Why Me, God? |
"Why me, God? It isn't fair!" Life certainly seems to be just a cruel joke at time. We wonder if there is any sense to anything in those times when we feel thoroughly crushed, when we don't know if we can bear the pain any longer, when there seems to be no hope at all. And it is in these times that we begin to wonder if God really cares.
The person who wrote Psalm 88 clearly felt the anguish of death approaching and let God know about it. Day and night he cried out to the Lord about his plight and his sense of being forsaken and alone and without escape. And what answer does he get from God? Nothing. "O Lord, why do you cast me off? Why do you hide your face from me?" (v.14) The psalmist knows of God's reputation for working wonders and of God's steadfast love and faithfulness and saving help (vs. 10-12), but where is God now?
That the psalmist laments is understandable, but what is amazing is that he continues to appeal to God. Even in his despair, (or perhaps, because of it), the psalmist displays an extraordinary trust in God. It is a trust that holds God accountable to his promises of love and faithfulness.
We too seem to be in a situation similar to that of the psalmist. We too can justifiably complain to God. We can wonder where God is. We can ask, "Why me, God?" The psalmist does not find any answers, nor do we find any simple solutions. But do we have any grounds for such trust as the psalmist expresses? Unlike the psalmist, we stand at a point in history where we have seen God revealed in Christ. We have seen Christ forsaken on a cross. Is this any answer, or does it raise another question: "Why did Christ have to die?"
Indeed, we have no easy answers. So what do we have? The psalmist had a God in whom he could trust even in his greatest despair. We do too.
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Lord, we want to know, "Why me?" In this prayer to you we acknowledge that we do trust you to be faithful and loving. Answer our prayer and do not hide from us. Yet even in this prayer, we also confess you to be our God upon whom all things ultimately and finally depend. Give us assurance in knowing that we are kept in your loving hands, and grant us peace in experiencing your love revealed in Christ who died for us. Amen. |
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©1998 Mark Vitalis Hoffman - CrossMarks Christian Resources - www.CrossMarks.com