My God, My God...does He forsake me?!

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me". Most people who have read the bible, or even know anything about Jesus dying on the cross know that this is the last words He said. Jesus' famous last words. Up until recently I just assumed that Jesus was talking to God. That He has taken on the world's sins and was now separate from God, and He was crying out about this.

But you know...that doesn't sit right with me. How can we read in the bible that God is a forgiving God. That He promises to "never leave us, and never forsake us" if here he was, abandoning his own son at his greatest time of need.

But lucky, as a recent preacher taught me, that's not exactly the end of this story. As I learnt, back in the bible days, they didn't have the luxury of saying "hey, you know what it says in Psalm 22". They didn't have chapter and verse numbers. Often they used the first sentence of the chapter as a way of referencing for people to know what they were talking about. So if I said "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth", everyone would know I was talking about Genesis 1.

So what I didn't notice until this preacher pointed it out is that Psalm 22 is referenced in the bible as linking to where Jesus says these famous last words. And if you turn to Psalm 22, how do you think it starts? Yep..."My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me". Psalm 22 then goes on to to in a sense to prophesy about what Jesus would go through. That yes, maybe to Jesus God felt silent as He was taking on the consequences of the WHOLE world's sin. Yet that Jesus still trusted God. That He knew that people cry out to God and are saved. That they trust Him and are not disappointed. That although Jesus would be mocked and insulted...Jesus would still trust God, and that He knew God would rescue Him. That although they pierced his hands and feet, took all his clothes..."He had NOT hidden his face from him, but had listened to his cry for help" (verse 24). That because of this all of the world would rejoice, would remember and turn to the Lord. That future generations would be told of the Lord.

So no...Jesus wasn't crying out to God because God had forsaken and abandoned him. He was crying out to the people, to remind them of Psalm 22...and to remind them that God never leaves us, always hears out cry, and that Jesus knew was he was doing would set the world free.

To me...that makes the story have a MUCH more powerful ending. And it reminds me of God's promise never to forsaken or leave us. If He still heard Jesus' cry, who at that point had more sin on him than any of us ever can...how much more will He always hear our cry. God never leaves us. If you feel like God has moved away from you....stop and look around, and you will quickly realise that its you that moved. God is still listening to your cries. He never stops. He is just waiting for you to come back to Him.