“Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons – because they rebelled against the words of God...therefore he brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help” (Psalm 107:10-12, NKJV).
They were bound in affliction because they rebelled against God and rejected his counsel (see Psalm 107:11). Beloved, could this be you? You have sat under godly preaching, and the Holy Spirit has convicted you, but still you are miserable and continue to sin.
When a person willfully disobeys God, our tendency is to hide and cower in fear. We may feel that it is all over, thinking, “God can’t use me.” When you are in that condition, the devil will whisper to you, “There is no deliverance for you. You’re one of those people who never change. God has had it with you; your sin has caused him to hide his face.”
Satan will pound you with scriptures, misquoting them all. When you sit in church, you will hear only judgment, not God’s mercy, because you are under such condemnation and fear.
I am not referring to people who hide from God because they love their sin. Rather, I am talking about Christians who have taken a fall but still have sorrow and a hatred for their sin. Something inside them cries, “I have hurt God.”
To this Christian, God’s Word promises, “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness. . . . For he has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two” (Psalm 107:13-16).
God never has and never will hide his face from a crying child of his. No matter how far you have fallen or how many promises you’ve made to him and broken, he will always hear your cry for help and bring you back into close fellowship with him.