“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me... I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.”
The Shelter
This is the same cry Jesus spoke from the cross, quoting this exact psalm in his own moment of deepest anguish. This should settle, permanently, any lingering suspicion that feeling forsaken by God is itself a sign of weak or failing faith. The Son of God himself spoke these words, at the point of his greatest suffering, without contradiction to who he was.
Notice the psalm does not merely ask the question once and move past it. It repeats the cry, day and night, persistent, unanswered in the moment it is spoken. This is not a brief crisis of doubt quickly resolved. It is sustained, repeated crying out into what feels, at the time, like genuine silence.
If Jesus himself could speak these exact words while remaining fully faithful, fully the beloved Son, then feeling forsaken, even crying it out loud, repeatedly, does not disqualify you from genuine faith either. It may, in fact, place you in the most faithful company scripture has to offer, the very words of Christ himself in his own darkest hour.
Whatever silence you feel from God today, however long you have been crying without a sense of answer, you are not praying wrongly. You are praying the same words the Son of God prayed, and that alone should steady you enough to keep crying out rather than going quiet.
Take Refuge
- Say this exact verse today if it matches your own experience, without softening it.
- Remember Christ himself spoke these words without losing his identity as the Son.
- Keep crying out today rather than going silent, even without a sense of answer.
Prayer
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus, you spoke these same words and did not stop being your Father’s beloved Son. Let me keep crying out as you did. Amen.
Carry this today
Even Jesus spoke this cry. It does not disqualify me either.