“Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:3)
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people continually say to me, “Where is your God?”
– Psalm 42:1-3 (NKJV)
Weeks we would like to forget
There are some weeks I would just as soon forget. The last few days of July were one of those times. One of our friends faced surgery. Others received notice that they had been exposed to the coronavirus. Educators, including Lily, were struggling to create a plan for a safe return to classrooms in the fall. Economic struggles, racial injustice, and political instability continue to dominate the headlines.
As if all that weren’t enough, during the middle of the week we received word that someone in our family was facing a health crisis of their own. We ended up making a long distance overnight drive to spend some far-too-brief time together. They are getting the care that they need, but it is still gut-wrenching to see someone we love suffering.
With all of that going on, I will admit that I was feeling more than a little bit heart broken. My energy level and my emotions perfectly reflected the dark, gray, stormy weather that dominated the forecast. This is why I was so grateful when Psalm 42:1-3 came up as the text for Wednesday’s Still Speaking devotional. Reading these words was a perfect reminder that I am not the only person who has felt this way.
The psalmist sounds as forlorn as I felt. In that moment the truth of the matter is at that moment I was completely spiritually parched. No one seemed to be listening to my prayers and I found myself asking where God was in all of this. The worst part of it was that no matter how isolated I felt, I knew that at that moment some of the people I was praying for were completely cut off in hospital rooms and nursing homes. My grief was compounded by the knowledge that there was nothing I could do to alter their situations.
Jesus answers the psalmist’s question
Even though I cannot fix society’s ills and have no magic wand to alleviate the suffering of those I love, the knowledge that other people have gone through difficulties of their own provides a great deal of comfort. The solidarity of knowing that I am not alone and that my ancestors in the faith have experienced precisely these emotions gives me confidence. If they were able to come through their challenges, there is a high likelihood that I will be able to do the same.
The witness of Scripture also provides the reminder that even when it feels like God is not present, the truth is actually the exact opposite. Whenever the people of God started to feel completely cut off, whether it was slavery in Egypt, captivity in Babylon, or bondage to sin, God sent prophets, judges, and finally the Messiah, to remind them that they were not forgotten.
Jesus himself is the ultimate answer to the question, “where is your God?” Emmanuel means, “God with us.” Christ is proof that even when we are completely broken, we are not on our own. In the end, he invites me to come to him when I am as weary as I was last week. By giving my burdens to him I do not have to carry them on my own. It is my prayer that those who are even more broken than I was last week are able to find someone to help them carry their burdens too.
Rev. Matt Laney closed his devotional on Psalm 42 last Wednesday with a prayer that I needed to hear:
“God, when victory seems a long way off and I don’t feel like praising, remind me that you are marching too.”
This reflection is inspired by UCC minister Rev. Matt Laney’s Still Speaking Devotional, Protest and Praise, from Wednesday, July 22, 2020.
