And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mark 15:34
No Reply
How often do we feel forsaken by God? We pray and cry out for answers and believe if the answers don't come when we want, or as we want immediately that God hasn't heard our cry. When we are in the middle of trials we sometimes feel forgotten. We feel as though God has not replied and we feel forsaken.
As Jesus hung in darkness on the cross dying He cried out with a loud voice. Mark tells us the Lord's words are interpreted as My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Did Jesus really feel forsaken? Many raise this question often. Why did Jesus think He was forsaken by God when He knew all things?. He knew this was God's plan. He knew that He came to seek and save a lost and dying world. For that cause, Christ gave His life.
So why did He ask God if had forsaken Him? According to Matthew Henry, Jesus felt the total darkness signified God withdrawing His light from Him.
Our Lord Jesus was denied the light of the sun, when He was in his sufferings, to signifying the withdrawing of the light of God's countenance. And this he complained of more than anything; he did not complain of his disciples' forsaking him, but of his Father's. Because in this especially he was made sin for us; our iniquities had deserved indignation and wrath upon the soul (Romans 2:8), and therefore, Christ, being made a sacrifice, underwent as much of it as he was capable of; and it could not but bear hard indeed upon him who had lain in the bosom of the Father from eternity, and was always His light.
So Christ does indeed know what it feels like to feel forsaken. He knows what it feels like to feel as if God doesn't hear. Even though He was fully God, He was also fully man and experienced real human pain and suffering as He hung in darkness on the cross. However, in the midst of the suffering, Christ knew He would be victorious.
We too must continue to be obedient to God even when we feel as though we are forsaken in darkness. We must know God hears our prayers and keep on believing that He has not abandoned us. We will be victorious.
Romans 12:11-12 THE MESSAGE
11 Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, 12 cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder.