5 Minutes a day / 5 Days a week

with God

Psalms 22:1-5

1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.

This week we will look at all of Psalm 22 a little each day in remembrance of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

It's been 2000 years since verse one was cried out on the cross.
But not by any ordinary man, no this was the Son of God, Jesus.

And why was Jesus crying this out?
Maybe it's because He was in so much pain from the nails in His wrists and feet?
Or maybe He was just mad because He was being treated wrong for something He didn't do? Actually it was neither reason.
Don't you feel this way sometimes when things go wrong, even when you have done nothing wrong? We cry out to God asking, "Why me God?" or "Are you still there God?" or even "God, have You just forgotten about me?"
Even though you may be questioning God, what you are really doing is crying out to Him, which is a good thing because,

Psalms 34:15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.

We are all sinners but we are made righteous through the blood of Jesus and God hears our cries to Him.

So back to our original question about why Jesus was crying this out.
Imagine you have never driven a car in your life, or even more so you've never been in a car.
But one day the police come to your house and accuse you of driving without a license and stealing a car. Even though day after day everyone saw you walking and have never seen you in a car.
You could yell out, "But I've never been in a car before, everyone knows that. Even the police know it".
But the catch is, you are not allowed to say this, because you are paying the price for all the car thieves in the world.
That is a very mild comparison of what Jesus was going through. But that gives you a little hint.
So how did it feel as you were reading this to think at the end you would have to go to jail for all the car thieves in the world?
I know that even as the Lord gave this example to me and I was typing it out, I felt like it was something I wouldn't be willing to or wanted to do.
That's the difference between Jesus and us. Even though we wouldn't be willing to pay the price for all the car thieves, Jesus was, and did!
But even more so, He paid the price for all the sins of the world not just the car thieves.
So why was Jesus crying out to God "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Well just as in our example of the car, Jesus did the same thing with sin.
You see, Jesus never knew sin but was going to have to pay the price for all the sins of the world.
And since God cannot be in the presence of sin this was the first time that Jesus and God were ever separated.
Think about that for a moment. The earth has only been here for around 6000 years, but even before that, not millions or even billions of years, but even a number we could never imagine, that's how long God and Jesus have been together.
That is why Jesus was crying out to God. But He chose to be separated from God for that time, so that we could be with Him in heaven.
So next time you think God has forsaken you or doesn't care about you, remember that He cares so much that He was willing to be separated from Jesus for a time. So He could be with you for the rest of eternity!

Psalms 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

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