Learning The Lessons Of LamentPrøve

I love Psalm 22 because it is just so honest. The psalmist is up and down in a matter of moments. He is trusting one moment and miserable the next. It’s just so messy! And yet, in its mess, it indicates an important principle: that as we cry out to God with whatever we’ve got inside of us, we hold on to him. We hold on, sometimes by just a thread, to a good God. We hold on believing that despite our circumstances, God is holding us. We hold on spiritually even though our emotions may still be quite some distance behind us. We choose an action with our heads and allow our heart and our emotions to catch up when they can. It’s messy, but not unacceptable to God. We can hold on to Him, not just because of the example of the psalmist—we know it because this was the very psalm that Jesus himself quoted as he hung on the cross when he said, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Question: What is your response to this Psalm? Do you feel that you can be this open and honest in prayer before God?