Across the Pastor’s Desk by Mark Boosrma

Psalm 22 begins with the anguished cry of one who feels abandoned by God:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  On the cross, a beaten, bruised and dying Jesus gave voice to this very question. We too can feel alone, lost and hopeless.

It seems like most people, when questioning God’s presence or power, would long for a higher power who is . . . well, powerful. Think of the words of Isaiah 64, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence — as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil — to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!” Wouldn’t that be something! Who could doubt a God who shows up with unmistakable fanfare and drama, removing all uncertainty and proving divine presence and power?

But tucked into the Psalm 22 lament of one who feels forgotten and abandoned, there is a surprisingly vulnerable portrait of God:  “yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.”  The “holy” part you might have expected. But “enthroned on the praises” of people like you and me?  That seems like a highly unreliable place to sit!

I mean, how often do you actually praise God with your whole being? Do you ever sing your heart out with full-on wonder and gratitude and joy? I know that I should praise God, but do I? Aren’t I more likely to put it off until I really and truly feel like it? And if I’m not feeling it, could it be that I may never quite get around to glorifying and praising God?

Isn’t God taking a rather huge gamble, trusting a flimsy perch upon half-hearted praises like yours and mine?

Or is that precisely the most amazing grace?  That God against all odds actually trusts you and me to lift our praise, and that no throne in the universe is more cherished by God as a place to sit, than upon whatever praise broken but hopeful humans can muster.

Can you picture it?  Your praise — however humble — is the preferred perch of the God who loves you most.

 

Mark Boorsma is the pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church.