“My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”

This devotional is the fourth in a seven-part series leading up to Easter through the season of Lent. Each week’s devotional will focus on one of Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross. 

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” Matthew 27:46

Have you ever felt forsaken? Maybe you found out you could no longer trust someone you thought was reliable. Perhaps you have been severely let down by an individual. Or maybe you have even felt, in the midst of a trial, like God has forgotten you and left you to battle it alone. 

If you have experienced these feelings—as I am sure we all have—you need to know that you are not alone. In fact, Jesus underwent this deeply human experience of feeling forsaken when He took on our sin on the cross. 

On the cross, Jesus felt forsaken by His Father. This was when Jesus drank of the cup of suffering that God poured out on Him (Matthew 20:22). On the cross, Jesus became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). On the cross, Jesus “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). On the cross, Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). Jesus had never experienced separation from His Father, but in this moment on the cross, He felt that to an extent. 

However, even in Jesus’ cry of despair, there is a note of hope. These words would have been familiar to the hearers. Jesus is quoting the beginning of Psalm 22, a Psalm of David. Psalm 22 is full of imagery and prophecy that Jesus fulfilled on the cross, but it ends on a note of hope. This Psalm that begins with abandon and anguish ends speaking of the victory of our God. 

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you…they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.” Psalm 22:27, 31

In this moment on the cross, that is what Jesus was accomplishing. Because of the salvation He has made available, people from all corners of the globe will turn to the Lord. All tribes and tongues will worship Him (Revelation 7:9). Jesus’ righteousness will be proclaimed to generations to come. 

This victory seen in Psalm 22 is possible because, on the cross, Jesus became sin to purchase our freedom from sin. On the cross, Jesus took on the punishment we all deserve so that we would never have to go through it ourselves. On the cross, Jesus endured God’s wrath so that we can have eternal life and never have to spend one second in Hell. 

Look to the cross and see the one who bought your liberty! Look to the cross and see the one who died so that you would never have to experience eternal death! Look to the cross and see Jesus, who loves you so much He endured the cup of suffering in your place!

So, if you ever feel abandoned or forsaken, don’t be afraid to cry out to God. Be honest with Him about how you are feeling. But remember that the story doesn’t end there, for there was one who felt forsaken to a degree we cannot comprehend, and He did it so that we would never be forsaken by God. Even when we go through difficult times, if you are in Christ, God the Father is holding you safely in His gentle hand. 

However, if you don’t have the peace of walking through life with the Lord, I beg you, look to the cross and see Jesus. Turn from your sin and experience the life He wants to freely give you!

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I take writing about and interpreting Scripture correctly very seriously. To give full disclosure, I was nervous to write about this specific saying of Jesus from the cross because I have heard it interpreted two different ways: one, that God the Father turned His back on Jesus when He was on the cross because He cannot look at sin; two, that God did not abandon Jesus, but He was just quoting Psalm 22. This article from Enduring Word helped me understand what Jesus was saying and what these words mean in what I believe is the most Biblical approach. I will paste the link here in case it can also give you further clarity: https://enduringword.com/did-the-father-forsake-the-son-on-the-cross-live-qa-for-april-14-2022/.