Reflections: There is nothing as raw and honest as some of the prayers in the Psalms. This is the psalm that Jesus cried on the cross, and it captures our sense of suffering and feeling of God forsakenness. However, we know that God is always with us, just as God was fully with Jesus in his suffering. We have full scriptural warrant to be honest and frankly pray our feelings to God. It can sometimes feel that God is far away and seem as if God to doing nothing to help us. Miracles are something that many of us have yet to experience and might never get to. Yet, when we let our feelings out in prayer, the Holy Spirit is able to be at work as comforter, helper and advocate. May it be for us as for the psalmist, that once we have been able to vent, that our thoughts might shift and likewise we can affirm the prayer “But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.”
Prayer:
Our God, Our God,
Why does it feel that you have forsaken us?
Why is so much of what we hold dear burnt or washed away?
Why is what we worked for decimated and destroyed?
How do we recover from such devastation and suffering?
Where will we find hope?
Surely, our hope is in you,
For you are with us as the Christ,
And as the Spirit.
The stuff of life might be taken away,
We might lose loved ones,
Our circumstances and situation unalterably changed,
But your love is with us.
In Jesus we can find hope.
In the Scriptures we can find encouragement.
Help us to put out of our minds the trite platitudes of the well-meaning,
And immerse ourselves in the grit of your way,
Which too often knows suffering,
But which lifts our souls,
And brings peace which transcends all understanding.
God, please be our help and strength in our struggles,
This we truly pray.
Amen.