This is my most recent piece on Unlocking the Bible:
"Do you ever feel like God has abandoned you?
Perhaps in your head you know he hasn’t, but deep down your heart questions his presence. You wonder why God has put you in such troubled and persistently difficult circumstances. You’re lonely, needy, confused.
You want God to provide for you, but it feels like he hasn’t. What’s worse, it feels like he won’t.
If that’s how you feel, you’re not alone. Discouragement and loneliness can burrow into even the strongest Christian. Scripture is filled with examples; in fact, you can’t even get past Genesis without seeing them. Since the beginning of humanity, we have wanted God to provide for us—but often not in the way he actually does.
Take just two examples: Hagar and Joseph."