cast on God

At work when I can I've been meditating on Psalm 22 from which Jesus quotes on the cross in his sense of abandonment by God. It is wonderful to slowly work one's way through a passage, and specifically this passage, pondering as one goes along.

Yesterday, among other things, I seemed especially struck with this phrase: "From birth I was cast on you..." (note these two interesting renderings of this).

For the psalmist this began at birth. But it's ongoing through all of life for God's people. I believe it includes all of humanity, but we need the eyes of faith to see and believe it.

To be cast on God for us is ongoing; we never outgrow this need. I think we readily see our need of this through the inevitable troubles we face in life. Some of them are problems we're used to, and up to a point we think we can handle. Though we should learn that our every breath and action is to be done in dependence on God and interdependence on others, particulary others in God.

I think especially of those troubling times and trials which hit us. They can be personal attacks against us. Scripture is filled with examples of that; Psalm 22 is a good example. They can be fears that hit and beset us at times. Anger in reaction to perceived injustice that we know we need to keep in check and deal with, while appropriately acting on it, primarily if not solely through prayer. I'm just trying to think of examples here, in which we are reminded anew of how we need to be cast on God.

It's a blessing to be cast on God, but also a necessity in this life in following Jesus. As we learn to cast ourselves and our cares on God, then we will find God's help and consolations. But this is ongoing for us in Jesus in this life. Part of being weak in Jesus so that we can be strong by God's Spirit to live out God's will for us.

What would you like to add to this?