My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46 (NKJV)

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”


These final words from Jesus have become particularly significant to me in recent years.  There have been many times when I have felt that God was missing in action, had forgotten me, that maybe - maybe he really didn't like me that much.  The words, "Do you hate me God?!" have escaped from my lips more times than I would like to admit.  My prayers appeared to be hitting a brick wall.  I've felt utterly alone.  Despondent and discouraged, my faith in Him whittling with each unanswered prayer.

Interestingly, though, I was not aware until I started to write down what I wanted to say about these words did I discover that King David had made the exact utterance to God in a Psalm - Psalm 22:1 to be exact:

Psalm 22:1 (NIV)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?

In this Psalm, David put into beautiful and powerful language the degree of his  upset about God's seeming absence in his time of great need...in his time of fear and anxiousness...in his time of persecution and danger.  Where was this great God that he revered - this God who enabled him to slay the mighty Goliath.  Where was God when he needed him most.

I identified with David.  His words resonated with me.

However, like David, what has kept me from completely abandoning my God...what enables me to remain hopeful that ultimately, ultimately He will come through for me, is that He continuously brings to remembrance what He has done for me in the past.  In the midst of his crying out to God, David managed to give Him praise for the myriad of ways that He had shown up for David and the nation of Israel.  David's Psalm reminded me that that the words of Jesus are true:  He will never leave us or forsake us.

I can believe this because for one moment in time, our great Lord and Savior, the altogether lovely one, our Wonderful Counselor, and Prince of Peace - for one moment in time, this promise - that God would never leave us or forsake us, was not true for him.  For one moment in time - for David's sake, for my sake, for the sake of the whole world - Jesus was utterly, completely, and absolutely cutoff from the Father.  Our sin upon Him, his Abba Father, His daddy, had to turn his back upon Him.  

And in this, we can realize the extent of Jesus' sacrifice for us.  He was cut off so that we can be assured that even in our darkest hour, God is with us.  We might walk away -- we might forget -- we might doubt.  But this eternal promise remains:

“I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” 
(Heb 13:5 AMP)