Distress Does Not Mean God Has Abandoned You
The Believer Will Face Trouble - The Difference Is We Know God Hears Us When We Cry
Introduction
In the Dominion Short narrative that preceded this teaching, I made a statement that some believers desperately need to get settled in their spirits, being a believer does not exempt you from distress.
Somewhere along the way, portions of the Body of Christ began treating hardship as though it were automatic evidence that something has gone wrong spiritually.
You are hurting, so you assume God must be angry.
You are struggling, so you assume your faith must be weak.
You prayed and the situation did not immediately change, so you wonder whether God heard you.
You are going through financial pressure, family problems, sickness, disappointment, betrayal, loneliness, grief, uncertainty, or spiritual warfare, and the enemy whispers, “if God really loved you, would you be going through this?”
It’s high time to stop allowing the presence of distress make you question the presence of God!
The Bible never promises believers a life without trouble. What scripture repeatedly reveals is something far greater, we do not face trouble alone.
The believer can hurt and still be loved.
The believer can cry and still be faithful.
The believer can become overwhelmed and still belong to God.
The believer can find himself in a situation he cannot fix and still know exactly where to turn.
Psalm 120:1 does not describe someone pretending that everything is fine.
It describes someone in distress who knew what to do with his distress.
He cried to the Lord, and God answered.
That distinction matters!
Faith is not denying that you are hurting. Faith is knowing Who to cry to while you are hurting.
Faith is not pretending the storm does not exist. Faith is knowing that the storm does not have the authority to redefine the character of your God.
Now Let’s Eat Some Meat!
Psalm 120:1 (AMPC) “In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.”
Read those words carefully, “IN my distress.”
Not after the distress disappeared.
Not once everything had been repaired.
Not after every question had been answered.
Not after the tears stopped.
IN IT!
This is where some believers need their theology corrected.
Distress is not always evidence of disobedience.
Distress is not automatically evidence that God has removed His hand from your life.
Distress is not proof that your prayers have failed.
Distress is not confirmation that Satan has won.
And distress certainly does not mean God has abandoned you!
The psalmist says, “In my distress I cried to the Lord…”
There is something deeply important here.
He did not merely experience distress.
He directed his distress toward God.
There is a difference!
Everyone experiences pain. The question is where do you take it?
When you hurt, where do you run?
When you are afraid, whose voice do you seek first?
When you are overwhelmed, what becomes your refuge?
When your heart is broken, what do you reach for?
When anxiety begins screaming, where does your mind go?
When disappointment cuts deeply, who gets your first cry?
Some of us will call five people before we call on God.
Some will post the problem online before they pray about it.
Some will seek validation from people who do not possess the spiritual authority, wisdom, or capacity to heal what is hurting.
Some will numb themselves with entertainment, food, substances, sexual gratification, shopping, work, anger, isolation, or other distractions rather than sitting before God and saying, “Father, I am hurting!”
There is no shame in crying out to God!
There is no weakness in admitting, “Lord, I cannot handle this by myself!”
In fact, there is spiritual maturity in finally recognizing that you were never supposed to handle everything by yourself.
Then comes the assurance, “…and He answered me.”
Notice the confidence.
The psalmist does not say God was unaware.
He does not say God ignored him.
He does not say God had abandoned him.
He says, “He answered.”
The answer may not always look like what we requested.
The answer may not arrive according to our preferred timetable.
The answer may be strength to endure instead of immediate deliverance.
The answer may be peace while the storm continues.
The answer may be correction because our thinking is wrong.
The answer may be an open door.
The answer may be a closed door.
The answer may simply be “wait.”
The answer may be God changing us before He changes what is around us.
Yet the foundational truth remains, GOD HEARS HIS PEOPLE!
The Context of This Teaching
Psalm 120 begins the collection traditionally called the Songs of Ascents, Psalms 120–134.
And how does this collection begin? With distress.
Did you catch that? That alone should preach to somebody!! The Songs of Ascents, as in ascending. The journey upward begins with somebody crying out from a place of trouble.
Psalm 120 describes a person surrounded by deception, hostility, and people who do not desire peace. The psalmist is not writing from some comfortable spiritual bubble where everybody treats him fairly.
He is under pressure.
He is distressed.
He is dealing with circumstances he would rather not be facing.
Yet the first verse establishes the posture for everything that follows, “In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.”
The trouble becomes the setting, and God becomes the destination.
That is critical, because too many believers allow trouble to become their destination.
They move into their distress mentally.
They decorate it emotionally.
They rehearse it every morning.
They talk about it all day.
They go to bed thinking about it.
They wake up thinking about it.
Eventually, the problem becomes larger in their consciousness than the God they claim to trust.
Child of God, your distress is a location you may walk through. It is not supposed to become your identity!
You are not “the abandoned one.”
You are not “the forgotten one.”
You are not “the one God stopped loving.”
You are a child of God walking through something difficult while belonging to a Father Who still hears you.
Do not confuse the chapter you are living with the conclusion God is writing.
Relevance to Today’s Believers
This teaching is desperately needed today because modern Christianity sometimes presents an unrealistic picture of faith.
We see testimonies after the breakthrough.
We see photographs after the victory.
We hear people talk about what God brought them through after they have already come through it.
What we do not always see is the crying at 2:00 in the morning.
We do not see the unanswered questions.
We do not see the moments when strong believers say, “God, I do not understand what You are doing.”
We do not see the pastor who ministers to everyone else and then goes home carrying his own burden. That one is very personal for me.
We do not see the mother praying over a child who appears to be moving farther from God.
We do not see the husband or wife wondering how a marriage will survive.
We do not see the believer staring at bills without knowing how they will be paid.
We do not see the person sitting in a doctor's office waiting for the results.
We do not see the faithful Christian whose heart has been broken by people he trusted.
Yet scripture never requires us to pretend.
We do not have to fake peace when we are hurting, fake strength when we are struggling, or act as though everything is fine when it is not.
Biblical faith is not pretending there is no pain; biblical faith is trusting God in the middle of the pain.
There is a dangerous form of religious performance that teaches people to smile publicly while they are dying privately.
That is not what Psalm 120:1 teaches.
The psalmist admits, “I was distressed.”
Then he declares, “I cried to God.”
Then he testifies, “God answered.”
That is real faith.
Faith does not require you to lie about the pain.
Faith requires you to tell the truth about Who is greater than the pain.
And here is where conviction must enter the room, where are you taking your distress?
Because distress will expose what you really trust.
Anybody can say, “God is my source,” when everything is going well.
Anybody can shout when the money is there.
Anybody can praise when everybody likes them.
Anybody can testify when the prayer has already been answered.
The question is, WHO IS GOD TO YOU WHEN YOU ARE STILL IN THE DISTRESS?
Supporting Scriptures
Psalm 34:17-19 (AMPC) “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles. The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent. Many evils confront the [consistently] righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Look at the language.
“When the righteous cry…”
Not if they ever need to cry.
Scripture acknowledges that righteous people will experience circumstances serious enough to make them cry for help.
Then comes the assurance, “The Lord hears.”
And notice something else.
“Many evils confront the righteous.”
So stop allowing someone to convince you that every difficult circumstance means you have somehow failed God.
The righteous face trouble too.
The distinction is that trouble does not get the final word.
God does.
Even when the deliverance does not happen immediately, the believer knows the One Who has drawn near.
God is not repelled by your broken heart.
He is close to it.
John 16:33 (AMPC) “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]”
Jesus destroys the false idea that following Him means avoiding trouble.
He said plainly, “In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration.”
Jesus did not hide that reality from His disciples.
Then He tells us where peace exists, “In Me.”
Not in perfect circumstances.
Not in money.
Not in popularity.
Not in your career.
Not in your health.
Not in human or family approval.
Not in your ability to control everything.
IN CHRIST AND IN CHRIST ALONE!
The believer's peace is not based upon the absence of trouble.
The believer's peace is rooted in the presence and victory of Christ.
Psalm 46:1-3 (AMPC) “God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling and tumult. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!”
God is not described merely as help.
He is “a very present and well-proved help in trouble.”
“Present” Meaning He is not absent when trouble arrives.
The world around you may feel as though it is collapsing.
The mountains may shake.
The waters may roar.
Everything familiar may seem unstable.
Yet God remains Refuge and Strength.
Somebody needs to stop measuring God's presence by the stability of their circumstances.
God can be fully present while everything around you is shaking!
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (AMPC) “We are hedged in (pressed) on every side [troubled and oppressed in every way], but not cramped or crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair; we are pursued (persecuted and hard driven), but not deserted [to stand alone]; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed;”
This scripture destroys the fantasy that mature Christians never feel pressure.
Paul says;
Pressed.
Perplexed.
Persecuted.
Struck down.
Those are not words describing an easy life.
Yet listen to what follows;
Not crushed.
Not driven to despair.
Not deserted.
Not destroyed.
That is the believer!
We may be hit without being finished.
We may be confused without being abandoned.
We may fall without being destroyed.
Your distress is real, however your God is greater.
1 Peter 5:6-7 (AMPC) “Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you, casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
Why can you give God your anxiety?
Because “He cares for you.”
And look at how the AMPC expresses it;
“Affectionately” and “Watchfully.”
You are not throwing your burdens toward an indifferent God.
You are giving them to a Father Who cares.
Some of us keep praying about something and then picking the anxiety right back up.
We cast the problem on God Sunday morning and retrieve it Sunday afternoon.
LET IT GO!
If you have placed it in God's hands, stop repeatedly snatching it back because He has not handled it according to your timetable, or expectation.
Philippians 4:6-7 (AMPC) “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Notice again, “In every circumstance.”
Prayer is not the emergency glass you break only after everything else fails.
Prayer should be the instinct of the believer.
And God promises something extraordinary, peace that does not require the situation to make sense.
That is why somebody can be going through enormous difficulty and still possess supernatural peace.
The circumstances say panic, God says peace.
The circumstances say you are finished, God says trust Me.
The circumstances say there is no way, faith says, I do not need to see the way to trust the One Who knows the way.
Romans 8:35, 37-39 (AMPC) “Who shall ever separate us from Christ’s love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?”
“Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us. For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Here is the death blow to the lie that distress means abandonment.
Paul specifically names distress and asks whether it can separate us from Christ's love.
The answer is a resounding definite NO!
Your circumstances may change, God's love has not.
People may leave, God's love has not.
Plans may collapse, God's love has not.
You may not understand what God is doing, again let me state, God's love has not changed!
And notice where the victory occurs, “Amid all these things.”
Sometimes victory means God brings you out.
Sometimes victory means God keeps you while you are still in it.
Reflection and Spiritual Insight
Ask yourself some uncomfortable questions.
When trouble comes, is God really my first refuge?
Or do I say He is my first refuge while consistently making Him my last resort?
Do I interpret difficult circumstances through the character of God, or do I reinterpret God's character through difficult circumstances?
When God does not answer according to my timetable, do I continue trusting Him?
Have I confused God's silence with God's absence?
Have I confused waiting with rejection?
Have I allowed pain to convince me that God stopped loving me?
Have I become so focused on what God has not changed that I have stopped recognizing how He is sustaining me?
And here is a difficult one, am I asking God to remove something He may presently be using to mature me?
Not every storm was sent by God.
Not every painful circumstance is God's direct doing.
Yet nothing that reaches the believer is beyond God's ability to redeem, use, teach through, and ultimately bring under His sovereign purpose.
Stop wasting your distress!
If you are going through it, learn in it.
Pray in it.
Grow in it.
Worship in it.
Seek God in it.
Ask Him what needs to change in you while you are asking Him to change what is around you. Application to Modern Faith
Cry to God First: Develop a spiritual reflex that turns toward God before panic, social media, human opinion, or unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Tell God the Truth: Prayer is not performance. If you are angry, hurt, frightened, confused, or exhausted, bring your heart honestly before Him.
Refuse to Interpret Trouble as Abandonment: Difficult circumstances do not automatically indicate divine displeasure or absence.
Stay in Scripture: When emotions become loud, you need something more authoritative than your feelings. Anchor your thinking in what God has actually said.
Remember Previous Deliverance: Do not develop spiritual amnesia every time a new storm arrives. Remember what God has already brought you through.
Allow Others to Pray With You: Crying to God does not mean isolating yourself from the Body of Christ. God often strengthens His people through other believers.
Wait Without Walking Away: The delay between prayer and visible answer is often where faith is exposed.
And please hear this, DO NOT MAKE A PERMANENT DECISION DURING A TEMPORARY SEASON OF DISTRESS!
Do not abandon your faith because today hurts.
Do not walk away from your calling because ministry became difficult.
Do not conclude that God has forgotten you because heaven has not moved according to your schedule.
Cry out.
Stay faithful.
Keep praying.
Keep trusting.
Keep standing. Five Checkpoints for Every Believer in Times of Distress
Where Do I Run First?
Psalm 120:1 (AMPC) “In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.”
When distress arrives, what is your first instinct?
God?
People?
Panic?
Anger?
Escape?
Distraction?
Your first response often reveals where your functional trust actually lives.
If God is truly your refuge, learn to run toward Him before you run everywhere else.
Am I Mistaking Trouble for Abandonment?
Hebrews 13:5 (AMPC) “…for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (Assuredly not)!”
Is that emphatic or what?! Read that assurance again. “I will not.”
Your feelings are not permitted to overrule God's declaration.
You may feel alone.
That does not mean you are alone.
Faith learns to say, “my emotions are real, yet God's Word is my authority.”
Am I Giving God My Burden or Merely Talking to Him About It?
1 Peter 5:7 (AMPC) “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
There is a difference between mentioning your burden to God and surrendering it to God.
If you pray and immediately return to rehearsing every catastrophic possibility, ask yourself whether you actually released it.
Give Him the whole care.
Can I Trust God Before I Understand God?
Proverbs 3:5-6 (AMPC) “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.”
This is where faith becomes real.
Can you trust God when you cannot explain God?
Can you obey Him without seeing the entire plan?
Can you continue following when you do not understand the route?
If you require complete understanding before trusting God, you are not walking by faith.
Will I Still Worship While I Am Waiting?
Habakkuk 3:17-18 (AMPC) “Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!”
There it is, “Though…”
And then, “Yet I will rejoice.”
This is mature faith.
Not worship because everything worked out.
Not praise because the answer arrived.
Not rejoicing because the bank account changed.
I worship because God is still God!
Can your worship survive a season when the fig tree does not blossom?
That is the checkpoint. Summary
Psalm 120:1 is only one sentence, yet it contains an entire theology of suffering, prayer, and confidence, “In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.”
There was distress.
There was a cry.
There was a God Who heard.
And there was an answer.
Do not skip the first part because you want the last part.
Sometimes there is an “in my distress” before there is an “He answered me.”
The believer's life is not without tears.
It is not without pressure.
It is not without disappointment.
It is not without questions.
It is not without nights when you desperately need God to remind you that He is near.
Our hope is not that distress will never come.
Our hope is that when distress comes, we know Who our God is.
So stop telling yourself that the storm means God left.
Stop interpreting delay as abandonment.
Stop allowing Satan to use pain as evidence against the goodness of God.
Stop expecting Christianity to exempt you from every difficult day.
Jesus never promised that.
What He has given us is something infinitely greater;
His presence.
His love.
His peace.
His Word.
His Spirit.
His promises.
And access to a Father Who hears His children when they cry.
You may be distressed today. CRY OUT TO HIM!
You may not understand today. CRY OUT TO HIM!
You may be exhausted. CRY OUT TO HIM!
You may have prayed about the same situation a hundred times. CRY OUT TO HIM AGAIN!
And while you wait, remember, DISTRESS DOES NOT MEAN GOD HAS ABANDONED YOU!
Your circumstances are not proof that God has left.
Your tears are not proof that God has stopped listening.
Your waiting is not proof that God has forgotten your name.
The believer will face trouble.
THE DIFFERENCE IS WE KNOW GOD HEARS US WHEN WE CRY!
Question For Today
When distress hits your life, will you allow your pain to convince you that God has abandoned you, or will your distress drive you to your knees before the God Who has already promised to hear you, care for you, remain with you, and never forsake you?
If You Have Ears to Hear, Then Hear It!
I pray for you each and every day.
All God's Best!
Karl McKinnie
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