Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me. My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Do not turn your back on me. Do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper. Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me, O God of my salvation! Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close. – Psalm 27:7-10
After reading about David’s desire to worship God and his trust and confidence in Him, it’s somewhat jarring to come to these next four verses. David seems to be afraid that God is going to abandon and reject him.
According to the Holman Old Testament Commentary, David’s fear stems from the fact that God’s deliverance had not yet come to him. His pleas for God to be merciful and answer him show that he was still in great distress. David mistakenly thinks that God’s delayed answer means God has abandoned him, rejected him, and turned away from him.
Oh, how I empathize with David in this moment. I’m sure many of you can, too. If we’re struggling with infertility, we know how that sense of confusion and helplessness when we feel that God is delayed in answering our prayers.
But remember, that feeling of rejection and abandonment is just a feeling- it’s not truth. If you’re struggling with feeling this way, let David’s reminder to himself in verse 10 be a reminder to you, also. Even after he voices all his fears and doubt, he comes back to the fact that even if those he loves most were to abandon him, God never would.
