Midweek Lenten Meditation

MEDITATION THEME - God Forsakes

Text: Psalm 22:1-11

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent. But you are holy, Who inhabit the praise of Israel. Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed. But I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All those who see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!" But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust when I was on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help.

In Christ Jesus, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame, dear fellow redeemed:

This past summer, my family and I were most fortunate to be able to travel in Europe. While there we visited numerous museums and viewed a variety of art works. Among the most striking for me was a painting by Rembrandt, in which the artist placed himself at the foot of the cross with his eyes cast upward as if in quiet adoration. Three weeks ago on Ash Wednesday I asked you to envision a picture in your mind taken from the Passion history. Today I would ask you to do the same. I would ask you to envision a relatively dark picture with our Savior Jesus at a distance hanging on the cross, His eyes cast upward and His lips seemingly open in prayer. At the base of the cross envision a large crowd of people, some dressed in the uniforms of Roman soldiers, but most in the flowing gowns representative of the priests and elders of the Jewish people. Envision some of them with lifted hands pointed in the direction of Jesus and all of them with smiles and snears, appearing to mock Him. Envision, finally, there on the edge of the crowd your own portrait painted with somewhat of a disturbed and questioning look with lips parted just a fraction, as if to ask, "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?"

How could the priests and elders, the very people entrusted with the promise of the Savior, mock the Savior God had sent? The answer, unfortunately, lies within the wickedness of every man’s heart by nature. Every human being by nature is born in rebellion against God. The Scriptures testify that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21) and that “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). No human being can by nature understand the ways of God, for once again the Scripture testifies that they are “foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Consequently, it is not surprising that when human beings attempt to come to grips with the question of sin, they will always come up with answers that contradict the will and plan of God. It does not matter whether you speak about the Five Pillars of Islam, or the "good deed each day" of the Boy Scouts, or the "character determines destiny" of the Masonic Lodge, or the "try hard and be sincere" philosophy of the ordinary man. They all, in opposition to the plan of God, turn to man for a solution. So it was with the religious leaders of the Jews. They failed to see that the purpose of the Law of Moses was to bring people to an understanding of their sin and so to understand their need for the promise of a Savior. They made the moral laws of Moses an end in themselves and, consequently, wanted only a Savior who would adapt himself to their expected image—a political figure who would lead them in opposition to Rome! Therefore, when they believed they had triumphed over this Jesus fellow, they gathered outside the wall of Jerusalem at the hill called Golgatha and mocked Him. David was led by the Spirit of God to foretell this awful scene with alarming accuracy in our text, “All those who see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’” How sad it is to see man rejecting his God-appointed Savior!

If we now shift our attention to the figure of Jesus gazing upward in anguish as if in prayer, you might well again ask, "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?" How could God the Father, the One who sent His Son to be the Savior, utterly forsake Him? David, again under the inspiration of the Spirit, asks the very question Jesus would ask in prayer on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.” When we ask this question, we probe the very mystery of the Trinity and so cannot expect and answer we can comprehend. How can God the Father forsake God the Son when they are one? (cf. John 10:30). Yet David, as if in an attempt to explain, hints at the mystery of the incarnation as an explanation. He writes, “You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust when I was on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God.” The problem of sin was so great that it required God to solve it. The guilt of man was so great that it required God to become man to bear it. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son…” (John 3:16). God’s Son, Jesus, took on our human flesh. He endured the vulnerability of being a human being, beginning already as an infant when God revealed to Mary and Joseph Herod’s murderous plot and thereby rescued His Son from what otherwise would have been certain death. Yes, Jesus took on our human flesh, because as David points out, “Trouble is near;…there is none to help.” Jesus came to help, for no one else could. He came “not…to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Consequently, when Jesus cried out to His heavenly Father, He did so recognizing that God was viewing Him—the sinless One—as the Sinner, standing in the gap for sinful human beings. In this way He made a full payment for the sins of the whole world (cf. 1 John 2:2). This He did for our God is “holy” as David acknowledges in our text and, therefore, must punish sin. This He did so that sinful human beings might be reconciled to their God and enjoy once again the relationship God had intended them to have all along!

Consequently, while you and I might well ask HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN—how could it appear that the holy God would join sinful men in opposing and forsaking His own dear Son? The answer lies in the truth that Jesus offered Himself up so that sinful men once forgiven might join God within the Kingdom of the Son! David exalted in God under the inspiration of the Spirit and proclaimed, “Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed.” Let us not stand below the cross with questioning lips, wondering how this could happen, but rather rejoice that it did happen in accordance with God’s plan and for the fulfillment of God’s purpose—to deliver us from sin and death in this world unto everlasting life in heaven. Let us join Rembrandt by lifting our eyes up to Jesus with quiet adoration, for the Scriptures testify, “God our Savior,… desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). May we ever bless His saving name! Amen!

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting