Darlene Deibler Rose and her husband, Russell, were missionaries in New Guinea when the Japanese took possession of the area during WWII. When the Japanese separated the men from the women, Russell’s last words to Darlene were, “Remember one thing, dear: God said that he would never leave us nor forsake us.” She never saw him again.

The women were taken to a prison camp, where the bulk of Darlene’s book, Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II, takes place.

Darlene received news that Russell died in 1944. Later, she was arrested by the secret police and taken to another prison for “questioning.” The conditions were horrible, to say the least. Darlene also suffered from dysentery, cerebral malaria, and beriberi. She was placed in solitary confinement.

Through all her troubles, Darlene relied on God’s presence with her. She wrote, “I knew that without God, without that consciousness of His Presence in every troubled hour, I could never have made it.”

Then suddenly one day, that presence seemed to leave her. She searched her heart to see if she was harboring any hidden sin. “My prayers, my expressions of worship, seemed to go no higher than the ceiling; there seemed to be no sounding board.” God didn’t seem to be answering any of her questions or prayers.

Heman the Ezrahite must have felt the same way. He wrote Psalm 88, the only psalm of lament that doesn’t end with hope and a renewed perspective

Heman writes that he cries out day and night to God. His soul is “full of troubles.” He has no strength. He feels forgotten, overwhelmed, helpless, and alone. He asks why God has cast him away and hidden His face. The last word of the psalm is “darkness.”

Why did God set such a depressing passage in Scripture, with seemingly no hope or help?

We don’t know all the reasons. But one would be that people feel like this sometimes. Troubles often seem to come in bunches. We’ve prayed for weeks or months, but nothing seems to change. We know God knows what is going on and He loves us—but why does He not alleviate the pain and change the situation? Why does He seem so far off and uncaring?

Even though Heman doesn’t share any outward hope or encouragement, he still expresses faith.

First of all, he comes to God, even though He feels far away.

Secondly, he knows God is the One who allowed the troubles to come. Whatever secondary sources lead to our trials, they could not come without God’s knowledge and permission.

Then Heman persists in prayer. He keeps coming, keeps calling out to God “day and night,” “every day.”

The ESV Study Bible commentary says, “The psalm instills a tough faith in its singers by reminding them to keep turning to God (the “God of my salvation,” v.1), even during these times when it seems that there is no answer being given. . . it helps its singers to see that faith can be real, even when it cannot arrive at strong hope after prayer” (p. 1048).

Job seemed to feel this way at times. He declared, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (Job 13:15). He didn’t trust only when he prospered or when prayer was answered the way and time he wanted. He still had questions. He cried out to God. He wished he could speak with the Lord face to face. But he maintained a gritty trust that God was the One who could help him, even though there was no sign of help yet.

Darlene had no Bible with her, but she had memorized Scripture in previous years. As she thought through Scripture she remembered, she prayed,  “Lord, I believe all that the Bible says. I do walk by faith and not by sight. I do not need to feel You near, because Your Word says You will never leave me nor forsake me. Lord, I confirm my faith; I believe.”

Then Hebrews 11;1 came to her mind: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” She wrote:

Evidence not seen — that was what I put my trust in — not in feelings or moments of ecstasy, but in the unchanging Person of Jesus Christ. Suddenly I realized that I was singing:

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

I was assured that my faith rested not on feelings, not on moments of ecstasy, but on the Person of my matchless, changeless Savior, in Whom is no shadow caused by turning.

Heman, Job, and Darlene leave behind a testimony to trust God, cling to Him, even at our lowest low. He sees. He knows. He cares. In His time, He will minister His grace.

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