Bi-Polar Faith - Psalm 22
The words of this Psalm were on the mind of Jesus as He was dying. He quoted the opening verse, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" As I read the rest of the passage, I was somewhat surprised by its back-and-forth swings. On the one hand, I read, "Why are You so far from saving me? . . . I am a worm and not a man . . . you lay me in the dust of death" while on the other hand, I read, "You are enthroned as the Holy One . . . You who fear the Lord, praise Him . . . He rules over the nations." In one moment, this guy is lamenting his sad state of affairs and wondering where the heck God was. Then with the very next breath, he offers up words of greatest worship, adoring God for His greatness. He goes from one to the other. His faith seems a little bi-polar.

Sounds a lot like me. There are moments when I find myself questioning God & wishing He would do something simple - like intervene. And yet in just a few moments, I am in awe of who He is and nothing about my situation has changed. And most days, I am somewhere in the middle of it all. Is God disappointed by my waffling? I don't think so. In fact, I think He expects me to waffle from praise to complaining and back to praise. He knows me too well.
And so as I contemplate this holy week, I think that this is the essence of this thing we call "faith." It's not all about praising God for everything (even the difficult). It is about being realistic about our problems and our pain. And in spite of all we face, still where do we go? Both heartaches and good times find us at the same place - His throne.