Songs of the Soul: A Lent DevotionalSample

With nails piercing through His wrists and ankles, His body languishing on the Cross, time moved painfully slowly. Six hours passed. As His lungs began to collapse, Jesus uttered His Last Words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1, Mark 15:34) In His Agony, Jesus remembered the psalmist’s cry, “Why are You so far from saving Me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” (Psalm 22:2)

David penned this song of torment in a different time and different place. Calling out to his God, not simply a God of the multitude, but a God he called his own; his God in whom he confined his deepest joy and fear; his Closest Companion who came to rescue by day and by night, and in whose Presence his soul found rest. But not this time. Forsaken in the wilderness, David desperately sought after God in his lament. And a thousand years later, Jesus in the last hour of Crucifixion, found Himself in utter desolation. His God, His Constant Companion, His Faithful Deliverer, His Father had turned away from Him. All the shame and physical pain He bore on the Cross was nothing compared to God’s deafening silence and rejection.

These very words from the psalm may give us a glimpse of Jesus’s unspoken inner world as He counted His last hour. In His darkest moment and Suffering, Jesus moved into worship. He chose to trust and declare God’s Holiness and Faithfulness (Psalm 22:3-4). Finding solace in God’s Perfect Sovereignty, Jesus chose to stay on the Cross till the end.

“For the joy set before Him He endured the cross” (Hebrew 12:2). Jesus Christ had fixed His Eyes on the finishing line so that we can look at the Cross and find Forgiveness and New Life. And so in the coming days when you partake in the Lord’s Supper — as you take the bread, His Crushed Body that was broken for us, remember His Sacrifice; and as you drink the wine, His Spilled Blood that was poured out for us, remember the Forgiveness of Sins and His Finished Work. Let us give thanks to the Lord! Amen!

Vivian Law
Creative Design

Prayer:
Thank You Jesus for Your Sacrifice and Finished Work on the Cross for my sake!