Living Free Every Day®
A ministry of LivingFree.org
Scripture
“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts…? …But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”
Thoughts for the Day
One of the most powerful things about Scripture is its honesty.
David doesn’t hide what he’s feeling—he brings it straight to God.
He asks:
“How long?”
“Will you forget me?”
“Why am I still struggling?”
These aren’t polished, church-ready prayers. They’re raw. Real. Unfiltered.
David is overwhelmed—not just by his circumstances, but by his thoughts. He says he is “wrestling” internally. That’s what fear often feels like—a constant internal battle you can’t seem to shut off.
But what’s remarkable is not just how David starts—it’s how he finishes.
In the same passage, he says:
“But I trust…”
“My heart rejoices…”
“I will sing…”
What changed?
His situation didn’t immediately shift—but his focus did.
David models a process:
He expresses his fear honestly…
Then he moves toward trust intentionally.
This is the turning point in overcoming fear.
You don’t have to pretend you’re okay—but you also don’t have to stay where you started.
Consider This . . .
What are you feeling right now that you haven’t fully expressed?
Fear often stays powerful because it stays unspoken.
You might try to:
Push it down
Ignore it
Distract yourself from it
But unexpressed fear doesn’t disappear—it grows.
There is freedom in naming what’s real:
“I feel anxious.”
“I feel overwhelmed.”
“I feel uncertain.”
God is not intimidated by your honesty. In fact, He invites it.
But don’t stop there.
Like David, let your honesty lead you somewhere:
Toward trust.
Toward truth.
Toward praise.
Even if it feels small—even if it feels like a whisper—choose to say:
“But I trust You.”
That’s how fear begins to lose its hold.
Prayer
Lord,
Thank You that I don’t have to hide what I’m feeling from You. You already know my thoughts, my struggles, and the fears I carry.
Today, I choose to be honest with You. I bring my worries, my questions, and my emotions into Your presence. I don’t want to ignore them or pretend they’re not there.
But I also don’t want to stay stuck in them. Help me, like David, to move from fear to trust. Even if my faith feels small, I choose to say, “I trust You.”
Begin to shift my heart, renew my perspective, and lead me into praise again. In Jesus' name . .
PO Box 22127 ~ Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 ~ 423-899-4770
©Living Free 2020. Living Free is a registered trademark. Living Free Every Day® devotionals may be reproduced for personal use. When reproduced to share with others, please acknowledge the source as Living Free, Chattanooga, TN, www.LivingFree.org. Must have written permission to use in any format to be sold. Permission may be requested by sending an e-mail to [email protected]
Was this resource helpful? Add Christianity.com as a trusted source for Biblical content.
