Today's reading

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? –Psalm 22:1 NLT

September 5, 2019

Disappointment and Peace

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? –Psalm 22:1 NLT

A soul, lost in pain and disappointment, finds comfort in realizing it isn’t alone. When our tears are validated by a stranger along the way who cries out “Me too!” in surprise and delight, suddenly he is no longer a stranger but a friend, a comrade, a sojourner. No theologian can really tell you for sure what Jesus meant when He uttered those words from the Cross as He died. Or what the psalmist meant when he first etched this famous line on paper. And yet, about one thing we can be certain—these words were written by hearts who felt utterly and completely forsaken by their God. They had experienced Him. They knew Him. And yet they sought Him desperately in moments of pure agony and in answer they received nothing but silence. Why can we find peace in this seemingly disheartening verse—because we aren’t alone in our pain. Feeling disappointment in a God who simply cannot disappoint seems ludicrous at best. And yet, who can look within themselves and not find, perhaps neatly tucked away, traces of such feelings? Ironically, amazingly, our God knows exactly how we feel, and we can hold to that profoundly beautiful truth.

prayer focuses

Acknowledge any feelings of disappointment that might be in your heart and share them with God.

Ask God for a fresh sense of faith and trust that He is good despite what our feelings or circumstances might be trying to tell us.

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Author

Jessi Fikkert