If a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound? If I faint alone, does God care?
These words of despair and even of fear are not the cries of just those who are old or sick. These words reflect the condition of even the young and healthy. Each of us can arrive at moments and seasons of life where we feel that we carry an unbearable weight alone.
Where is God when I’m hurting alone? Apparently the people of Israel voiced such a complaint to God. Their burden was too much. And to bear that burden meant to them that God was not present to them with care or concern. I have taken solace in the words of God given to us by the prophet Isaiah many times.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you know known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:27-31