The Lord Has Not Forsaken You

Psalm 9:10 is highlighted and underlined in my Bible, evidence of other times this verse has ministered to my heart. It says, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” As I review this verse I’m struck by the ways believers respond to the Lord. For some reason at this point, I hear English actress Maggie Smith’s voice matter-of-factly stating the obvious, “That’s just what people do, you know.” And so it is, Maggie. Christians put their trust in the Lord. That’s just what we do.

And yet, before doing there is knowing. The text says, “Those who know Your name.” This doesn’t mean they know about God. It means they know Him in a real way. The kind of knowing that comes from testing something and finding it to be completely trustworthy. And when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, trusting in His righteousness to cover the debt of our sin, then the adventure of knowing God begins. It starts as we read about Him in the Bible, talk to Him about it in prayer, and then test it out in our life. So that it is a truism that “those who know God’s name put their trust in Him.”

Believers trust God. It’s just what we do, you know. We trust God because we know and have experienced what David already revealed in verse 9, “The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble.” He is our refuge, a place of safety. Psalm 9:10 reminds us, "You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You." The One who is our refuge will never leave us when the going gets hard or we grow fractious and fretful. We can take refuge in the promise that those who seek Him find Him because He never leaves us. We will never deal with abandonment issues when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. David reinforces that truth with these words in verse 12, “He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.”

Not forsaken. Not forgotten. Not abandoned. Not left alone.

Welcomed. Remembered. Loved. Comforted. Safe.

It’s the way of things—to trust God because He is so very faithful and loving and kind. Such an obvious truth, and yet there’s a reason that verse has been underlined and highlighted and prayed through and cried over in my Bible. Sometimes it’s just plain hard to trust the Lord—even when we know Him, really know Him; even when we have trusted Him in the past; even when we believe His Word and His promises. Even then, there are times when every believer comes face to face with these truths and cries out like the desperate father in Mark 9:24, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”  

Maybe right now you are looking at Psalm 9:10 desiring to trust the Lord, yet Unbelief hasn’t blinked. You’re feeling woefully deficient and insufficient. And you wonder, “Is there any way I can really live out Psalm 9:10?” Absolutely! My friend, Kris Goertzen, has a sweet way of responding to me when I’ve asked her if she could help me. Her response? “For you—the world!” Do you realize that’s God’s response to His children?

Lord, I need you.

You will find me. I’m here.

Lord, I’m scared.

Trust Me. I am THE place of safety.

Lord? Do you see me? Do you know what’s happening in my life? Will you help me?

For you, child, the world! I gave you My Beloved Son, so you would know me. I will never leave you, not now, not ever.  

Those who know the Lord trust Him because the Lord never forsakes His children. That's why trusting Him is just what we do, because we know that the Lord always helps His children. He has helped us in the past. He will help us in the future. He is helping us today. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”