Gems from the Psaalms (19)

Talking to God

Neville Turley

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?  Psalm 22:1 (NIV)

Tomorrow is Good Friday.  The day our Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life so that we could be put right with God.

Picture the first Good Friday.  Our Lord Jesus Christ had been reviled, mocked, whipped, degraded and sentenced to death.  Then he was nailed to a cross.  He hung there in excruciating pain.

His cry, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" still comes ringing down through the ages.  It is the most desolate plea ever uttered and every Good Friday it pierces our hearts anew.

At this, the lowest point of his life on earth, Jesus draws strength from the Psalms.  It is something we would do well to remember when we undergo absolute hardship.

In his extremity Jesus did not plea for clemency from his oppressors or cry for help from his disciples, all but one of them had in any event deserted him.  He cried out direct to God.

When we reach a crisis point in life, we seldom make praying to God our first priority.  We prefer first to look for other avenues of support. 

Jesus in his cry to God opens himself completely to God.  He expresses his innermost feelings fully and frankly to God. 

I have a suspicion that we tend to be too embarrassed to be frank in our prayers.  We prefer to use traditional utterances and well-worn phrases rather than to say what is really on our mind to our Father.

Our Heavenly Father sees straight into our hearts and for our own sake, we need to be absolutely transparent when we talk to him.

Prayer: Almighty God, in our prayers rid us of all pretence.  Through the Holy Spirit give us courage to lay ourselves open to you and to talk to you fully and frankly as a child to their parent.  Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen