Help us remember
by Sue Westhorp
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For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him (Psalm 22:24).
Psalm 22 begins with the well-known and anguished cry, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ It is the psalm that is set in the lectionary for Good Friday as, in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, Jesus cries out these words from the cross as he endures an agonising death, feeling abandoned by God.
Today’s reading is the latter verses of Psalm 22. The first 22 verses of the psalm can be described as a lament, complaint and petition, whereas the final 9 verses can be described as an expression of praise and adoration. Two very different moods! Yet we need the context of the former verses to really understand the latter verses. The disorientation and feelings of abandonment in the first part of the psalm speak of the experience of God being absent and being profoundly alone. Even in these verses, there are hints of how God has heard these cries in the past: ‘In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted and you delivered them’ (verse 4).
When we get to verses 23 and 24, these hints become full-blown cries of praise to the God who ‘did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him’. Amid the suffering, God’s faithfulness is remembered and celebrated, even as the psalmist cries to him to help, once again.
How does this work in your life? In dark times are you always able to remember and trust in God’s goodness, or, like me, can those memories and that knowledge fade in the pain? We are called to lead reflective lives, looking at how God’s hand has been active and present in every part of our lives and turning back to him in trust and love when times are tough. We can be thankful that even when we can’t remember God’s grace in the past, God continues to hear our cries!
Loving God, thank you for all the ways in which you have answered our prayers and heard our cries in the past. Help us to remember your loving presence in our lives when times are hard. Amen.
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