and David asked "why have you rejected me?"

Today, as I sat with a dear friend at CancerCare, I realized that I still had one of my Bibles in my purse from church yesterday, and my thoughts went to Psalm 43.  I opened it up and read, and the first verses and the last verses resonated with my heart.  So, as my friend snoozed - I grabbed my pencil to pen a few thoughts.  Here they are.

"You are God my stronghold
Why have you rejected me?"

David
O David - a man with a heart after God's
David asks brutally honest questions
The fact that he asks this -
must mean that he feels this
rejection

The word itself sounds bleak
and dismal
and gives one a sense of feeling alone, or perhaps forlorn even
and, left "hanging out to dry" so to speak

He identifies God as "my stronghold"
MY STRONGHOLD
hmmm
somehow the word STRONGHOLD doesn't seem to be right paired with the word
rejection
BUT David felt it
David said it
His thoughts are penned in Psalm 43 (read them for yourself below)
David ~ candid
honest
and daring to ask the "hard question" OUT LOUD
WHY GOD?
WHY HAVE YOU REJECTED ME?

He dared to speak
to share his heart cry with the GREAT I AM
And, he was not struck down by lightning
but instead was pulled deeper into the loving embrace of our God
who heard the words
the questions
and knew the heart of the speaker intimately.

David dared to ask those questions
because he knew that his relationship with the Almighty allowed it
the questions CAN be asked
the feelings - very real.   very raw.  very personal.
in other words,  "God, where are you with me on this one?"

And I could not help but think
how often do I (we, you) still ask now
God?
where are you?
God?  WHY?
God?  How long.
God?  I don't get it - I don't understand.
Oh we see but through a glass dimly as the Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 13:12

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹² Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.^[a] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.   

David - he seems to have figured it out by the end of this Psalm - as even if he is still feeling rejected, he challenges his soul to PUT HIS HOPE IN GOD.
Seems David wrestles often (throughout the Psalms) with many feelings emotionally and spiritually
Seems that David asks the hard questions often
Not sure that he often gets the direct answers from God
but there is no doubt that David KNOWS where his HOPE does come from!

There are times when my heart has cried out like David
many times
There are times when I felt alone
or even more - forlorn
But the most times have been when I can say God - you are my HOPE, my HELP, my SAVIOUR
You are my STRONGHOLD - my ANCHOR
You are my all in all.
YOU O God - are sovereign
and you are still okay with my rants, my ravings, my questions
because in those times, you hold me in your loving embrace
and say, just TRUST ME on this!

Psalm 43

¹ Vindicate me, my God,
    and plead my cause
    against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
    deceitful and wicked.
² You are God my stronghold.
    Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?
³ Send me your light and your faithful care,
    let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
    to the place where you dwell.
⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God,
    to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
    O God, my God.

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Saviour and my God.