DAY 2, EVENING
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
(Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34)
The fourth cry from Jesus on the cross is the most mysterious, perhaps the saddest and certainly the most haunting. It is the first time in the Gospels that Jesus addresses His Father as “My God.” It is the only moment in His earthly life when He speaks from a place of separation rather than communion. It is a cry that reaches back to Psalm 22 and stretches forward to every believer who has ever felt abandoned or alone.
46 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 words do not come from confusion. They point to a promise of the Father’s plan, given more than a thousand years beforehand. He had predicted it many times. He told Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be lifted up. He defined His mission as to give His life as a ransom for many. He taught that the Good Shepherd must lay down His life for the sheep. Yet, in this moment, He experienced the full weight of what that meant.
Sin separates, isolates, and saddens us because it breaks fellowship between us and the God who loves us. On the cross, Jesus bore the sin of the world. He carried the guilt that was not His own. He entered into the darkness that belonged to us. In doing so, He experienced the separation that sin creates. He felt the distance that we deserved. He endured the forsakenness that should have fallen on us.
Jesus understands your sorrow. Think of the times you have felt abandoned. There are seasons when God seems silent. There are nights when prayer barely rises above our tears, let alone above the ceiling. Jesus entered that experience. He didn’t pretend that suffering is easy. His anguish was not hidden. He cried out to the Father in His pain.
In His cry, there was faith. He said, “My God.” He did not turn away. He did not reject the Father. He clung to the relationship even when He could not feel the comfort of it. This was no doubtful cry. It was a cry from a Son yearning for a Father in the darkest hour.
Faith is not the absence of questions. Faith holds on to God even when answers are fleeting. Faith trusts the Father in painful paths, and He seems so far away.
Jesus felt forsaken but He wasn’t. Neither are we. His separation brought us fellowship with His Father. He cried out in darkness so that we could walk in the light. Because He was forsaken, we can be confident that God will never leave us nor forsake us.
Pray this prayer to God: Heavenly Father, thank You that Jesus entered into the darkness of separation so that I would never have to. When I feel alone, remind me that Christ understands my sorrow. Strengthen my faith to trust You even when I cannot see the way forward. Help me to rest in the promise that You will never forsake Your children. In Your Name I pray, Amen.
