Forgiving God's Silence, Clinging to Faith
Daily Scripture
Psalm 13:1-2, Matthew 27:41-46
Psalm 13
1 How long will you forget me, Lord? Forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long will I be left to my own wits,
agony filling my heart? Daily?
How long will my enemy keep defeating me?
Matthew 27
41 In the same way, the chief priests, along with the legal experts and the elders, were making fun of him, saying, 42 “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. He’s the king of Israel, so let him come down from the cross now. Then we’ll believe in him. 43 He trusts in God, so let God deliver him now if he wants to. He said, ‘I’m God’s Son.’” 44 The outlaws who were crucified with him insulted him in the same way.
45 From noon until three in the afternoon the whole earth was dark. 46 At about three Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” which means, “My God, my God, why have you left me?” [Psalm 22:1]
Daily Reflection & Prayer
People often call the Psalms the “prayer book” of the Bible. About 50 of those prayers were “laments” like Psalm 13, in which the psalmist expressed the feeling that God had forgotten all about him. (In the vision of Revelation, the Bible’s final book, martyred saints echoed Psalm 13 and asked, “Holy and true Master, how long?”—cf. Revelation 6:10). Matthew recorded that, in the grim darkness of the cross, even Jesus himself used the words of Psalm 22, another lament, to express the devastating sense that God had abandoned him. Scholar William Barclay articulated the darkness: “In human experience, as life goes on and as bitter tragedy enters into it, there come times when we feel that God has forgotten us; when we are immersed in a situation beyond our understanding and feel bereft even of God…. Here we see Jesus plumbing the uttermost depths of the human situation, so that there might be no place that we might go where he has not been before.” *
- Scholar John Goldingay’s wife, Ann, suffered 43 years of multiple sclerosis. He used Psalm 13 to write about it: “I pushed the wheelchair for 20 years. And despite the support, I often wondered, ‘How long, how long, how long, how long?’ With hindsight, I am glad I didn’t know the answer, as I’m not sure I could have lived with it…. How long, how long, how long, how long? The psalm is written for someone facing a long haul. It dares to continue trusting Yahweh’s commitment.” ** Most of us have had dark times when God seems absent. Most of us have had times when we think (or say), “I am angry with God.” That is why we need to talk about “forgiving God.” Psalm 22, even in venting the pain of feeling abandoned, continued to address “My God.” We “forgive” God by continuing to trust when we cannot understand, by praying even when no immediate answer is forthcoming. Are you waiting (patiently or not) for God’s goodness to come back in sight today? What choices and practices can help you sustain trust in God’s unfailing love as you wait?
Prayer
Lord God, whether I’ve said it aloud or not, you know when my heart asks, “How long?” Thank you that, seen by my limited eyes or not, your faithful love is always with me. Amen.
GPS Insights
Daniel Contreras
During 2025 we are introducing you to writers from our global Missions partners every few weeks. They add perspective to our understanding of Resurrection's reach around the world.
Pastor Daniel Contreras, who is a global missionary with General Board of Global Ministries serving in Honduras with the Methodist Church, wrote today's Insights. He lives in Tegucigalpa with his wife Karena and his children Ben and Paz.
The Bible tells us that Jesus’ ministry reached people beyond religion. He went into the fields, out to the margins of society, striking the logic of privileges for higher society and religious-affiliated officials. History tells us that John Wesley’s ministry had these same marks. In his sermon ‘Signs of the times’ Wesley said, “Never before the words –Good news are unto the poor– have been fulfilled like they are today.”
Church is continually tempted into working for herself. To human minds it may make sense to have churches that work “for the sake of church.” This is not what Jesus taught. It is not what he practiced. I am glad to see that, in great and small things, the church in Honduras, does not work for herself. Our Christian and Wesleyan vocation urges us to serve into the community and to the margins of society. I like Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 13:13: “The Kingdom of God is like a woman who puts yeast into three different parts of dough.” God’s love is not only present in church; it is not only for church. God’s love is present everywhere, manifested in love and visible in the fields, schools, universities, offices, and in the streets. I went last week to the school in Ciudad España and the students reminded me of Wesley’s ethos in this phrase: ‘The world is my parish.’
That is why, even if circumstances are difficult, even if we are sad and in pain, we can trust that God’s love never abandons us. The same love that sends us to the margins of society stays with us when we are at the margins of our own understanding and strength.
It is my privilege, to share ministry and work alongside godly partners in Honduras who share God’s love in Sunday Schools, classrooms, neighborhoods and everywhere. One of them is Denis Yanez, a part time teacher at Juan Wesley School, who is also studying with a college scholarship from Resurrection. He leads the youth at the local church and also engages actively in his volunteer hours serving for the scholarship program. Denis studied his elementary education at Juan Wesley. The Kingdom of God is the yeast of God’s love that activates when manifested.
Prayer: Heavenly father, we thank you for love to all peoples, everywhere. We pray that we manifest your love, putting forth our best effort and going the extra mile by loving everybody. Allow us to be the yeast you hide into the world. Amen.
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew—Volume 2, Chapters 11–28 (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1976, p. 369.
** John Goldingay, Psalms for Everyone, Part 1: Psalms 1–72. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013, p. 43.
