Psalm 44:9-16

Psalm 44:9-16 
New International Version (NIV)

  9 But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies. 10 You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us. 11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations. 12 You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.
  13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. 14 You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us. 15 I live in disgrace all day long, and my face is covered with shame 16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

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  I think most of us know this feeling--the pure and abject depression of unanswered prayers.  We know what it feels like to think God has abandoned us, to believe that God has turned his back on us and no longer hears our prayers.  We think there is no hope, and we stop turning to God, thinking that we deserve whatever humiliation we receive.
  This is why I think the cross is such a place of consolation for us.  In these moments of rejection, God knows exactly what it feels like.  Jesus Christ cried out from the cross, and in our deepest moments of despair, we don't have to turn from God--we can turn to God, because God will walk with us through these dark valleys, promising not that we shall escape the tomb, but instead that we shall emerge from the other side.
  When Christ was raised, his scars remained.
  One day, your wounds shall be healed.  God promises that.  But the scars may remain, for we live in a sinful and broken world, and perhaps we shall praise God all the more for triumphing over the reality of pain, brokenness and death.

May you see the light at the end of the valley today