Forsaken

I’ve been doing the Doorposts Busy Mama Bible Study in Psalm 22 this month.  Once again, life with little kiddos (and a week of sickness) has put me farther behind than I like.  But today I studying the concept in verse 1 that Jesus was forsaken by God.  Can you imagine what it would be like to be God’s chosen Son, bearing the sin and guilt of the entire world, and on top of it to have your Father look away – to forsake you – as you paid the penalty for sin?  I cannot fathom it.

I read from Spurgeon’s Treasury of David on the idea of forsaking.  I was struck with this thought…

“This was the startling cry of Golgotha: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. The Jews mocked, but the angels adored when Jesus cried this exceeding bitter cry.

“First, our Lord's faith beams forth and deserves our reverent imitation; he keeps his hold upon his God with both hands and cries twice… He knows the Lord to be the all sufficient support and succour of his spirit, and therefore appeals to him in the agony of grief, but not in the misery of doubt.

[As if Jesus is thinking] I can understand why traitorous Judas and timid Peter should be gone, but thou, my God, my faithful friend, how canst thou leave me? This is worst of all, yea, worse than all put together.

“Hell itself has for its fiercest flame the separation of the soul from God.  Christ's desertion is preventive of your final desertion. Because he was forsaken for a time you shall not be forsaken for ever. For he was forsaken for you. It is every way as much for the dear Son of God, the darling delight of his soul, to be forsaken of God for a time, as if such a poor inconsiderable thing as thou art shouldest be cast off to eternity. Now, this being equivalent and borne in thy room, must needs give thee the highest security in the world that God will never finally withdraw from thee.”  (Emphasis mine)

Forsaken.  I am saved by grace, through faith, because Jesus paid the penalty for my sin on the cross.  I can be forgiven because of His sacrifice.  Because He was willing to be forsaken of the Father in order to bear my sin.  That is what we will celebrate in the glory of the resurrection on Sunday.

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