:23-24. It is written, “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” It seems there is a protective factor for our lives in making sure we are operating from a place of forgiveness.

Trusting God to be our defender means we also have to be obedient to His instruction to forgive.

This week, as an act of trusting God to defend you, set aside all the wrong that’s been done against you, or all the reasons you are clearly right in this disagreement. Decide you’re not going to think or talk about it anymore. It’s when you stop rehearsing the hurt that God often decides He’s ready to release the healing.

If it does creep back into your mind and you begin to feel angry, embarrassed, or distressed- and it likely will, because that’s the enemy- decide instead to pray. Matthew 5:44 instructs us, “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

How To Begin Praying for Someone Who Has Hurt You:

1. Start with honesty. Tell God exactly how you feel—your pain, anger, confusion. He already knows, and honest prayer opens the door to healing.

   
   

2. Ask God to give you His perspective. Pray: “Lord, help me to see them the way You see them.” This doesn’t excuse the hurt, but it softens your heart toward compassion.

   
   

3. Pray for their good, not their downfall. Ask God to bring them to repentance, healing, and wholeness. This kind of prayer releases you from bitterness while entrusting them to God.

   
   

4. Bless them through gritted teeth, if necessary. Speak blessings over their future, even before your emotions catch up.

   
   

5. Invite God to use the pain for your growth. Ask: “Lord, don’t let this pain go to waste. Shape me through it. Make me more like You.” This prayer reclaims your story and reminds you that God is working—even in this.

Further Reading:

• Galatians 6:2-5: Examine the difference between burdens and loads.

  
  

• Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22, Luke 11:15: Jesus was accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. This name represents Satan or a ruler demon but, when translated, it means “Lord of the Flies.” Like a fly, Satan is attracted to the open, oozing, and rotting wounds of offense. Resolve to live free of offense, in the total forgiveness of the Lord.

  
  

• Matthew 5:23-24: The urgency of forgiveness and reconciliation

  
  

• Romans 12:18: The parameters for reconciliation

Verse to meditate on and memorize:

Psalm 94: 19 “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” 

​​Nicole is a follower of Jesus, married to her high school sweetheart, and mama of a miracle girl who taught her the wildly passionate, protective love of a parent. Nicole empowers mothers to partner with the Father in discipling and defending the children entrusted to them. Nicole is a Praying Through ministries volunteers who writes at Nicoleminers.com.