Forsaken

Have you been forsaken? Have you had people turn their back on you? Have you been pushed aside or shunned? Have your family or close friends pushed you away? Did you feel dejected? Were you so far down in the dumps you thought you would never get out again?

Having people you trusted turn their back on you can hurt deeply. Being shunned by family or close friends can be depressing. Being ignored or pushed away can make you feel all alone. The effect can last a long time, perhaps a lifetime. It may change how we relate to others.

Jesus felt all of that and more. Try to imagine it. He is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit was in Him. He is the second person in the Trinity. But at that moment, the Father and the Holy Spirit left Him all alone. He was in excruciating pain. He was seeking comfort from the Father. Instead, He received nothing. The connection between Him and the Father was cut.

We know why He did it. He knows why He did it. Our failures are too many to count. As the Psalmist says, our sin is ever before us. Since God cannot be in the presence of sin, Jesus had to be the perfect sacrifice so that we can be cleansed and come into the presence of Almighty God. But knowing why a hard thing must be done does not make it any easier.

When we feel rebellious. When we just want to do what we want to do. When we want to return to our favorite sin. We need to remember what Jesus went through, the feeling of being left alone, Him being forsaken by the Father. Perhaps if we remember that, we will rethink committing the sin we have in our heart.

I pray we all think about what Jesus went through. I pray we put ourselves in His shoes for just a few minutes. I pray each one of us will decide to step away from our favorite sin. Put yourself in Jesus’ shoes. Think about His feelings on the cross. Thank Him for taking your place.

Mark 15:33-34 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”