Oh my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent (Psalm 22:2).

David calls.

God is silent.

Well, that’s a bummer.

Now, David could take this several different ways. He could give up on God and assume that he is a myth, and that David is entirely alone. He could become angry with God, raging at God’s injustice in allowing his child to be in such a place of pain. He could become sullen and resentful and show God that David doesn’t really need him; David will be just fine on his own, thank you very much.

Or, he can persist, knowing that his relationship with God is more than this moment, and the truth of God is more than this circumstance.

A few years ago, just after I had read this passage, my son and I hiked to the top of Mt. San Gorgonio. I was–and am–not a very experienced hiker, and I’m in only mediocre shape. These factors put such a climb in the “Are you insane?” category. I thought of today’s verse as I limped my way up the last four miles of mountain. I felt, in those endless hours, as if the torture would pretty much be forever. The next day, comfy in my chair with a good night’s sleep behind me and half a bottle of Ibuprofen coursing through me, it all seemed very distant, but in those moments on the mountain I think I got a teensy glimpse of what David was feeling.  And I marvel at David’s persistence in crying out to the One who has delivered him time and again.

Cry out, Beloved. 

He is listening.

He is near.

He will answer.

Happy Wednesday