What’s Going on at the Church
Traveling Mercies for May 19 – 25
Listening for God’s Word:
“My God, why have you forsaken us? O God we cry to you by day but you do not answer, and by night but we find no rest. Yet, in you our ancestors trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved!” Ps 22:1,2, & 4
There is no way anyone can read through the psalms and come out the other side believing that we’re supposed to keep a calm, collected, and brave face before God. These prayers are written by real people going through hell and they’re not cleaning up their language or their emotions before God. They are real about what’s happening and real about how they feel, and sometimes they are really mad at God. But they never stop there…Not ever.
We all know what it’s like to feel there are so many things happening that we have no control over. We’ve all faced times when something is a done deal no matter what we do or say. These days we look at what’s happening with health care, and government and corporate greed, and more. How couldn’t we feel powerless these days? These days we may be suffering psychologically, or physically from a whole list of aches and pains. We may be suffering spiritually from feeling as though God’s abandoned us. But there are good lessons this psalm teaches for getting through.
One thing this psalm teaches, is that catharsis is good for the soul – to name the situations we are dealing with – because we can’t move forward if can’t see where we are. This psalm tells us it’s good to pour out our hearts to God – even to spew out the venom we may have inside, because eventually a turning point will come, when God will meet us wherever we are, and with whatever we feel, with grace. Another lesson that is clear in this psalm, is that it never says the circumstances changed. The writer changed. The writer was able to get past the quagmire and look ahead to the light at the end of the tunnel. The writer was able to re-acquire the strength needed from God to keep moving on. Maybe that is precisely why Jesus prayed the words he did from this psalm about feeling forsaken from the cross.
He did so because God’s word was part of His soul and His prayer life. Jesus prayed these verses both to express his anguish and his faith that God will come to his aid. (vss. 19-21) The way He appealed to God, also reveals His solidarity with us in the kinds of circumstances this psalm speaks to. The way Jesus prayed this psalm helps us to know that Jesus understands how we feel in terrible times because he’s felt it too. It also helps us to hope like he did. This psalm can be both a comfort to us, and an incentive to keep on; praying, and hoping, and trusting that we will make it through all we are facing these days.
Prayer:
O God, in the midst of all we may be dealing with, help us to remember that you are one whose purpose is to create life from death, joy from sorrow, hope from despair, peace from hatred. Help us to hear your clear word of life today, and to live by it. Amen.
Peace, Pastor Ed