“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 (NIV)
In the darkness, Christ says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Think about it: The Father’s love is beyond his reach. Jesus has been shut out from the Father’s love, and yet he says, “My God, my God…”
This is of huge importance for our faith. God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). That’s his promise. But there may be dark times in your life, when you simply cannot feel the love or the presence of God. When these times come, you need to know that Jesus has been there.
C. H. Spurgeon says: “I would like to put this personally to any tried child of God. Are you going to let go of your God because you have lost his smile? Then I ask you: Did you base your faith upon his smile? If you did, you mistook the true ground of faith. The ground of a believer’s confidence is not God’s smile, but God’s promise.”
How does Christ’s experience of darkness dispose him toward you when you feel forsaken by God? “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses…” (Hebrews 4:15).
You have a Savior that you can come to when you feel that God is nowhere near you, because he’s been there. That Savior has a tenderness toward you that no one else in the world could ever have for you.
Are you there right now? You cannot feel the love or the presence of God. Will you turn to your Savior today, who has great compassion for you?
