Not Forsaken

The majesty of mountains, the power in the sea, and the glory in a sunrise are all reflections of their Creator, and surety of His immanence. The care a new mother lavishes on her babe, the patience of a father with his toddler learning to walk, the love between a couple engaged to be married all reflect relationship in God and from God to man. Every day in thousands of ways we are surrounded by God. Even the most unrepentant, sinful, evil man has been cradled each day of his life in reminders of his Creator’s care and patience. We have never ever been forsaken.

There is one who was forsaken. He hung upon the cross and worse than any physical pain was the excruciating agony of a total separation from the Father that no living man has ever endured. The complete rejection suffered by Christ was exactly the punishment justice demanded from me. The pain of losing even the memory of beauty is what my choices and actions deserve. That Jesus would volunteer to suffer that for me, in my place, to save me from this fate is the greatest miracle. There is no adequate response to this.

We ought to be awestruck, but too often we have forsaken, ignored and marginalized the duty we owe to so great a grace. We have been unrepentant, sinful and evil. It shocks us to read of the soldiers who spit upon and beat Jesus. On the contrary, it ought not to shock, it ought to chagrin, for we are guilty of worse. They mocked without knowledge but we express contempt for the call of righteousness knowing full well the power of the resurrection. Those soldiers will stand in judgment and condemn us.

We live in a time of enervating hyperbole. We are so constantly deluged by over the top messages that we automatically take a notch or two of importance out of everything that vies for our attention. We must not do that with the message of God’s grace. I use strong language in describing our depravity and the contrasting grace and glory of God but even the most superlative verbiage falls short as a forty watt bulb used to model the sun. We should meditate on these things and allow a view from lofty heights to fill us with the mystery of the ineffable until it becomes a refuge of transcendence for our souls as we navigate the muck of daily life. Every time we hear, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” it should shake us to the core. Let us continually ask for hearts of flesh to replace the stony hearts we have tolerated too long.