How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
Psalm 13:1
“What does the Holy Spirit eat?”
Sounds like the opening to a bad joke right, but this was a question that one of our girls recently asked us at bed time…fair enough too, if we eat to stay alive, and if the Holy Spirit is alive, then what does He eat?!
Children often ask insightful questions…here’s another one for you, “What is good about Good Friday?”
The verse above is the opening line from a psalm written by David…we don’t know the exact occasion out of which David wrote this, but it’s clear that David was experiencing a sense of lostness and doubt. Haven’t we all cried out like David at some point in our lives "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?"
…and didn’t Jesus cry out the same way while experiencing physical, emotional and spiritual torment on the cross? “Father, why have You forsaken Me?”
So, let me ask you again, “What is good about Good Friday?” Randy Alcorn answered it this way:
"What is good about Good Friday? Why isn't it called Bad Friday? Because out of the appallingly bad came what was inexpressibly good. And the good trumps the bad, because though the bad was temporary, the good is eternal."
…or to put it another way, Friday’s good because Sunday’s coming.
David concludes the Psalm with "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me."
In spite of whatever the challenges were that were causing David to fret and doubt, he knew that he could trust in God’s unfailing love, rejoice in His salvation, sing praise to Him for He has truly been good to us.
We’ve all known dark Fridays in our lives, moments of confusion and despair, and you may even be in one of those seasons now…but one of the encouragements of Easter is that, on the cross, Jesus was forsaken so that we wouldn’t have to be. Just as He went through the trial of the cross to draw you to Him, He will not let you go now.
Easter is the high point of the Christian calendar!
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