Gems from the Psalms – Day 19

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 directly 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.