“Exiled”

 

 Psalm 42:7

“Deep cries unto deep at the sound of your waters”: Written during the time of the exile, the Psalmist finds himself far from the Place of the Temple, the House of the Lord…the Place where he can worship God freely…and he cries out to God: 

“I am far from home and troubles overwhelm me…”

(Read Psalm 42)

Likewise the prophet Jonah, from the depths of the sea, at the gates of death itself…also in a place of “exile” far from the House of the Lord, cries out to God:

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,

and he answered me;

out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

and you heard my voice.

 For you cast me into the deep,

into the heart of the seas,

and the flood surrounded me;

all your waves and your billows

passed over me. (Psalm 42:7)

 Then I said, ‘I am driven away

from your sight;

yet I shall again look

upon your holy temple.’ (Psalm 27:13)

 The waters closed in over me to take my life;

the deep surrounded me;

weeds were wrapped about my head

 at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land

whose bars closed upon me forever;

yet you brought up my life from the pit,

O Lord my God. (Psalm 16:10; 103:4)

 When my life was fainting away,

I remembered the Lord,

and my prayer came to you,

into your holy temple.

Jonah 2:2-7

And then finally, the Lord God Himself, in the form of human flesh, taking the iniquities of the world, faces the ultimate “exile” - the complete and total separation from the Threefold Godhead - those same gates of death and bars of Hell…and He too cries out to God: 

“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

Matthew 27:46

And we who follow Jesus Christ are also now “aliens and “exiles” in this world (See 1Peter ch1:1,17 & 2:11): We no longer belong to it and should not therefore be lovers of its substance. And when our freedoms become restricted and limited through persecution…when we too are exiled in our own Land…unable to go up to the House of the Lord, and feeling far from His Presence, the ‘deep’ within us will also begin to groan: Like the deer panting for water, our souls will begin to thirst for Him as never before…and then the Lord will come down (Exodus 3:7-8; Psalm 34:4) And we shall discover Him in a way we have never known before…we will press in to know Him - not just the power of His resurrection, but the fellowship of His suffering, becoming like Him in death (Philippians 3:10). We will finally understand what it is to be crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) and to be truly resurrected in Him.

Because He has dealt with the reproach of our exile: He has conquered Death…and paved the Way to everlasting Life - for all of us!

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18)

A. h. W.