My God, My God Why have you forsaken me? Some thoughts.

Life isn't always going to go the way you think it should go. We make plans and set goals and strive to achieve those outcomes, but the reality is that God determines the direction.

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

Those of us who live in the most prosperous places in the world know those common prayers, for healing, for prosperity and protection while we sleep. We are not able to fathom that remote concept of what if bad things happen to us.  When I was in Guatemala on a missions trip several years ago, I discovered in a conversation with native Guatemalan's that most parents fully expect to outlive some of their children which is in contrast to America where we expect God to keep suffering at bay. 

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while You hear each spoken need

Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near?

It is when tragedy strikes the very core of our being and we travel the lonely road of grief that we see the reality of those lyrics above. Is it possible for our blessings to come through raindrops, our healing come through tears, a thousand sleepless nights is what it takes to know You're near? It is true that pain and suffering actually draw us closer to our Lord.

What if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear

As a young man, I remember my discipleship leader going around and asking each of us how we were doing, and one by one each of us responded to that question. Almost without exception, one or two piped up that things were going great which someone would say half-jokingly that we should pray for trials for them. We have this idea in America that as a Christian if I do X, Y  and Z that I will live a very prosperous life, void of all suffering and pain.

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea

So many of us avoid expressing anger at God, not knowing that our God is bigger than our anger. He appreciates it when we express our emotions to him. He wants us to communicate with him just as your son and daughter communicate with you. As pain and suffering enter our lives, we discover a deeper relationship with our God.

And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near?

And what if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise?

Most people have no idea of the reality of the above lyric- that blessings can come through raindrops. through tears, through a thousand sleepless nights, through the trials of life. Some people run away from God while believing that if God is so good, then why do bad things happen?

When friends betray us when darkness seems to win

We know that pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home

It's not our home

When Jesus Christ hung on the cross to die, he felt betrayal from his Father in heaven when he screamed those words, "My God, My God why have you betrayed me!? Betrayal and darkness is everywhere, it seems. From our political representatives who we thought held the secrets to make our lives better to our earthly fathers who decided to abandoned us.

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near 

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst

This world can't satisfy 

And what if trials of this life 

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights 

Are Your mercies in disguise

Many of us would rather spend thousands of dollars to hear a motivational speaker tickle our ears with things that make us feel good for that moment than to trust the God in heaven through the words of the ancient text that have been proven over time. In the book of Joshua are these words '5 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of [a]the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”