3. My God, My God: Genesis 39: 10-23; Matthew 27: 45-46
A couple of years ago, I gave a sermon about a friend who was diagnosed with cancer. She fought it, and survived. For over two years things were fine, she was healthy, and life was going back to normal. But then her cancer returned with a vengeance late last year. She lasted six months or less and died recently leaving a young child behind, now an orphan. In those moments, I thought to myself, “But I prayed! I prayed hard!” I asked God why, why would something so cruel and unfortunate happen? It was a moment of clarity on those words my God, why have you forsaken me, or us?
Though I know you are sick of hearing about it, I think we need a minute to talk about this virus, and how it is affecting us. Many of my friends are being laid off from work because people can’t go out. Their lives are shattered. People feel deeply the isolation especially if they live alone and family may be far away. Our friends and loved ones are getting sick, and some are dying. I think as this continues to drag on for weeks, maybe even months we are all going to be feeling that statement, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
In those times we feel alone, forgotten, and left to struggle by God, we have to remember the truth: that God is always with us, no matter what. I think of the old hymn, “God Leads His Dear Children Along.” The chorus says, “Some through the waters, some through the flood, some though the fire, but all through the blood; some through great sorrow, but God gives a song in the night season and all the day long.” Trials and struggle will always be present with us. Times when God feels far away will plague us through out life. Can I hear, can I understand, can I feel your presence? O God, where are you?
That feeling was the most agonizing part for Jesus in his time of suffering. He bears his pain, for the most part, in silence until that point. But the pain of feeling utterly alone causes him to cry out. But in the night season, in the midst of struggles, God still gives a song. Look at the story of Joseph. He was sold into slavery by his own family, falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit and imprisoned in Egypt. But we are told in that same scripture, “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love.”
What an enduring and powerful reminder! God was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love. But Genesis 39 goes on to say, “The Lord was with [Joseph]; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.” It’s somewhat of a dual experience. Joseph was in the midst of struggle and suffering, but God was still strengthening and blessing him, for God never abandoned Joseph. The same will be true for us. In life we may struggle. There may be unpleasant times…times of struggle, of pain, of loss. But just as God was with Joseph, God will also be with us.
In times when there is trouble and suffering, many people go to a quote from Mister Rogers, “When I was a boy, and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” And while that quote is very comforting, we need to also go a step further. When Joseph was in prison, he didn’t just hump up and wait for God. We are told in Genesis 39, “The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in prison…the chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care because the Lord was with him.”
Don’t just look for the helpers. Be the helpers. As Christians we are given grace and love, but we are also called to the responsibility of our faith. When people feel forsaken, isolated, and lonely, be the helper who calls and checks on them, befriend them, and tell them that you care about them and God loves them. When Christ called out that God had forsaken him he was helping and saving us all. That begs of us a responsibility to help those who are hurting.
For all of us, there will be times when we feel like God is not near to us, that we are isolate, struggling, lonely. There will be times when our friends and loved ones dies, and life seems cruel and unfair. I pray that it does not make us bitter, but instead, may we see life’s struggles as a call to be the helpers, to show Christ to others both in easy times and when life is difficult. Call a loved one, check on your neighbor, pray and lift up others in this time. I promise that the more you become the hands and feet of Christ in the world, the less you will feel forsaken, and the more you will be able to say, “It is well with my soul.”