CRY OUT
A few years ago, the biographer of Mother Teresa caused headlines around the world when he revealed that this saint of God, so revered for her faithful service and humility, had struggled with doubts about faith for most of her lifetime. Apart from what was an arresting calling and then a brief season of respite when she felt close to God, Mother Teresa lamented that she felt ‘abandoned by Jesus’ for most of her days.
And yet she laboured on - and thank God that she did. Who knows what turned a dark night of the soul into decades of darkness for her? Could she perhaps have been helped by medication, because what she judged as abandonment was actually depression? God only knows, literally. But her plight does demonstrate that happy feelings and a sense of closeness to God do not always accompany faith. In another psalm that reflected his ‘in the cave’ days, David openly complains – one translator renders this ‘sadly muses’ – to God. This psalm, one of thirteen that is described as a maskil, a teaching song to offer moral instruction, demonstrates that sadness and disappointment are authentic components of prayer. The psalm, one of six maskils from David’s pen, shows that he talked to God, not only during great sadness, but he talked about his frustrations and anger. More specifically, he yelled. There are 8 Hebrew words in the Psalms which are translated ‘cry’ and each one has its own distinct shade of meaning. The word in verses 1 and 5 come from a root which means to shriek, from anguish or danger. Feelings come and go. But let’s cry out to God anyway.