“But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.” (Psalm 88:13)

The psalmist knew how to start the day, didn’t he? At the beginning of the psalm, he mentions crying out to the Lord day and night. There are many psalms of lament like this one. The psalmist expresses the feeling that people have when they realize the disconnect between themselves and God. Usually, there is this expression of “Where are you, God?” as if God is the one who has abandoned them. We know better. We know that God is steadfast in his love and mercy. It isn’t God who has broken the relationship, it’s us.

We are the sheep who have gone astray. It isn’t the shepherd who is missing. Unlike the sheep of Little Bo Peep, we don’t do a good job of coming home when left alone. That’s why the shepherd leaves the ninety and nine and goes searching for the lost one. We do not need to cry out to God; we just need to answer His call to us.

Our prayer in the morning ought to be, “Keep me near the cross,” not “Where are you, Lord?” Keep me near the cross should be the start, middle, and end of the day request to God. It is only when we lose sight of the cross that we lose sight of God. The cross is our hope, it is our salvation, it is our promise. In the shadow of the cross, we have life eternal and the presence of God. When we leave that cross, we travel out of God’s country into an alien world. A world with no God and no hope.

Task for Today: Cry out to God today. Cry out as often as you need. Cry out to stay beneath the cross. You avoid separation from God. You avoid feeling that your soul is cast away. You will not be helpless beneath the cross. Have you left the hill of suffering and shame? God calls you home. He is the one crying out.