“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” – Psalm 22:1

We’re fairly familiar with this phrase… it was uttered by Jesus as He was gasping His last breaths on the cross. The nature of these near-final words of Christ have been discussed by theologians (armchair and credentialed alike). Was He so anguished and dejected that it just seemed as though God had deserted Him? Was He stating an actual reality -- that God truly had abandoned Him (as He now bore mankind’s sin, makingHim suddenly, sinfully abhorrent to the Father?) Was He painfully identifying with all previous suffering servants of God, including King David, the composer of the psalm/song? Or was He (in the spirit of New Orleans blues) simply determined to “go out singing,” and song of Psalm 22 just happened to come to mind? I have my opinions… you probably have yours… but it’s the words I’d like us to consider.

When life cruises along pretty smoothly, those of us who know the Lord find it rather easy to love and trust the Lord and to sense His “nearness.” Those “close” times are the wonderful ones. However, for a variety of reasons, His “proximity” tends to become questionable as our circumstances change for the worse. Maybe we’ve bought into the lie that life is easier for Christians than for unbelievers. (In a few ways that may be true… hopefully believers have fewer occurrences of incarceration, STDs, barroom brawls, etc.) Hey, “stuff happens…”and the unpleasantness of our situations has no effect on God’s “nearness” or “farness.” We choose either to welcome Him into our life’s happenings or to deny His participation… He’s “there” either way, whether we sense His presence or not.

Believe me, I’ve groaned the above verse myself as I’ve transitioned from times of coziness and intimacy with the Lord into periods of estrangement. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt what Jesus felt; but I’ve said what He said… and it’s always led me to realize that any distance from God that I’ve sensed has been of my own making… I’m the one who’s done the “forsaking.”

   yours and His --Bill