Do you, dear brother, dear sister, sometimes feel quite alone, in deep despair, greatly distressed, hurt by enemies, abandoned by friends, forsaken even by the Lord God, without support, entirely alone? Do you ever feel that way? Jesus did.
Jesus Felt Despair
We can neither measure nor match the sufferings which he endured. But we may have shared to some degree the pain he felt when his disciples “forsook him and fled.” We may even have entered into the anguish of that cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psa. 22:1 RSV – all quotes from RSV) If we have, we can at least be thankful that our occasional solitary despair has been experienced by our Lord Jesus himself. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4).
Further, we can be helped by considering how this most grievous of sorrows was lifted from his heart. Truly “he was despised and rejected by men … one from whom men hide their faces…” (Isa. 53:3). But was he, in some respect, in any respect, forsaken by his God? Certainly, at least momentarily, Jesus expressed that to be the case. Just as surely, the whole of Psalm 22 reveals the mind of Jesus on that occasion. Observe the triumphant confidence of verse 24 of Psalm 22:
For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
God Stood By Him
His enemies would despise him, reject him, his friends would hide their faces from him. But never his Father; no, not for a moment would the Father hide His face from His son, His only begotten son, whom He loved.
“They went both of them together” (Gen. 22:2,6,8).
Consider the divine assurance given to Joshua: “… I will be with you; I will not fail you nor forsake you … Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:5,9). If this promise is emphatically reiterated to the Hebrew followers of the greater Joshua, how much more would it hold true for Jesus himself:
“I will never fail you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).
Never, not for a second, least of all at the time of greatest need. For an agonizing moment, in the heart of the Lord Jesus, the vision darkened. From his lips came that painful, pleading cry: “Why…? Why…?” Followed by “…thou dost not answer…” (Psa. 22:1,2).
Have you, brother, sister, found such expressions rising to heaven from your heart? See how quickly they are followed and dispelled by a resounding statement of faith from the lips of our Savior: “Yet thou art holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In thee our fathers trusted; they trusted and thou didst deliver them” (Psa. 22:3,4).
Read the entire Psalm, observing the recurring anguish, countered each time by an affirmation of confidence. Notice how faith is developed upon the basis of the manifest trustworthiness of the Father, revealed in His dealings with His children. Marvel at the emergence of praise as the dominant theme of this recital of intense affliction.
“Thou Art With Me
Proceed into the following Psalm and hear the affirmation: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil ,for thou art with me…”(Psa. 23:4). It was true for David; more so for his greater son.
Eternally true it is that: “The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know thy name put their trust in thee, for thou, 0 LORD, hast not forsaken those who seek thee” (Psa. 9:9,10).
On the basis of personal experience, David could declare: “I have not seen the righteous forsaken…” (Psa. 37:25). On the basis of divine promise, we can re-affirm that sentiment. Our God makes no exceptions. He is eternally consistent in the fulfillment of His promises and the application of His principles. He was so with His Son. He will be so with all those, His children, who fear Him and seek His face.
But Do Not Forsake Him
“The LORD is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you … “(II Chr. 15:2).
In some dark periods of life a prolonged process of seeking may be apparently fruitless. “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken, and chastened every morning” (Psa. 73:13-14). The clouds may not disperse as readily for us as they did for the Master. “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had well nigh slipped” (Psa. 73:2). Let us not then assume that we have been forsaken by our God, or that He is deaf to our pleading. Return, rather, to the exhortation given to Joshua and observe the remedy that was so effective in the life of the greater Joshua who is willing to lead us into the promised land:
This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it (Josh. 1:8).
Such meditation and observance lifted the dark cloud that briefly obscured our Lord’s vision. The same process will work for us.
There is only one circumstance that can leave us abandoned by God in reality, not merely in our perplexed perception: “if you forsake him, he will forsake you” (II Chr. 15:2). God only forsakes those who forsake Him.
Let us not, however, confuse forsaking Him with occasionally doubting or displeasing Him. There is a vital distinction between stumbling along the way and leaving it.
In our distress, let us remember the one “made like his brethren in every respect,” the “merciful and faithful high priest” who “himself has suffered and been tempted,” who is therefore “able to help those who are tempted” (Heb 2:17,18). He it is who says, “I am with you always…” (Mat. 28:20).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One