Today's Daily Lesson is from Psalm 22 verse 1:
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Sometimes someone will come to me struggling with something, some loss or disappointment or perhaps abuse, and because they are good and want to remain faithful they will say, "I know I'm not supposed to question God." When they say that I say back, "Why not? Jesus did."
The truth is we can not not question God. There are too many losses, hurts, injustices, miseries, and mysteries in life not to have questions. The task of faith is not so much not asking God, "Why?", but rather seeking to ask God, "Why?" in trust and in hope.
That's what Jesus did. When on the cross, in the midst of unimaginable physical and emotional torment, he asked, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The Gentiles who heard this probably thought he was giving up all faith, but the Jews would have recognized he was actually quoting a psalm - Psalm 22, which is about a man who being tortured to death and asks God, "Why?", yet nevertheless speaks his hope that though he will die, nevertheless he will one day worship God alive. In asking, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus was not renouncing His faith; He was actually clinging to it.
Remaining faithful does not mean never questioning God. Rather, it means going ahead and coming to God with the deep, burdening questions which trouble our souls and test our faith. And it means learning to do so in a spirit of open relationship with God and trust in His goodness and ultimate vindication.
Such trust was beautifully illustrated in the life of the great preacher William Sloane Coffin. In 1983, Coffin's son Alex was killed in an automobile accident. After The accident, Coffin returned to his iconic Riverside Church and preached a sermon titled "Alex's Death". In the sermon he too quoted Psalm 22. Yes, Coffin asked, "My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken me?" But then he spoke again, emphatically and with deep conviction, "But . . . My God, My God."
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