Monday, January 24 – Psalm 9:10

Why pray to a God who let this bad thing happen?

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,

For You, Lord, have not abandoned those who seek You.

It is normal to generally dislike someone after a bad first impression or a couple of poor interactions. We tend make judgments regarding others quickly after negative interactions—whether those experiences give us the whole picture of the person or not. We even treat God this way at times. When something bad happens, we place all the blame on God. Instead of running to Him as our Father, we point the finger at Him as the One who has the control and ability to change things we can’t.

There is no easy answer for this. Bad things cut us deep because they were not a part of God’s original design. God declared all His creation to be “good,” but mankind brought brokenness to His design through sin. Like a glass that has been shattered, the brokenness of our world touches every part of life on earth.

In these moments, while we grieve the brokenness we see or experience, we should be reminded of the truth of Psalm 9:10: the Lord has not abandoned those who seek Him. Even when we are weeping and without words, we can run to Him with confidence in who He is (Romans 8:26-27). While we wrestle in prayer—asking God questions like “Why?”, “What’s the point?”, or “How do I move on from here?”—we can rest assured that God’s goal for us isn’t to figure out the purpose in our circumstances completely. His desire is for us to know Him. We’re promised from these verses that when we know His name and who He is, we will trust Him. God is the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). No matter how big or small our struggles, we can run to God, knowing He will continue His work of restoration in this life and the one to come.

• Have you ever felt like God abandoned you? How does this verse encourage you?
• How does understanding God’s goal of restoration change the way we see bad things?
• Pray and tell God about when you have wrestled with bad things happening. Ask Him to remind you of His hope and restoration.