Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Has God Forgotten to Be Gracious?

 

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.  Oh, that God would listen to me!  When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord.  All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.  I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help.    Interlude
You don’t let me sleep.  I am too distressed even to pray!  I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.  I search my soul and ponder the difference now.  Has the Lord rejected me forever?  Will he never again be kind to me?  Is his unfailing love gone forever?  Have his promises permanently failed?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has he slammed the door on his compassion?  Interlude
And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”  But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.  By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.  Interlude

When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled!  The sea quaked to its very depths.  The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky.  Your arrows of lightning flashed.  Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world!  The earth trembled and shook.  Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!  You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.  Psalm 77:1-20

“Has God forgotten to be gracious?”  If the Psalmist  is anything like Russell, as soon as those words dropped from his pen to the paper, he wished he’d never thought it.  Even now I have trouble asking a question like that.  But Scripture and the gracious character of God always invite us to ask the hard questions.

Asking those “hard” questions is almost a natural response during hard times, and nothing about this decade of the 20’s is starting-off anything but hard!  The 20th century had its’ roaring twenties, the 21st century has a meek meow of COVID-19 and economic distress.  Amid the pain, separation, frustration and unanswered questions and prayers, the uneasy suspicion that lingers in the middle of sleepless nights is:  where is this God who is supposed to answer our call for help?

The easy, or quick answer:  you’re not asking the right questions, or, say ‘please’, or say it right, not wrong, or wait….  These are all easy to roll off the lips, and have some truth.  We do ask selfishly, or out of God’s will; we sometimes ask, as if in demanding; we ask without willingness to hear, or be patient

The hard answer, (hard to hear, accept, or hold onto), is that we might be praying without repentance.  We just might be calling for justice, as if we’re innocent and deserving of better than what we’ve got.  In the court system you can plead to charges in one of two basic ways:  guilty or innocent.  When you plead “innocent” it amounts to saying you have not transgressed the law.  You’re asking for justice which is reserved for those who have completely obeyed.  The other possibility is pleading guilty and throwing oneself on the mercy of the court.

Because our system of jurisprudence is largely based upon the Law, as found in Holy Scripture (e.g. Deuteronomy, Leviticus), we also find our answer in Heaven’s courts.  Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation tells the story, our story, and how there is not a “righteous” person (read that:  without guilt) in the universe[1].  The only possibility for expecting an answer from Heaven requires confession with repentance.  Frankly, given how alien that thought is in 21st century culture, is it any surprise that Heaven is silent to the questions we ask, or the so-called prayers we offer (which are, more accurately, thinly-veiled demands for justice)?

If the “hard answer” is indeed hard to hear, accept, and hold – good!  This is not a time for easy answers.  So, let’s play big boy and big girl, and get real. 

Here’s how:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

For You Today

That God who is gracious…he’s just waiting for real!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©



 

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