My God, My God, Why Have You Abandoned Me?

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Ps 22: 2a


These are powerful words. So powerful, they are remembered. Maybe not chapter or verse, but they are remembered. It is the utterance of human identification. A collective fear. A sometime in a lifetime moment.

I doubt that Deliah or Susie have processed their abandonment so long ago. They only sought food and warmth and shelter. Without the burden of thinking, they escaped the fears of their own making. Worrying about how they would eat next month or even next week.

How many times I have uttered that phrase. In different ways but with the same intention. How many times I have felt so alone that even God has walked out of the room. But I am not alone. We all suffer disappointments. Setbacks. Illnesses. Rents go unpaid. People get sick. Things don’t go the way that we want. Our loved ones hurt us. Hurt us again. We suffer sleepless nights worrying about the things that need to be put in God’s hands. Why have you abandoned us?

When I am suffering my angst, I need open my eyes. I need to notice God in the disappointments and in the despair. High school seniors running a dress boutique restore the dreams for needy girls to go to a prom or to a Sweet 16. Operation Fairy Dust is God walking into the room. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/nyregion/28about.html?ref=nyregion) A donor’s conference at the United Nations discusses the ways in which monies from around the world will help rebuild Haiti. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/opinion/28sun1.html?hp) We can criticize the world for abandoning many places but can applaud it loudly when it resounds of God’s love. We are God’s response to the question.

When I am suffering my angst, I need to know I’m human. It’s all right to be fearful. It’s all right to feel alone. Christ sat in the Garden of Gethsemane and felt the same way. Christ got down on his knees and prayed. That’s all I need to do, too. A very human man was afraid and called out in his fear. When I do the same, I am heard, too.