“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from saving me,
from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In You our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and You delivered them.
5 To You they cried and were rescued;
in You they trusted and were not put to shame.“
Psalm 22:1-5
I’ve said this before, but I am soooooo thankful for the honesty of scripture. I’m thankful God didn’t hide the cries, doubts, and prayers uttered by His people in desperation. It reminds us that we are not alone: He sees and He has not forsaken us amidst brokenness and pain.
In the first 2 verses of Psalm 22 David expresses that he feels forgotten and forsaken … God seems far, salvation seems impossible, and David is questioning if God is even listening. David cannot rest; he’s hopeless and distraught.
Twice David cries out “Why?”
Isn’t that a question we’ve all asked… “Why *fill in the blank*?”
David’s honesty reminds me that God is big enough for our “why’s.” You do not need to hide your questions or your struggles for fear that God will be disappointed. How do I know this?? Because Jesus Himself echoed the words of David on the cross when He cried: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)
We will go through times when we question God’s purpose and wonder why it had to be *this* way. Couldn’t He accomplish His will and plan in a different way?!
But, where do we go from there? When we have these emotions, doubts, and questions, we have a choice: Do we stay focused on everything that hasn’t gone as planned, stay angry at God, and allow the questions to pull us further from Him??
OR do we bring our emotions to God, cry out to Him, remind ourselves of the truth of who He is, and recall His past faithfulness to us and to others??
There are many times when the temptation is strong to stay angry and allow my heart to grow hardened and calloused towards God. My mind can begin to think: He’s not hearing me, He’s forgotten me…
But then, much like David, I have to remind myself: “YET You are holy.”
What is your “yet??” The thing that, even if it doesn’t come to pass, you will still proclaim “YET You are holy.” Despite the confusion, doubt, and questions God does not change. He is the SAME yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He is still holy: which means He is set apart, sinless, and His ways are perfect. His thoughts are higher than ours and we will not always understand what He is doing or why. (Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalm 115:3)
I’ll never forget hearing a sister in Christ share her testimony of how the Lord was walking with her through the heartbreaking loss of her dear husband. She shared this quote from Spurgeon that has never left my memory: “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”
God is big enough to handle our questions, doubts, and fears. But don’t forget that He also has so much more for us! When we walk through doubt it forces us to examine our expectations of who we believed Jesus to be and realize who He truly is. We talked about doubt at church this weekend and my dad shared: “When we walk through doubt, don’t abandon Jesus. Abandon your expectations of Jesus.” When we bring our doubt to God He will use it to refine and deepen our knowledge of who He really is and strip away the false expectations we had of Him!!
We shouldn’t ignore our emotions, but we also should not let them lead or dictate our beliefs and actions. Instead, we should allow our emotions to lead us to the Truth.
In verse 3 David reminds himself of truth and of the power of praise. “[You are] enthroned on the praises of Israel.” God is enthroned, seated, and exalted on the praise of His people. When we choose to worship Him, amidst these emotions, He is glorified and HIS PRESENCE IS THERE.
Lastly, in verses 4 and 5, David reminds Himself of God’s faithfulness to generations past. They trusted and God delivered and rescued. Their trust was not in vain. They were not put to shame.
“Shame” means disappointed, humiliated, confused, unsettled…
I think at the core of many of my doubts and questions is the fact that I don’t want to feel shame for trusting in God. I don’t want others to look at my life and think “oh, look at what trusting in God gets you….” For a long time I wanted my life to measure up to the standard I thought others had for me so I could say “yes! God did that!” and give Him glory for getting what I wanted.
But what about when you don’t get what you wanted???
When your prayer isn’t being answered??
I’m learning that, in those times of uncertainty, you have an even greater opportunity to glorify Jesus. You can say “No, I don’t have _______, but I have Jesus, and now I KNOW that He is all I need.” I haven’t always been able to say that with joy and contentment, but, looking back, I praise God that He didn’t give me the things I thought I needed. Even though it hurt and felt like I was being forgotten or left out, I would’ve never been where I am today without those seasons. It’s easy to give Jesus praise for answered prayers, but what about giving Him glory before the answer?
Following Jesus will cost sacrificing your timeline, your plans, and control. But what you receive in exchange for that surrender is “exceedingly abundantly above all” you could ever ask or think!! (Ephesians 3:20)
And now, I can say with full confidence, that the peace, contentment, and joy I have found in Jesus cannot compare with anything this world has to offer. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my hard days and doubts but I’m learning that God knows better and He can be trusted. God’s thoughts towards us are the only ones that matter so don’t seek to impress, please, or prove yourself to others.
And, please remember that:
The tears you cry are not in vain.
The prayers you’ve prayed are not in vain.
Your trust in God is not in vain.
Your patience is not in vain.
Your faith is not in vain.
I want to end with Psalm 25:3; I love how each of these versions phrases this verse slightly differently:
Let no one who waits on You be ashamed (NKJV)
None who waits for You shall be put to shame (ESV)
No one who trusts in You will ever be disgraced (NLT)
No one who hopes in You will ever be put to shame (NIV)
even when you feel lost, lonely, confused, or unsettled
your patience, trust & hope in the Lord will never be wasted. <3