A Word of Dereliction

"Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me."

When we seek words to describe a scene of utmost desolation, we call it 'God forsaken'.  In His dying moments in terrible pain and loneliness, He cried out to God,"My God, why has Thou forsaken me?" In deep anguish of spirit as He bore the sins of the world, He used the words of the Psalmist (Psalm 22) and directed His prayer to God. This was what he dreaded as He agonised in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed to the Father to take the cup from Him. But He had to pass through that spiritual abyss of being forsaken by the Father.

I recall listening to Commissioner Herbert A Lord, the pioneer of work of the Salvation Army in Singapore and Malaya and also Korea tell this incident in his life. He was taken prisoner of war and imprisoned in Changi Prison for three and half years - 1942-1945)

After the war, he was sent back to Korea to be the Territorial Commander. He was taken prisoner by the communists and forced to participate in the notorious 'death march' where he witnessed the pain, suffering death of the so many fellow prisoners.

One day as he was marching with the weary and sick prisoners under the watchful eye of the soldiers, the thought came to him, "Is there a God after all? Have I been wrong all these years proclaiming the God of love to all mankind, the God who cares for all mankind? God, where are you in times like these?"

Suddenly the verse of Scripture from Psalm 23 flashed across his mind "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and staff they comfort me" Psalm 23: 4

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet without sin." Hebrews 4: 15 Yes, and that includes being forsaken by God! We who keep our faith in Him cannot be forsaken because our Lord was forsaken in our place.

"Many are the things I cannot understand, all around me mystery I see." we often sing.  We are surrounded by mysteries and many of them are so profound they are beyond our puny minds to to comprehend, despite our efforts to plumb and probe. In the end, we just have to bow in humble adoration and accept this divine mystery - "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me."

"Deserted! God could separate from His own essence rather,
And Adam's sins have swept between the righteous Son and Father;
Yea, once Immanuel's orphaned cry His universe hath shaken,
It went up single, echoless, "My God, I am forsaken!"

It went up from the holy lips amid His lost creation,
That, of all the lost, no son should use those words of desolation
That earth's worst frenzies, marring hope, should mar not hope's fruition.  Elizabeth Barret Browning.