I want to type out an excerpt from the book Redemption by Mike Wilkerson. I read it once approximately two years ago but I picked it up again and have been encouraged by the number of things I have missed the first time. It has been a source of incredible encouragement and I pray it encourages you as well.
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Cry Out To God In Faith
Crying out in faith means brutal honesty with God about your suffering while still trusting him. Moses gives us a hint of this in his prayer, but Jesus' cry from the cross was filled with far greater pain_ and far more faith: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46). Jesus' expression of anguish was raw, honest, and fitting with his fatal circumstances. Yet, at first glance, it may not sound like a faith-filled cry at all...... In his cry, Jesus quoted Psalm 22. Yet he wasn't merely quoting it; he was living it.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. (Ps22:1-5)
There are feelings of abandonment and groans, and day after day of restless crying out. But it doesn't stop with brutal honesty; it moves on to proclaim who God is, who the psalmist needs God to be in the moment. He is holy and enthroned. He is trustworthy, and those who trust him_even in dire circumstances_ are rescued! To live this psalm as Jesus did is to cry out the heart's anguish to God and to cling to his promise of rescue.
Jesus cried in desolation as he endured the very cup of God's wrath that he'd prayed in the garden of Gethsemane might pass from him (Luke 22:42). The fact that he found himself in the very worst imaginable circumstance_ one that he'd prayed to avoid!_ still did not deter his faith. It's scandalous to think that Jesus continued trusting the God who had permitted such suffering despite Jesus' prayers.
In fact, the religious leaders who stood back from the cross were so scandalized by it that they mocked Jesus for his faith: "He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him." (Matt 27:43) They sneered, because like you and me, they measured the trustworthiness of God by present circumstances. The reasoning goes something like this: If God is trustworthy, and Jesus trusts him, then he wouldn't be hanging on the cross so shamefully; so it must be either that God is not trustworthy or that Jesus lacks faith. And those tend to be the very conclusions we draw for ourselves.
We, like broken-spirit Israelites, find it nearly impossible to keep trusting God as circumstances worsen. ("This does not fit my picture of redemption!") We are tempted to believe that God has forsaken us and that all hope is lost. Or some naive Christian tells us that if we merely had more faith_ if we just learned whatever lesson we're supposed to be learning_ the pain would stop.
But Jesus experienced worse pain than you or I will ever know. We may fear the worst_abandonment by God_ but he actually faced it. And he didn't stop believing.
Did Jesus' cry of faith fix his circumstance? No. He spoke these despairing words in the face of death _ and then he died. How could he cling to the hope of rescue when his death was imminent? Jesus knew the rest of the psalms as well, including Psalm 16:10, which says, "For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption," a promise of resurrection. Yes, he would die; but he would also be raised to new life. (emphasis added)
Because Jesus faced the worst in faith, you and I will never have to. We can cling to these same promises. We can face seeming (or certain!) death: emotionally, spiritually, and even physically, knowing we will not be put to shame. One way or another, God will deliver.
Like Jesus, our hope in God must extend beyond the desire for relief from the present suffering to a deeper, ultimate relief. While it is not wrong to ask God to change our circumstances, our hope must remain in him whether he changes them or not. As we cry out to him, he becomes a refuge to us, a hiding place for safety and comfort. On this side of heaven, we will not experience ultimate comfort and refuge; there will still be pain and danger. Yet while we continue to hope in his promises for ultimate refuge, we can know him as a true refuge now. Even if we should die suffering, clinging to this hope as Jesus did, we can be sure of the same resurrection.
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Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us
