Prayer for young adults

Father, my God, my God, why have You forsaken me? That is what Jesus prayed from the cross. It is from Psalm 22. The question is real. The relationship is real. Both are part of this prayer.

I read silence as abandonment. Three days of dry prayer and I assume You have moved on. A friend does not text back in two days and I think they are upset. A job does not call and I take it as a no. My first thought with silence is always bad news.

Jesus had silence from the Father too. The cup was not taken away. He still drank it. But He still called God His Father. The silence did not change who He was talking to. The relationship did not need an instant answer to still be real.

So today, when the silence is on me, do not let me treat it as a no. Help me speak to You from the quiet. My God, my God. Even if the answer has not come yet. This relationship is older than any silence. You are the One who held Jesus through the silence of the cross. The silence I am in is held by You too.

Hold me here. Keep me from making up a story that You have left. The fact that I am still talking to You is proof that You have not gone.

Amen.