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| Earl Gillespie |
My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Us
There have been times when I have prayed and prayed for God to do something for me, I have cried and cried, God will you just speak to me. In the midst of my struggle, in the midst of my pain it seems as if God was silent. I went to my brother, I asked my mother, I read the Holy scripture, I was assured that God was always there, but to me God was silent. The message from the pulpit was, "God love you." Knowing all of this did nothing to alleviate my condition of anxiety, nor did it address any of the issues that I was facing.
There are moments when the storm is raging I am compelled to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me". I wonder if there is anybody who can relate to what I am talking about. But when the storm has all but subsided and in the midst of death and destruction there is always the testimonies of those who survived will proclaim that God has not forsaken us yet. Somehow, sometime it is a little hard for me to reach out and wrap my mortal sense of thinking around that concept.
Yet, to be forsaken by God is an idea or a concept that we as Christians do not wish to entertain, but when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he was reported by Matthew and Mark as quoting from Psalm 22:1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? A simple statement, Jesus, nor David said, "I feel like you have forsaken me." Modern Thelogicians interpret this as a moment of weakness of the flesh that caused Jesus to ask why had God forsaken him thus to many it become explainable in the context of the frailty of the natural man. The question was first asked by David and later asked by Jesus himself seems to indicate that it is possible in the context of Job that God will forsake us for a reason and a season.
There are moments when the storm is raging I am compelled to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me". I wonder if there is anybody who can relate to what I am talking about. But when the storm has all but subsided and in the midst of death and destruction there is always the testimonies of those who survived will proclaim that God has not forsaken us yet. Somehow, sometime it is a little hard for me to reach out and wrap my mortal sense of thinking around that concept.
Yet, to be forsaken by God is an idea or a concept that we as Christians do not wish to entertain, but when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he was reported by Matthew and Mark as quoting from Psalm 22:1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? A simple statement, Jesus, nor David said, "I feel like you have forsaken me." Modern Thelogicians interpret this as a moment of weakness of the flesh that caused Jesus to ask why had God forsaken him thus to many it become explainable in the context of the frailty of the natural man. The question was first asked by David and later asked by Jesus himself seems to indicate that it is possible in the context of Job that God will forsake us for a reason and a season.
To acknowledge the feeling of being forsaken by God is not acceptable in today's religious arena. We are indoctrinated to feel that God is always working with us every step of our journey. To those that escaped the storm God worked a miracle, but to those that are close to those who perished the consolation is, God knew what he was doing. Following this line of indoctrination has caused many to become frustrated and run from the established religious order. Cute cliches will no longer sustain the faith. We might be better off looking at examples of our faith, Jesus Christ, the apostles, Stephen, Paul and many others. They all preached the Gospel of the Cross, of Jesus suffering and dying, of his resurrection and ascension. All of these men, according to the scripture was full of faith, and did great miracles among the people.
Dottie Peoples rendition of, When God is silent", a song that was shunned by some religious entities, served as a pillow of support when I was struggling, she said, when God is silent, he is giving us more time to pray. This did not settle my questions and problems, but it was a start in the right direction. In the words of the song, it was an acknowledgment that God was silent. If we look closely at the scripture, there are many periods of time when God was silent. According to my learned friend there is a four hundred year period of time between the prophecies of the Old testament prophecies and the fulfillment of the prophecies when God was silent. Yes, he was silent, but he was listening.
If we step backward in time, Exodus 12:40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. During the time of their sequester they prayed for deliverance. No stretch of the imagination is required to know that during that time there were false messages going out, each one claiming to have a fresh new message from God. Stepping forward to Jesus time, he warned his followers to be aware of the false prophets.
The Gospel of the Church has superseded the Gospel of the Cross. The Gospel of the Church caters to a person in search of instant gratification. We go to the supermarket to get our groceries, we go to church to get our blessings, in each instant we want to get what we came for and get on our way. Fast food restaurants are doing a booming business, we are not conditioned or indoctrinated to standing in line, at best we prefer to drive up to the window and have it our way. Now imagine the children of Isreal, God's chosen people begging and pleading in the slime pits of Egypt, "Lord send a deliverance". Four hundred and thirty years passed before God honored his promise to Joseph concerning his chosen people.
Now lets look at the forty years they spent wandering in the wilderness, God was speaking but he was not delivering. They were wandering or (lost) because they had sinned. It is interesting to note that only two of the original cast finally entered into the promise land. The rest (forsaken by God) died waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.
The progress of Christianity has introduced what is known as a "God culture", God is hanging around to hand out blessings. Preachers preach all you got to do is step up and claim your blessings. There is a constant clamor to claim a blessing from God. Some even become belligerent and demand, "I want my blessing." There are those who are selling the concept that everything that happen God has some ulterior motive or purpose. This is a sellable attribute of the church. There is possible much truth in this, but we must acknowledge that much of our suffering is caused by our own action and it is not the design of God. It was not the design of God for the child of Israel to wander in the wilderness forty years, it was the result of sinning against God. If you can tell me how to get something for nothing, then I am interested, we will pay money for that information.
Dottie Peoples rendition of, When God is silent", a song that was shunned by some religious entities, served as a pillow of support when I was struggling, she said, when God is silent, he is giving us more time to pray. This did not settle my questions and problems, but it was a start in the right direction. In the words of the song, it was an acknowledgment that God was silent. If we look closely at the scripture, there are many periods of time when God was silent. According to my learned friend there is a four hundred year period of time between the prophecies of the Old testament prophecies and the fulfillment of the prophecies when God was silent. Yes, he was silent, but he was listening.
If we step backward in time, Exodus 12:40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. During the time of their sequester they prayed for deliverance. No stretch of the imagination is required to know that during that time there were false messages going out, each one claiming to have a fresh new message from God. Stepping forward to Jesus time, he warned his followers to be aware of the false prophets.
The Gospel of the Church has superseded the Gospel of the Cross. The Gospel of the Church caters to a person in search of instant gratification. We go to the supermarket to get our groceries, we go to church to get our blessings, in each instant we want to get what we came for and get on our way. Fast food restaurants are doing a booming business, we are not conditioned or indoctrinated to standing in line, at best we prefer to drive up to the window and have it our way. Now imagine the children of Isreal, God's chosen people begging and pleading in the slime pits of Egypt, "Lord send a deliverance". Four hundred and thirty years passed before God honored his promise to Joseph concerning his chosen people.
Now lets look at the forty years they spent wandering in the wilderness, God was speaking but he was not delivering. They were wandering or (lost) because they had sinned. It is interesting to note that only two of the original cast finally entered into the promise land. The rest (forsaken by God) died waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.
The progress of Christianity has introduced what is known as a "God culture", God is hanging around to hand out blessings. Preachers preach all you got to do is step up and claim your blessings. There is a constant clamor to claim a blessing from God. Some even become belligerent and demand, "I want my blessing." There are those who are selling the concept that everything that happen God has some ulterior motive or purpose. This is a sellable attribute of the church. There is possible much truth in this, but we must acknowledge that much of our suffering is caused by our own action and it is not the design of God. It was not the design of God for the child of Israel to wander in the wilderness forty years, it was the result of sinning against God. If you can tell me how to get something for nothing, then I am interested, we will pay money for that information.
On any given Sunday there are thousands of messages emulating from the pulpit, many claim to be a fresh word from God and many of these messages are conflicting with the true Word of God. These messages promise wealth and happiness and in return they ask for a financial donation. New churches are being built and the so-called word of God is spreading. According to the social media more people are praying and God is speaking more than he has ever done in any generation. The masses are even paying good money to hear the Word of God.
In my struggle to hear God speak, I realized that to reap the benefits of knowing God, I do not need to hear God speak, he has already spoken. To see God, why should I pray for a vision when all I have to do is open my eyes and see him all around me. When the Stephen was being stoned to death God. Wouldn't it have been nice if he had gotten a message from God saying they will not be able to lift their hands or stand against you? Maybe our desire to hear God speak has more to do with our faith in God, rather than receiving a new message from God. Maybe there is no fresh or new message from God, maybe God is just waiting and everything is proceeding according to the Book of Revelation. The time of Judgment is at hand.
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