Questions in the Valley

"My God! My God, why have you forsaken me?" Psalm 22:1

Maybe you know those words better as the words Jesus cried on the cross. Jesus was actually repeating a Psalm he'd probably memorized as a kid that was written many years before Jesus came along. It epitomized what Jesus felt -- alone.  It is a gut-wrenching cry from the Psalmist. Maybe you've felt that way before. Maybe you're feeling that way now. I'm certain the people of Moore, Oklahoma felt that way this past Monday. I'll bet they continue to feel that way. There are times that life leaves us feeling like God has abandoned us. The prayer never gets answer, the healing never comes, the house goes into foreclosure, tragedy strikes, the marriage fails, the lost child never comes home, and our world comes crashing down. It feels hopeless and desperate. It feels like we are all alone. Psalm 22 is a cry of desperation. There is room for that with God. You can cry to Him. You can shout in anguish. You can even be angry. God can handle it. God is big enough for our questions. When a tornado rips through an elementary school, all we're left with is questions. Where was God? Why did this happen? I can't imagine the devastation.  There aren't many answers.

What I can tell you is this:  The promises of God offer presence, not protection or prevention. God is with us, even in our questions, heaving in tears amidst our heartache. In fact, God is pursuing us, asking the question that He's been asking us since sin knocked the world into chaos in the Garden of Eden: "Where are you?" God is looking for us, running after us, taking on flesh for us, dying on a cross for us in Jesus, and dwelling in us through His Spirit. If we can hold on to that, we can make it to the other side of the heartache. The Psalmist, amidst his questions and cries, reached that point, and in the next Psalm (the most famous one) he wrote, "Though I walk through valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." May our brothers and sisters in Oklahoma know that God is with them in the valley of the shadow of death. And may those of you in your own valley know that He is with you and in you.