There’s a song in the Broadway show, Shrek, The Musical, called, “I Know it’s Today,” during which Princess Fiona sings one of her most famous lines, hearkening back to Judy Blume: “Are you there, God? It’s me, Fiona.” I love this line, not just because Sutton Foster sings it so well, but because it’s so timelessly relatable. I don’t recall ever talking to someone who hasn’t asked this same question at some point in their life. It’s a universal human experience to have felt overlooked, abandoned, lonely, insignificant, unheard, or uninvited at some point in our lives. Maybe we’re not locked in a tower waiting for our one true love to rescue us, but we are aliens in a foreign land with eternity written in our hearts, and that lends itself to a burning desire to be connected to our Creator. When that feels off, we know it deep inside.

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Jesus also needed constant connection to the Father, and we see that reflected in His cry, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” (Matt. 27:46)? Theological implications surrounding this question are debated, but I think we can all agree it shows a deep connection to our own human suffering. Jesus can sympathize with our question of “Are you there, God?” because He personally knows what it feels like to desperately need the answer. His question on the cross gives a poignant example of where to turn when our pain becomes unbearable. Jesus gives proof that God genuinely wants us to come to Him with our deepest heartache and our most difficult questions. Sometimes, that means faith looks like honestly admitting to God we don’t understand what He’s doing. Sometimes our cry of “God, where are you in this moment?” is exactly the catalyst we need to begin seeing the ways He’s been there all along.

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If we look back at what we learned in the last series, The Drift, we can recall hearing these words from Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (NKJV). This means God will not abandon us. If we belong to Him, He isn’t going to walk away from us, leave us helpless, or stop loving us. He may be teaching us something, but He isn’t forsaking us. The cross reminds us that God is there even when we can’t currently feel or see His hand working on our behalf. In the moments that feel hopeless, He is doing something beyond what we can see. So, what do we do in those moments when it feels like God is far from us? The cross gives us the answer.

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When Jesus felt forsaken, He cried out to God. That means, when God feels far from us, our response should be to keep crying out to Him. He wants us to bring our questions and have honest conversations with Him because He’s the only One who can truly answer our questions. Faith never means pretending everything is okay. It means continuing to trust God even when your current pain doesn't make sense or your prayers don't have answers yet. It means not losing sight of who God is just because you don’t understand what He’s doing. His character hasn’t changed, so lean into Him, and trust that His heart is always for you.

Is there something in your life causing you to say, “Are you there, God? It’s me…” If so, would you consider taking time to have an honest conversation with the Lord today? Ask Him to give you the courage to believe He’s working even when you can’t see it, and to keep praying even though you don’t have all the answers. The cross proves that moments that might feel like abandonment might actually be the very place where restoration takes place. God just might be doing something big in the overall story of your life!