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My God, my God, why have you deserted me? Why are you so far away? Won’t you listen to my groans and come to my rescue? Psalms 22:1 (CEV)
There’s an old saying that ‘when a plane is going down, there are no atheists’. When death stares us in the face; when the crisis seems too big to bear; when we feel completely alone, abandoned and helpless, our thoughts turn to God, or at least to some supreme, higher power.
The words of Psalm 22 are referred to as a ‘Messianic Psalm’. This means that the words of the Psalmist, words written hundreds of years before Christ was born, look forward to his coming and to his suffering in our behalf.
While this is true, it’s important that we remember the original context of the words. This was a Psalm of confession. This was a Psalm of honesty and desperation. After all, where is God in our deepest need? It’s easy to find him when things go well. It’s easy to sense his presence when the bills are paid, our children’s grades are good and the report from the doctor is positive. But where is he when none of those things apply? Even in the midst of his despair the Psalmist acknowledged his faith in God. Even during the darkest night he reaffirmed his confidence that God would see him through.
At times God seems distant and unconcerned about our plight here on earth, but that is not true. He loves us and as any loving father desperately wants a love relationship with us. There are times however when his distance is not because he has moved but because we have moved away from him. Sin is the primary culprit when we feel God’s distance.
While Jesus had no sin in him these words were some of the final words Jesus spoke from the cross. During those final hours he addresses his father as ‘My God’. There is no other place that I can think of in scripture where Jesus addresses God as ‘My God’. Everywhere else he talks about ‘His Father’. But when sin enters the picture (not his but mine) the intimate phrase of ‘Father’ is replaced by the term ‘My God.’
It was sin that kept the fathers back turned to his own son. Not because of his lack of love but because his holiness doesn’t allow him to look on sin.
It was sin caused the feelings of utter despair and separation within the very soul of the savior. Sin drives a wedge in the relationship. Sin replaces our feelings of love with fear and emptiness, just as it did with Adam and Eve in the garden.
Sin does the same thing today. Sin, but whatever name we call it can not be a part of a healthy, secure relationship with the living God. While sin separates us from God, it doesn’t have to be that way. The feelings of separation Jesus felt in his dying moments paved the way to a deeper relationship with God.
Jesus felt the separation sin caused because he knew the Father and he knew when the Father’s presence was missing. You may remember a time in your life when God seemed real, but time and circumstances have taken that from you. There’s still hope. God hasn’t forsaken you. Sin may have clouded your vision of him. Forgiveness is still there for you. The relationship can be restored. And it’s all because of Jesus.
PRAYER: God, I remember a time in my life when you were real to me. I felt your power. I knew your presence. Like the little boy in ‘The Polar Express’, I heard the bells. But today I feel distant from you. Examine my heart. Show me where I’ve sinned. Forgive me now and restore our relationship through Jesus Christ. Amen.
We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another. Galatians 5:26 (GNT)
I have a friend who seems to find great fulfillment in annoying people. He’d never admit it, of course, but it’s almost as if he considers irritating others a spiritual gift of some sort! He would often boast to me about how he cornered people who had differing views politically, theologically or socially. He was a well-versed and well-studied man in both the scriptures and the political scene so his arguments were hard to dispute and his persistence was relentless.
While I agreed with many of his arguments, his tactics bothered me. There was one time in which he actually boasted to me about how he’d offended the people in a particular political party booth. Not surprisingly, my friend had few close friends although he was well known in many circles.
When Paul is writing to the Galatians he is writing to a group of people who were well-versed in doctrine. However, they had taken their knowledge and used it as a platform to let everyone know how ‘right they were’ and had no patience or time for anyone who differed with them theologically or doctrinally. His message to the believers is to refrain from using their knowledge of scripture as a tool to irritate and antagonize those who believed and lived differently than they did.
The key to peace with God is relationship, a relationship built on Jesus Christ. The key to peace with ourselves is confidence in and acceptance of who we are, or, again relationship with ourselves. The key to peace with others is, you guessed it, relationship. To have a strong relationship with others means we are more intent on building peace than arguments.
When we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that most of the conflict we have with other people is the result of our trying to be ‘better’ than someone else either in what we believe or what we do. Jesus, as creator God never used his superior knowledge to antagonize those who needed forgiveness. In the same way, we are called to spread the good news, not adversity. As believers in Jesus Christ we are commissioned to build up not tear down. To live in peace and unity, not antagonize.
Paul admonishes us to ‘live at peace with others when at all possible.’ Don’t be the reason for the strife in your relationships. Hold others in higher esteem than you hold yourself. Living at peace with yourself is the first step to living at peace with others.
There is no place in the Christian life for us to ridicule others, or mock them for their beliefs. People have a right to be wrong and to be valued in spite of their beliefs. We don’t need to agree with others to live at peace with them.
PRAYER: Lord I thank you for who I am. Forgive me for those times when I compare myself and what I have to others. Empower me to live at peace with myself and what you have given me so that I can live at peace with those around me. Amen.
He was hated and rejected; his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering. No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, “He is a nobody!” Isaiah 53:3 (CEV)
Loneliness and rejection are evil twins. Together they rob us of our feeling of security and self-confidence. They team up with weapons that destroy our ability to love others, love God and perhaps most importantly, love ourselves.
There are times in each of our lives when we feel the scorn of rejected love; times when loneliness envelopes us like some dark cloud. Those feelings of rejection may be the result of our own doing, our own greed, our own self-centeredness, our own demanding personality.
The evil twins may attack us through the abusive actions of other people as well. Broken relationships are the weapon of choice for the twins. Struggles in the work place, or at school make us dread having to get up in the morning. The battle for our health leaves us weary. Even our own family members may abandon us for a variety of reasons leaving us full of despair.
The good news is that you are not alone. Regardless of the attacks on your soul, you are not rejected. Men may reject you, but there is one who knows rejection like none other and he will never reject you. He will never leave you alone.
His name is Jesus of Nazareth. No one in all of time has ever been as rejected as he was (and is). He left his father in heaven to walk among men. These were the very people that he created for the purpose of having a vibrant, passionate love relationship with. Yet few really loved him in the beginning and in the end, even those closest to him, those who pledged undying love, left him to die alone.
Jesus knew rejection. Jesus knew loneliness. Even his own father was forced to turn his back on him because of the sin he bore; our sin that he took in our place. Jesus most haunting words were some of the last he spoke before he died, “My God, My God! Why have you too forsaken me?” Everyone else had rejected him in his hour of deepest need, and now even his dad had turned his head.
To this day, his name turns people away. Talk about God and you are a person of faith; talk about Jesus and you are a religious fanatic. It’s okay to be ‘spiritual’ but claim there is only one way to peace with God and you are intolerant. Believing in heaven is full of hope, but talk of hell and eternal damnation is cruel and harsh.
I’ll say it again. You are not alone. You are not rejected by everyone. The one person who knows rejection better than anyone has not rejected you regardless of what you have done. The one who has experienced ultimate loneliness will never leave you alone. He’s waiting with open arms to hear your story, to see your heart and to comfort you in your deepest need.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus there are times when I get so caught up in ‘religion’ or ‘spirituality’ that I forget the relationship. There are times when the feelings of loneliness and rejection overwhelm me. Thank you for accepting me as I am. Thank you for never leaving me, even when I walk away from you. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 