“O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.”
~ Psalm 22:2
Hi James and Ellen,
A phrase that has become popular to say when something happens that could only have divinely taken place is ‘God showed up’. When your grandpaa hears a guy or gal say ‘God showed up’, your grandpaa wonders where the guy or gal thinks God was before He suddenly ‘showed up’ to do something that the guy or gal believes could only have taken place because God ‘showed up’ to make it happen. Your grandpaa believes that God – as God the Spirit, is always present and proactively involved in his life. There are times though when your grandpaa senses that the presence of God – as God the Spirit, is muted for one reason or another – which leaves your grandpaa knowing that there is something missing in his life. Your grandpaa invariably has a good idea why God – as God the Spirit, has left your grandpaa with an empty feeling of missing something. There are times – such as when your grandpaa’s attitude becomes negative or pessimistic or after your grandpaa uses harsh or angry words to communicate his feelings or . . ., when it does not surprise your grandpaa that God – as God the Spirit, will ‘sit on His hands’ until your grandpaa asks God – as God the Father, – through God – as God the Son, for His forgiveness and until your grandpaa asks forgiveness from the guy, gal or kid who your grandpaa has offended – if your grandpaa has offended a guy, gal or kid. There are times though when your grandpaa knows – even though your grandpaa really wishes that God – as God the Spirit, would in some way manifest Himself, that God – as God the Spirit, will ‘sit on his hands’ for no apparent reason. When David was going through one of those difficult periods when God was having David endure being victimized by his enemies – at times over prolonged periods of time, through vicious attacks and when it seemed like to him that God – as God the Father, was just ‘sitting on His hands’ and not manifesting Himself to him, David scribed Psalm 22. This psalm song prayer that David scribed to the tune of “The Doe of the Morning” has David asking God – as God the Father, why He is forsaking him, why He seemed so far away and why He is not listening to his prayer groanings. David’s feeling of having been abandoned by God – as God the Father, can be heard in verse 2 where he wrote, “O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.”
If you were ever caught up in a personal chaos, did you desperately cry out to God – as God the Father, for His help? Ask your dad and ma if they have ever urgently cried out to God – as God the Father, for His help to meet a pressing need or resolve a weighty crisis. When David wrote this psalm song prayer that is filled with personal pain and anguish, David felt like he was surrounded by Bashan’s strong bulls that were looking to gore him to death, that he was faced with roaring lions that were wanting to tear him apart, that he was encircled by dogs that were going to overpower him and that he was confronted with wild oryxes that were waiting to run their horns through him. David knew that he had done nothing to have God – as God the Father, suddenly seem like He had deserted him; David just knew that he did not like it that he suddenly felt like he could no longer count on God – as God the Father, to be there for him to save him from his enemies. Because of the feeling that God – as God the Father, ‘had left him’, David felt like he had no more value than a scorned worm, that his life was being poured out like water, that all of his bones were out of joint, that his heart had turned to wax and that it was melting inside of him, that his strength had dried up like a potsherd and that his tongue was sticking to the top of his mouth. David also felt because of feeling that God – as God the Father, ‘had left him’, that guys and gals were staring at him, that they were gloating over him and that they were already casting lots for his clothes. This heart wrenching psalm song prayer that David wrote became the most quoted psalm song by New Testament book authors and characters.
Even though David felt like God – as God the Father had left him ‘in the pits’, David knew without a doubt that God was the Holy One of Israel, that God could be unconditionally trusted to save His own specially chosen guys and gals from their enemies, that God had been there for him from the day that he was born, that God was his real strength, that God will always meet the needs of the poor and that in the end, that God would be Who would be recognized and worshipped by all nations and people groups of guys and gals. Even though David really felt that God – as God the Father, had left him ‘to fight his own battles’, David knew that it was important to get the message out to all future generations of guys and gals about God’s righteousness and saving grace. How do you feel when there is stress ‘drama’ in the life of one of your friends or when there is tension ‘drama’ in the lives of your dad and ma or when there is anxiety ‘drama’ in your own lives? What do you think that it would be like if your friends never have trials, your dad and ma never experience hardships and if you are never tempted? Just as David never stopped praising God no matter what bad things happened to him, your grandmaa and grandpaa are praying that you already know that the presence of God – as God the Spirit, is with you and that the presence of God – as God the Spirit, will never leave you. When your grandma’s doctor recently thought that your grandpaa’s ma was on the verge of dying, your grandmaa and grandpaa drove to Volga, South Dakota to be with your grandpaa’s ma. Your grandpaa’s prayer at this time for his ma is that God will help her to live the final days of her life on planet Earth with a heart that is filled with peace knowing that God – as God the Father, will soon take her to her ‘home’ in heaven to be with Him.
Psalm 22 (928)