Living In Saturday

Psalms 22:1-2 NIV says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.”

It does us no good to pretend like we never get here. Maybe you skimmed through the verse. I would encourage you to go back and read the words slowly. Let them sit in your heart.

There are times of outright devastation in our journey. Whether from experiencing loss, trial, persecution, or some other grief, there are moments, or even periods of time, that we feel alone in our journey of faith.

God knows.

As much as the story of the Bible shares highlights of the mountaintop moments, it shares even more about how to press through the trial for the glory of God. In walking through the valley of the shadow of death, as Psalm 23 shows us, we learn to fear no evil. It is there that we discover that he is with us.

Perhaps we will not notice his presence until after the fact. It is always easier to see him with us when we look back. Pressing through these moments of uncertainty builds our faith muscle.

As we move forward in our lives, the testimonies of how God was with us stack up against the lie that he has abandoned us. Much like David fighting Goliath because he saw God’s faithfulness with the lion and the bear, we can stand firmly in the dark moments as we learn to trust the Lord.

Eventually, we will learn the meaning of Psalm 16:10 ESV, which says, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”

There may be seasons of life that challenge you beyond what you think you can bear. Sometimes it is just one impossibly awful day like a bad day at work; other times, it is life-altering news. Indeed, most if not all challenges we face today pale in comparison to what our brothers and sisters in Russia and Ukraine are facing today.

Still, God uses every moment to teach us more about how to trust him and know him. Saturday represents the quiet, hopeless day while Jesus was in the tomb, breaking down the gates of hell.

On the outside, it was all lost, but there was an unseen victory being won in the grave. Lean into this meaning of Saturday today. Let God show you his faithfulness.

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