Sing Praise or Turn Away?
What is your first reaction when something bad happens? Is it to get angry? Or run and hide? Do you look for someone to blame? Or do you just blame yourself.
There’s a point where Jesus is going though the worst pain you can go through. He has been tortured for hours and is probably emotionally and physically drained. He is nailed to a cross while people are yelling insults at him. At this point, according to Matthew and Marks Gospel, he cries out theses words "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?".
I always believed theses words were a sign of just how much pain and suffering Jesus was experiencing at the time. It was so bad that it felt like he had been abandoned by God. But recently I heard a different theory.
In those days when people would come together to worship they would sing Psalms from the scriptures. The way it would work would be that the Rabbi or teacher would start singing the first like of a psalm and everyone else would join in. Jesus was called ‘Rabbi’ or ‘Teacher’ by his group of disciples, so when they worshiped together he probably led the singing. He was the only one who knew and recited the scriptures of by heart. So when Jesus was hanging there on the cross and said those words was he actually singing them?
Psalm 22, which was written by David hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth, starts with the words:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
The Psalm goes on to describe the exact scene unfolding in front of Jesus’ eyes. Could Jesus have been reminding them of how his life and death were foretold in the scriptures?
The other thing to note is that when someone sings the opening line of a song it brings the whole song to mind. If I were to sing ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound’ you would not just think of those words on their own but rather the feeling of the whole song would come to your mind. By Jesus singing out the first line of the Psalm he would have been reminding them of the whole thing, and this Psalm does not end with a frail cry of pain but a song of defiant praise.
Verses 22-31 read:
I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation 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 disdained 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 will I fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied; they 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 to a people yet unborn- for he has done it.
So if Jesus could sing a song of praise in the worst moments of his life why do we turn our backs on him in times of trouble. Why do we blame God when bad things happen rather than praising him for the good things we have.
God only wants what’s best for you and would never wish harm to come to you. So we must make a conscious decision to praise God in both the good and the bad times.
Praise God in all situations!
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