Opening your life to God’s Word on a consistent basis over a long period of time will slowly but surely begin to shape your thoughts, perspective, attitudes, and actions. You will start out just reading God’s Word and it will eventually begin to read you! God’s truth will challenge you and help you to see as God sees! Watch how God’s perspective will begin to influence you in ways you never imagined! Stick with the plan! Open your heart to God and He will transform you from the inside out!
In His Love,
Pastor Jerry
Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the LORD,” they say,
“let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
Prayers like Psalm 22 reveal that even the most righteous and God-honoring personalities of the Bible had struggles. Prayer is a conversation with God where we bear our hearts before our heavenly Father. Prayer is the language of our innermost soul as we bear our deepest hurts, struggles, anger, fears, and challenges. In this Psalm, David cries out in one of the tumultuous moments of his life and he questions why God has forsaken Him. He has been wounded and rejected. David says that His body feels like his bones are out of joint. Evil men have encircled him and they have pierced his hands and feet. They have stripped him of his garments and have cast lots in order to see who will win these items of clothing. Yet even as he takes his brokenness and hurt before God, it somehow begins to be apparent that David still trusts mightily in the One who listens to him rant and rave in his greatest hour of pain. These prayers of lament and anguish remind us that we can take all of our lives before God in complete honesty….even our greatest fears and deepest fears and struggles. What is interesting to note is that Jesus Himself quotes this prayer of David as He cries out to His heavenly Father. This agonizing prayer of David, prayed hundreds of years before…..amazingly reveals Jesus own words from the cross as the Son of God as He bore the weight of all our sins.
Are you in a time of deep despair? Feel abandoned…even by God? Have you been turned away by those you love the most? Cry out to God. He is much larger and His love is much greater than your greatest source of pain and fear. He will never overlook the afflicted, nor will He hide Himself from those who cry for help. Offer up your greatest struggle, fear, or hurt. He will meet you in the middle of your brokenness and offer you His loving presence.
Prayer focus: Next Gen Ministries
Beach United Methodist Church
325 7th Avenue North
Jacksonville Beach, Florida, 32250
904.249.2343