"You appoint darkness and it becomes night,
In which all the beasts of the forest prowl about.
The young lions roar after their prey
And seek their food from God.
When the sun rises they withdraw
And lie down in their dens." Psalm 104:20-22
We can even think we are being punished because we are in a dark place, but dark obscure places don't mean we are being punished. It might just mean we are in a dark place. This world can be very dark no matter who we serve. It's just part of this world.
What I want to share with you are a couple of quotes from a lady named Katherine Ruonala from a book she wrote caleld From Wilderness to Wonders. I haven't read the book -- just an excert from it. If the book is as good as these quotes, it would be a good one to read. She writes, "It is not up to us to work out the why. Our job is to look to what god is going to do. God is more interested in helping us focus on Hmi as the answer than on the tormenting question of why the difficult circumstance arose in the first place."
Later she writes, "You are meant to thrive in the wilderness (or forest), not just survive in it. And receiving God's love -- looking into His eyes and seeing how He really feels about you -- gives you power to thrive in even the driest places."
She also writes, "There have been a lot of lies told about Jesus, and when you're in the wilderness (or forest), it's tempting to believe them. As human beings, we tend to judge God by our circumstances rather than judging our circumstances by Him, and our circumstances can be a very unreliable measure of who He is."
Think on those thoughts. God's with you no matter where you are. He isn't letting you go. He's got your circumstances under control. He's not worried. You ought not to worry either.
God's got this.
Don't forget that.