Have you ever been faced with difficulties and confusion in your life that made you wonder "What on earth is God doing?" Or maybe if it's something really distressing, you may even wonder "Where is God in all this mess?"

I've been there. You pray and pray and it seems like God isn't even listening. The situation seems to just go on and on, and it feels like God isn't doing anything about it. You need a break; you need deliverance, but somehow God seems to just leave you stranded.

If we aren't careful, this kind of thinking can really weaken our faith. We know what God's Word says, and we believe it is true. God IS good, all the time. He IS loving toward us, He IS acting behind the scenes in our behalf. God DOES hear our prayers.

Even when we cannot see the evidence of these facts, true faith is believing them anyway. Today's verse explains why we don't have to worry and wonder about what God is doing in the midst of our problems, or where He is when our prayers seem to go unheard. We cannot begin to always fathom God's thoughts or His ways in every situation. We cannot begin to know why He allows us to go through the trials and troubles that we have gone through. But we can rest assured, it will all turn out somehow for our good.

An anonymous inscription left in the wall of a German internment camp during the Holocaust read: “I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining. I believe in love even when not feeling it. I believe in God even when he is silent.” That's what true faith is. Knowing God, even when He is silent. Trusting in Him, even when we can't see Him working. Knowing that He is there, even when it feels like He has abandoned us.

When we get to that point in our walk with God, when we believe despite all the bad things we may be facing, then we can truly pray like Jesus, "Saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but Thine, be done." (Luke 22:42) Amen.