Never forsaken

...because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  Whatcan man do to me? --Hebrews 13:5-6

God is faithful.  The great I AM said that He will always be with us (Matthew 28:20).  One of my favorite verses in all of scripture is Lamentations 3:22-23: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

So why did Jesus cry out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  Had God really turned His back on His only begotten son?  And if He did that, would there ever be a time in this life where God might turn his back on us?

If you believe the Bible, then you cannot think that God would ever turn His back on you.  And the moment of the crucifixion was not the exception that proves the rule--God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  I have heard sermons, and even read commentaries, by men who are much more scholarly that I, that say God the Father turned his back on Jesus because Jesus bore the sins of the world for us.  But I don't think that was why Jesus made this statement when he did.  Maybe, just maybe, he said it to give us hope.  That phrase, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me," is the first line of the first verse of Psalm 22.

When Jesus was alive, the Bible was not in book form like it is today.  There were scrolls of Old Testament books, but they were not together in one volume like we know it.  It wasn't until the year 1227, about twelve hundred years after Christ died, that the Bible was divided up into chapters.  Verse marking were added more than 300 years later, in the year 1551, after the New Testament had been added.

So Jesus was hanging there on the cross, and the Pharisees and religious leaders were mocking him.  "He saved others," they said, "but he cannot save himself."  Other people said things like, "He trusts in God; let God save Him, if he is truly God's son."  (Matthew 27:41-43).  Jesus had a perfect reply, but he couldn't shout out, "Hey, you dummies: read Psalm 22!"  Instead, he quoted the first verse or phrase in the Psalm, but he said it in Aramaic, the common language of the day.  The Romans who were there may have thought that he was giving up hope, even denouncing his religion.  The Hebrews, hearing the Aramaic word for "my God" (which is Eloi) thought that he was calling on the prophet Elijah to save him (Matthew 27:47).

I think they were all wrong.  Let's look at the 22nd Psalm, and see if there is any correlation there; if there is a correlation, we will see whether Jesus was feeling hopeless and helpless (like we do sometimes), or whether he was offering us hope and help from the Scriptures.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. --Psalm 22:1-2

Isaiah 53:3 says, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hid their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."  Have you ever felt like that?  Most of us can recall times in our lives when God seemed to be a million miles away.  The loneliness and desperation we feel in those moments can be devastating to us.  Jesus knew this about us.  He walked in our shoes.  He was one of us.  So he wanted us to know there was hope for us.

Where is the hope, you say?  Read on!

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.  In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted you and you delivered them.  They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were no disappointed. --Psalm 22:3-5

Okay, so God has a history of coming through in the clutch.  The ancient Hebrews had a song they sang, a song of encouragement.  It was called, "The horse and rider thrown into the sea."  Miriam, the sister of Moses, sang it first in Exodus 15:21.  It was repeated many times whenever the people found themselves in a situation that was beyond their ability to get out.

But in the age of supersonic jets and instantaneous communication via the internet, that was so fifteen minutes ago!  Most of us get caught up in the culture of "What have you done for me lately?"  We have to step back, take a deep breath, and remember that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.  All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:  "He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him.  Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." --Psalm 22:7-8

Jesus was obviously not a worm, but they were certainly treating him like something less than human.  If they could, they would have stepped on him, and ground him into the dirt with their heels.  And what did we read in Matthew 27:43, but almost a direct quote from Psalm 22:8!  "He trusts in God.  Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God'."  Let's keep reading, and see what David foresaw about the death of the Messiah.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.  My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.  Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. --Psalm 22:14-16

2 Samuel 14:14 says, "Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die.  But God doe not take away life; instead, he devises a way so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him."  I like that.  We all must die.  If we die in our sin, we will be eternally separated from God.  But because Jesus, God's son, died a sacrificial death, we now have a way where we can be with God forever.

Jesus voluntarily gave himself, poured himself out for you and me.  And in doing so, he was in agony.  Matthew 27 says he was offered wine and gall to drink, because he had said he was thirsty.  Gall was a kind of narcotic or crude anesthesia, meant to take away his pain while he hung dying.  Jesus refused to drink it.  He suffered the nails in his feet and hands, just as David had prophetically written in Psalm 22:16.

I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.  They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.  --Psalm 22:17-18

Matthew 27:35 says, "When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots."  How did David know to write this, centuries before it happened?  Because God had it all planned, right down to the smallest detail.  God inspired David to write this prophetic utterance, and then He saw to it that every detail came to pass, just as he had predicted.

But you, O Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.  Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the  power of the dogs.  Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.  --Psalm 22:19-21

When we are in trouble, even if we fear for our lives, we know God is near.  What must the Christians in the Yazidi region of Iraq be feeling during the worst persecution that the modern world has ever seen?  God's grace extends even to them.  Like the early martyr Stephen, when he was being stoned by the Jews in Acts, the Yazidis can have hope even as they are being beheaded and impaled for their Christian beliefs.  Acts 7:55-56 says, "But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 'Look,' he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'."

A wise person once said all fear is rooted in the fear of dying--we are not afraid of heights, we are afraid of falling to our deaths; we are not afraid of flying, we are afraid of crashing and dying; we are not afraid of the dark, we are afraid of things in the dark that we can't see that will kill us.  But when we follow Jesus, and have the hope of heaven, then we do not fear death.  Hosea 13:14 says, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.  Where, O grave, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"  When we know that our soul and spirit will outlast our mortal bodies, we know that we will never truly die.  We can rest easy in the hope that we will live forever with the one who died for us.

I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.  You who fear the Lord, praise Him!  All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!  For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.  From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.  The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the Lord will praise him--may your hearts live forever! --Psalm 22:22-26

God is worthy of praise, now and forever.  He watched as Jesus died for us, then was able to raise Jesus from the dead.  Because of that, death has no power over us. Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?"  If we suffer, God will be merciful; if we are oppressed, God will bring justice; if we are poor, God will provide.

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.  They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn--for he has done it.  --Psalm 22:30-31

David was talking about us right there.  You and me.  We would know about the works of God many millenia after David's prophetic writings, many generations after Christ's death, burial, and resurrection we would hear of him, and speak his Name to our children, so that they will know.  God did not forsake his own Son; he will not forsake us, even if we feel abandoned and alone.

1. When struggle meets you face to face,
when troubles seem to find their place,
you’re looking for that great escape:
God is there.
With heavy heart so filled with grief
that you can’t seem to find relief,
in silence hear his mercy speak:
God is there.
Though direction seems elusive,
and you’re looking for solutions,
and you’ve come to the conclusion
that you’re on your own:

Refrain
Don’t give up;
trust the plan that’s been so carefully designed
not for tears but for the joy I know you’ll find.
You’re on God’s mind in darkest times. (2nd time: to Bridge)
You are not forsasken.
Don’t give up,
though the burden might just seem to great to bear.
Lay your troubles down
and place them in the Father’s care
and know love’s there beyond compare;
and you are not forsaken: you are loved.

2. When confusion reigns and fills with doubt,
you’ve forgotten what you’re all about,
and you’re feeling that there’s no way out:
God is there.
When comfort seems so far away,
and solace is an empty face,
you’re looking for that warm embrace:
God is there.
Though direction seems elusive,
and you’re looking for solutions,
and you’ve come to the conclusion
that you’re on your own:

Bridge You are not alone,
no, I am always with you til the end of time.
I will go before,
prepare the place the Father saved for you;
he will see you through.
So don’t give up,
’cause the Father’s love will never, never fail you:
he won’t give up.