My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
   Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer.
    Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief. (Psalm 22:1-2)

Do David’s words sound familiar?  Perhaps they have been the anguished cry of your heart. These words encourage me to pour out my hurting heart to the God in heaven.  It is the cry of one who feels not just abandoned by those around, but also by God Himself.  I have cried those words.  Many Christians over the ages have cried out those words.  Jesus Himself cried them out as He hung on the cross to take away the sins of the world, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”  It is not wrong to cry out to God like this.  I find it reassuring that these feelings of being abandoned by God are not unique to me or even rare.  This life is not always easy, I wrote just yesterday about the need to “take up my cross.”  Oh, dear ones, it can be so very, very, hard.

Yet it is important to note that David did not stop there.  His anguished led Him to prayer and He begins, even in that first cry, by acknowledging that God is still his God.  God is still the faithful one.

Yet You are holy,
    O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
In You our fathers trusted;
    They trusted and You delivered them.
To You they cried out and were delivered;
    In You they trusted and were not disappointed. (Psalm 22:3-5)
David also remembers what God has done for him personally.
Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
    You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
Upon You I was cast from birth;
    You have been my God from my mother’s womb. (Psalm 22:9-10)

David then turns to God as the only one who can help.  He states his case: trouble is near, there is no human help available, he is surrounded by enemies, his own strength is gone, he is facing a horrible death. Seems to pretty clearly describe Jesus’ position when He too cried out the words that begin this Psalm.

There are several allusions to the cross in this Psalm but today I really want my focus to be on how to face the truly hard times that come; just like David did, just like Jesus did.  In Psalm 22, David’s cry of anguish eventually turns to praise.  But that will have to wait until tomorrow for our reading today stops us at verse 18.

May grace, peace, and mercy abound, 

In one wonderful moment Peter acknowledges Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.  In the next Jesus is rebuking him and telling him, “Get behind me Satan.”  The conversation that led to this rebuke is one that I never just casually read over and occurs in Matthew 16:21-28.  The disciples now recognize Jesus is the Messiah and He begins to tell them that He will go to Jerusalem where He will suffer and die and then be raised up on the third day.  It is at this point that Peter jumps in again, “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’”  Jesus response to Peter is one that requires my close attention.

But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds. (Matthew 16:23-27, emphasis mine)

I cannot be too hard on Peter.  I do the same thing.  In one moment I call on Him as my Lord and Savior and in the next I cling to my ways instead of God’s, especially when He sets my feet on a road that is difficult.  It is not at all surprising that a gospel that promises peace and prosperity and ease is popular, but that is not The Gospel.  Jesus says oh so clearly that I must deny myself and take up my cross if I am to be His follower.  That is not a life that sounds attractive or easy.  And yet, Jesus points out that a self-serving life is not really life at all but ultimately leads to death.  Oh, the wonderful paradox that exists in laying down one’s life in this world to gain what God has promised us in the next.  Jesus has shown us what it looks like to take up our cross.  I pray that He gives me the strength and desire to do so.  In His death and resurrection He showed us how in laying down our lives we gain what we can never lose. Death no more has any power over us.  Once again I reminded of the importance of daily turning my eyes upon Jesus so the things of earth lose their grip on me and I see the marvelous, matchless light of God’s glory and grace. We sang this praise song yesterday in our worship service and as I type my thoughts this morning I find myself once again singing these words from that song, but with even more conviction than I did yesterday.

One thing I ask and I would seek
To see Your beauty
To find You in the place Your glory dwells
One thing I ask and I would seek
To see Your beauty
To find You in the place Your glory dwells
 
Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere

May grace, peace, and mercy abound,