My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me!

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Matthew 27:45-49

Steps: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12

This little sentence is one of the most profound statements in the Bible. First of all it is a direct quotation from Psalm 22:1. This Psalm is a whole study in the events related to the crucifixtion of the Messiah. Jesus was quoting this so that we would read the 22nd Psalm and to express His suffering. To all human appearances Jesus was cut off from His Father and felt like He was abandoned by the closest relationship possible – God Himself. Jesus was feeling what all humanity felt in their relationship with God because He was carrying all of the sins in the total history of the world on Himself. He felt abandoned because of sin. Jesus had to feel the total depth of the guilt, and sadness, and fear of sin in order to save us from sin. Jesus wanted us to know these things so that we would be willing to have us cry out to Him to save us from sin and addiction in all of its forms.

Prayer for Today: Father, we can imagine what it is like to have to abandon someone to the clutches of sin for we all have tasted this in some form or another. But today help us to have some sympathy for You for You had to allow Your Son Jesus to die for us, even though He had done no wrong against You. To hear Your Son say this statement must have torn Your heart for You knew that He was innocent of all things. None the less, You allowed Him to do it for You and for us that we could be reconciled once again. Help us to accept the death of Jesus as Your greatest statement that You want to be with us and that the only thing in the world that can separate us from You is our sins. Help us to be willing to surrender them to You today that we will no longer feel that separation. Thank You for Your love and for Your willingness to surrender Your Son to this terrible trial.