Feeling abandoned . . .

 

1 Samuel 9; Psalm 22; Jeremiah 46; Romans 7

Psalm 22 begins with, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” a phrase that Jesus cried out as He died on the cross. Out of this comes the idea that the sin of the world placed on Him was so horrible that God turned away and abandoned His Son.

The depth and horror of that burden is beyond my imagination, yet this idea of God the Father abandoning God the Son leaves me with questions. Here are a few Bible promises God makes to His people (who were guilty just like all of us of that sin Jesus died for):

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)

And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.” (1 Kings 6:13)

For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. (Psalm 37:28)

For the Lord will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage. (Psalm 94:14)

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. (Isaiah 42:16)

 . . . and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

I’ve heard one sermon where the preacher explained it was common for Jews who were suffering to feel abandoned by God and they would recite Psalm 22. He said that Jesus began to do that but didn’t finish. If the entire Psalm is read, the author eventually says that God had not hidden His face after all, only that he felt as if God was gone.

At the other end of the opinions on this issue, I can understand that Jesus suffered what we should suffer for our sin — being separated from God. For Jesus, this would be unimaginable horror, a horror and loss that most of us would not comprehend because we are not aware of God’s presence with us to the same degree that Jesus was aware. For Him, being abandoned would be so awful that no wondered He died!

Yet Jeremiah says something interesting about God’s discipline for the sin of His people:

Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.” (Jeremiah 46:28, italics mine)

“Fear not for I am with you” is the theme even in this dark judgment chapter as it is throughout the Word of God. Jesus Himself was also called Emanuel which means “God with you.”

Perhaps the answer is in another familiar passage, Psalm 23, written by David who was called a man after God’s own heart. Verse 4 says: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

David was not the Son of God, but he knew that in the darkness of death, God was with Him. It seems to me that Jesus, in the darkness of death felt as if He had been abandoned, just like I do from time to time, but He knew, as do all God’s people know, that He was not alone. Had He finished quoting the Psalm, this would come out of His mouth: “For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and He has not hidden His face from him, but has heard when he cried to Him.” (Psalm 22:34)

In the horror of dying for sin, the promises of Scripture clearly say that God never forsakes His own, even when we suffer for our sin. How then could He forsake His sinless Son who took that suffering upon Himself?

APPLY: Even if I feel that I’ve been abandoned, God says otherwise. I must trust what He says rather than letting my feelings or any awful circumstances be the truths by which I live. 

NOTE: Be blessed by another post on this topic