When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabaktanei?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And when some of the bystanders heard Him, they began saying, “Look! He is calling for Elijah!” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.”
What experiences have made you question God’s presence or your faith in Him? We all face difficult things in life that do not make sense. The intensity of the brokenness we experience can make us feel distance from God. We ask questions like, “If God is good how could He allow _____ to happen?” At the cross we see Jesus’s experience of one such moment of deep pain and isolation. After hours of torture and pain, He cried out to God in agony, “Why have You forsaken Me?” This is a reminder that Jesus can relate to us in these moments.
God is not looking for us to put on a brave face and endure every trial with a smile, rather He welcomes our grief and pain and invites us to bring it to Him. Jesus did not hide from the pain or run away from God in His distress. He came to God with His pain, and this was evident even to the crowd who was watching His death. Since Jesus has walked through the depths of pain and felt the fullness of the brokenness of this world, we can trust Him to walk with us through our own trials of life. Our hope is not in the absence of hard things but in the completeness of Jesus’s work on the cross. He took on the most difficult thing, the weight of the world’s sin and suffering, so we could have life with God.
- What has been a low moment in your faith? What helped you through?
- What are some of the current trials you are going though that you need to go to God with?
- Pray and tell God about the difficult things you are facing and be honest with Him about how they are affecting you. Invite Him to guide you through them.
