You are not forsaken.

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

You are probably familiar with these words— the agonized soul-cry bursting from the lips of our dying Savior. He was one with the Father, and yet that oneness was denied to Him on the cross. And as God turned His back on His only begotten Son, Jesus plumbed the uttermost depths of heartbroken solitude. He was absolutely forsaken. His was an unprecedented abandonment, with a heaviness of despair that could crush the heart of the Son of Man. We know that it was temporary and that Jesus Christ now sits on the right hand of the Father in Glory; but that detracts nothing from the pain and severity of the Son being forsaken by His Father as He bore the brunt of God’s wrath and metamorphosed into the shame of the darkest sins done under the sun.

But what is so beautiful about this tragedy is that it will never happen to me. Because God was forsaken of God, I will never be. There is no separation from Christ for me— not while the world stands and certainly not after it falls.

Because of that sacrifice, I will never be able to ask “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

When we feel the weight of loneliness and its cold grasp feels inescapable, we must discipline ourselves to remember that we are not really abandoned. We cannot be. We are in Christ, and He is in us, and we are never alone. “Lo, I am with you alway.” It is a present tense declaration of His ever-fresh proximity to us.

Beloved of God, you are never alone.

Our Father, we thank you that “thou art with us.” Thank you for not leaving us alone, but for sending your Spirit to dwell in those who believe. Thank you for taking on unimaginable suffering and aloneness on our behalf! Help us to remember that You are always near. Help us to treasure your presence. In Jesus’ name, amen.