God, listen to my prayer. Pay attention to my cry for help. Hear me and answer me. My thoughts upset me. I’m very troubled. I’m troubled by what my enemies say about me. I’m upset because sinful people stare at me. They cause me all kinds of suffering. When they are angry, they attack me with their words.
I feel great pain deep down inside me. The terrors of death are crushing me. Fear and trembling have taken hold of me. Panic has overpowered me. I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away and be at rest. I would escape to a place far away. I would stay out in the desert. I would hurry to my place of safety. It would be far away from the winds and storms I’m facing.” Psalm 55: 1-8
If you follow the news, if you are on social media and like to talk with others about the news happening around you, this could have been a troubling week for you. You may have been upset and struggle to understand what is going on, and you might want to be away from it all.

You feel the world is against what you believe and is attacking you personally. Your friends have slammed you on social media because of your views on these events. If you have any inclination towards God, you may have asked yourself where God was? When you were troubled this week, why did you not feel His presence in your life!
How do you know you felt God? What do you say? I got goosebumps, or the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up! Maybe you cried during worship, or you felt at peace. That can be God’s presence affecting you, but can’t you have a tingly, goosebumps, teary-eyed experience elsewhere? Maybe you watch something on tv that moves you! Perhaps you hear a song, and you get a peaceful feeling.
God doesn’t always reveal himself through feelings. There are times when you may feel Him, and there are times when you may not. Feelings are not the only evidence that God is with us. There are some of you looking for that loving feeling! You want to feel tingly goosebumps. Sometimes it’s a whisper, and sometimes, there is silence too.
Maybe you’re not feeling God right now because it’s not happening your way. Don’t give up, don’t give in to what the world says! Trust God is with you!
God tells us in Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”