God Hears Us PraySýnishorn

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

 Some of the most devastating words in the Bible come as Jesus is hanging on the cross. He is on the cross because of his obedience to the Father. He has faithfully accomplished everything he was sent to earth to accomplish, and his faithfulness has now led him to be hanging on a cross, moments from death, falsely accused but lovingly dying in the place of rebellious humanity. This is the culminating moment in Jesus' faithful completion of everything the Father sent him to earth to accomplish.

And yet it is at this moment that Jesus cries out, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?!"

When we see the apostles preaching in the aftermath of Jesus' death and resurrection, they have no doubt that Jesus' death was "according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God," that it was what "God's hand had predestined to take place." In other words, Jesus' crucifixion was squarely at the center of God's will. God has never been more actively working than in those moments when Jesus breathed his last.

And yet in this very moment of God's intentional activity, Jesus felt abandoned by God.

What does this say for us? It means that those moments when we feel God is the most absent—when it could not be more clear that he is not listening to our prayers—he may well be more at work than we could imagine. 

Isn't this what we should expect with God? He is always working. So even when we have clear evidence that God is not listening, we need to challenge our assumptions. He may be accomplishing something great.