Our culture is filled with double entendres, a word or expression that we can understand in at least two ways, one being sexual. And of course, since we are a sexualized culture, many new sayings are added to the list of double entendres every day. These double meanings allow people to get away with bringing sex into almost every conversation.
I remember the movie What About Bob? where Bill Murray is placed in the Psychiatric hospital by Dr Marvin as a way to get rid of him. You see him sitting with staff all around him telling jokes and laughing. He tells about drawing pictures where every picture reminds the man in the joke about sex. So the psychiatrist in the joke remarks that the patient is obsessed with sex. The patient in the joke says, “Well you’re the one drawing all the dirty pictures!”
Double meanings abound. And words can refer to two or more different things. Even things written the Scriptures can have two or more referents, two or more things they are talking about. This is often true with the prophecy we find in the Old Testament. There was often the meaning that was a word of hope for those in the immediate timeframe of the original writing, but there was also a future connection. We see this in our psalm today.
Jesus made that connection while he was hanging on the Cross. He began to quote this psalm as He was suffering on the Cross. Some of His most famous words begin this psalm. They are also some of the most difficult to understand theologically and most universally experienced.
As we read this psalm we will find poignant word pictures that help us understand and relate to what Jesus felt like when He was on the Cross. But I don’t want to highlight those today. These words also had a meaning for the writer of the psalm in his day, and for his people. This psalm was meant to bring the writer’s experience out into the open, so that other people would be able to relate and find hope.
So what are some of the things that the writer was expressing about his own journey in life? He felt forsaken, like the LORD wasn’t listening, like He didn’t care. And yet even in the words of that first verse, there is an expression of a relationship that we could miss, if we weren’t careful. He addresses the LORD as “my God.” He repeats it to make sure we hear it.
This is not some distant, non-personal deity being addressed. This is the writer’s God, and a God who normally doesn’t make his servants feel abandoned. This is an unusual experience for this writer. If his God were always absent, always distant, always deaf to his cries, then this would be nothing to write about. But normally this writer’s God is there answering prayer, making His presence known.
And this is where some people’s faith gets sidetracked. They go through a difficult, perhaps impossible feeling circumstance, and when they aren’t delivered in the manner they want, they feel as if the LORD isn’t there for them. Then they must make a choice: faith or fear. In those moments they can shake their fists and turn their backs, or shake their fists and draw in close. Just like the hurting child mad at the parents for not granting the wish, they want safety and security even more than their wish.
Is there anything that can be said in those moments that will make the feeling of rejection less painful? Nope! No words, no theological discourse, no amount of storytelling will help. What people need in those moments is to know they are not alone in their journey. They need someone at their side, silent and listening. God doesn’t need us to defend Him. He does need us to be His hands and arms extended.
The Arnold Journey 