Waiting

If you have a choice between giving up on God and yelling at God, do the traditional thing and yell.

Psalm 69:1-3

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

If you’ve been wondering where God is in all of <gestures broadly> this nonsense, HARD SAME FRIEND. And we’re not the only ones, we’re following in a grand tradition: the Psalter is chock full of poets loudly wondering when God will show up and save them.

This radical activist, for example, has been thrown into a cistern as a makeshift jail. Being faithful, he’s been crying out to God for help. Screaming for help so much his throat is sore from it. The tears he’s cried while waiting blur his vision. He waits and waits … but God hasn’t shown up. He needs to be saved from the literal rising waters REAL SOON NOW or he’ll drown.

The poet does not blithely trust that God has a plan, he does not call on other gods, and he does not give up. Instead, he persists in telling God what to do: save me.

If you have a choice between giving up on God and yelling at God, do the traditional thing and yell. Is there a situation you're navigating currently where yelling at God -- out of refusal to give up on God’s presence -- might be exactly what your spirit needs?

–Kate Davoli