FORSAKEN
One of the most familiar statements in the New Testament is the one spoken by Jesus as He hung on the cross:
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”
(Matthew 27:46)
Did God really forsake His other persona, Jesus? Or was it the weight of the world’s sin that Christ carried which actually made Christ, for a time, turn away from God? After all, did not He Himself say that:
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
(Hebrews 13:5)
In Romans, however, we are told that mankind…
….did not glorify Him as God…
but became futile in their thoughts…
Professing to be wise, they became fools,
Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness…
[and] up to vile passions.
(Romans 1:21-22, 24, & 26)
Thus, in carrying the sins of mankind on His back, in essence, Christ, for an instant, forsook God and so felt the abandonment that He expressed in the statement mentioned above.
This same statement is also found in the Psalms.
My God, My god, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are you so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
(Psalm 22:1)
This Psalm, by David, reflects the feeling of someone who believes he has been abandoned by God. Someone who is in so much agony and distress that he feels totally abandoned by the One with whom he previously had a relationship with and a trust in; but now the weight of sin has resulted in God’s displeasure and apparent separation.
At the present time, when so much is going on in the world, and when people who profess to be Christian act in ways which are so contrary to what they profess, it becomes very easy to feel the same way David did when he made the statement in Psalm 22. It becomes easy to feel that God has abandoned us and has just left us to our own devices with the result that the world will continue to slide further into chaos. This is further exemplified in our day by what Peter said:
…false prophets…and false teachers among you
….many will follow their destructive ways,
…[and] they will exploit you with deceptive words…
(2 Peter 2:1-3)
There are so many people spouting falsehoods and so many leaders not willing to be truthful that it is easy to be deceived and to realize that God is no longer a viable part of our culture. As a result, we have abandoned God, and although He is still there, He stands apart as He did during the apostasy in the days of the Judges of Israel. We have not been forsaken by God but have forsaken Him. But, in the future, it will be most likely ourselves who will be crying:
My God, My God why have you forsaken me?
It’s not pleasant, but it is something to think about.
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