“Why have You forsaken Me?” It was true! In those moments while Jesus hung on the cross, His body suspended by nails, God abandoned Him, leaving Him to experience the agonizing death alone. The question that even Jesus needed to ask was “Why?”

Mark 15:34-35 (NASB)  At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  When some of the bystanders heard it, they [began] saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.”  (NASB)

 The cruel events on Golgotha started in the morning at nine o’clock and, by noon, a strange darkness had come over the whole land.  It was not an eclipse as it was the time of the full moon, but the sun was obscured, resulting in darkness, which did not hinder the mockery of the crowd surrounding the three crosses on the hill outside Jerusalem.

Jesus, suffering physical agony while struggling to breathe on the cross, was drawing inward as all the forces of His physical life were focused on the effort of drawing yet another breath.  Since the beginning, God had been His Father.  Now He cried out in a loud voice, “Why have You forsaken Me?”  It was true!  In those moments while Jesus hung on the cross, His body suspended by nails, God abandoned Him, leaving Him to experience the agonizing death alone.  The question that even Jesus needed to ask was “Why?”

When you are suffering and God is silent in the face of your agony, a deep sense of abandonment is the understandable response.  If you have followed hard after God and lived for Him as best you knew how, it’s even more painful to feel forsaken by Him when your whole life is coming apart.  “Why?” becomes your cry!

Why did God forsake Jesus on the cross?  He did it because He is holy and cannot look upon sin.  In those hours, Jesus “bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”  God forsook Jesus on the cross, dear one, so that it would be unnecessary for you to ever experience that abandonment.  If you are in Christ, having received Him as your Savior, you have His promise that He will “never leave you nor forsake you.”

You will ask “why?” in your pain, and you may feel abandoned, but it is not true!  Your feelings do not always agree with spiritual reality!  Stand on the promise of the Word of God.   You are not alone!  When you feel forsaken, receive that experience as a way of sharing with Jesus in the suffering He knew in reality on the cross.  Your agony, though great, will become more bearable in the comparison.

The people around the cross did not understand what Jesus was saying, or why.  They assumed that He was calling for help from a long-dead prophet whom they believed would reappear and establish a godly kingdom that would improve their daily lives.  As you struggle to make sense of the most painful experiences of your life, do not expect those around you to understand.  Only Jesus understands, and He knows the way you take.  He is near and will not forsake you.