Wherefore Art Thou Jesus? Part I.

“Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

So says Juliet in perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous play, and the line is often mistakenly understood to mean, “Where are you Romeo?” (I know. I also made the mistake). Instead, the correct meaning is, “Why are you Romeo?” in reference to the conflicting lineages of the two young lovebirds (in case anyone wanted to correct me!).

But the question I’d like to ask as the subject of this study is, “Where are you Jesus?”

During the current Coronavirus crisis (as indeed in any crisis) many Christians will find great comfort in holding tightly to the wonderful promises of the Bible – such as, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7) and “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) – but what about those Christians who, as they look out in the midst of their crisis, aren’t finding that peace within reach, or even worse, who aren’t finding Jesus Himself near to them?

What then?

Where is Jesus then?

Instead of a crisis being a time of wonderful encouragement for the child of God, as they enjoy the special nearness of Jesus and the strengthening of their already seemingly strong faith, the crisis becomes a discouragement, eroding what little faith we may feel we have and causing great sadness and despair.

In Psalm 42, we find the Psalmist writing, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God” – a beautifully poetic opening to the Psalm – yet as we read through the Psalm we discover that this is actually the anguished cry of a person in crisis! It is a soul thirsting after God, longing to find God once again, and who is taunted by the voice of mockers calling out, “Where is your God?” in the midst of their despair.

You see, the picture isn’t of a deer who is a beautifully regal creature wandering blissfully through luscious greenery knowing that the refreshing water that it pants for is nearby. Far from it! It is actually a deer that, in the midst of drought and tired out from having endured a long and frightful chase from hunting dogs, now longs for the refreshment of a water that is no longer near. The deer is ragged, weak and heart-sick. Its panting is a weary and desperate panting.

Charles Spurgeon, in his introduction to Psalm 42, writes that within this Psalm we hear “the cry of a man so far removed from the outward ordinances and worship of God, sighing for the long-loved house of his God; and at the same time it is the voice of a spiritual believer, under depressions, longing for the renewal of the divine presence, struggling with doubts and fear, but yet holding his ground by faith in the living God.”

But then note what Spurgeon says next:

“Most of the Lord’s family have sailed on the sea which is here so graphically described. It is probable that David’s flight from Absolom may have been the occasion for composing this Maschil.”[1]

It turns out that the discouraged believer, with weak faith, full of doubts and despair as their precious Lord appears to be far from them in their great need, actually has more in common with the “man after God’s heart” than they might have realized.

It is my aim during the coming weeks to explore further this subject, and search the Scriptures for wisdom and guidance in how we are to seek after the Lord when He appears to be far from us.

[1] Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury Of David: Classic Reflections on the Wisdom of the Psalms, (Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011), p.270.