Why Am I Forsaken?
Psalms 22:1 (KJV) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [why art thou so] far from helping me, [and from] the words of my roaring?
This is a very familiar passage of Scripture, especially around Easter when so many around the Christian world are turning to the passages in the Bible that record the crucifixion of Jesus. But what we want to know is why did Jesus say it? The Psalmist wrote it, and in the seemingly darkest moment of Christ’s life, when pain was at it’s highest, and the sin and guilt of humanity pressed in the hardest, why did he quote Psalms 22 in asking “Why hast thou forsaken me?”
Had God forsaken Jesus, His only begotten Son? Did the Father suddenly abandon the one who had shared the throne of God throughout eternity past? Oh, no — The Father was there beside the cross with His angels, He had not abandoned His Son. But “in that dreadful hour Christ was not to be comforted with the Father’s presence. He trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him.” (DA 753.4) Jesus must bear the weight of sin completely, as the lost will bear it on the final day of destruction.
But why did Jesus chose these words “Why hast thou forsaken me?” — It is not God’s character to forsake those He loves! Jesus knows better than we the depths of God’s mercy, and the extent of His grace. The thought that God would walk away, abandon, or forsake Him was so foreign to the mind of Christ, that He could not but utter “Why”? Why now, can’t I see you? Why does it appear as if you’ve left me? But Faith triumphed in the darkest of moment of Christ’s life — because His dying breathe spoke as to one He could not see, but who He knew was listening, He knew was near “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit”
Even so, may it be with us — when darkness encompasses our path and the image of our Heavenly Father is veiled — may we trust His character, and cry out with Jesus words “My Father, whom I can not see now, but whom I know is near, into thy hands I commit my life”
Written by Myckal Morehouse