"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?" (Psa 22:1) "About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")" (Matt 27:46, NIV) Have you ever felt miserable? Have you ever sat down to assess your life and it seemed like so many things are not how they should be? Does it seem like you are doing much but with very little to show for it? Does it seem like your all your mates have gone ahead of you in life? All your mates have got married, have got good jobs, have got children, have got life going for them! Do you despair? Do you feel like God has forsaken you, then I have a good news for you this morning, "Do not despair!".
We usually take for granted this particular prayer of Jesus on the cross in Matthew 27:46. We are usually thrilled with the prayer where He said "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing". But we carefully neglect this other prayer where He said, "Eli Eli, lema sabachthani?" It is the prayer from which no one preaches because we think it is not a good prayer. So we don't talk about it so that we can preserve the "goodness" of Jesus. It is funny because that prayer does not make Jesus any less a Saviour; if anything it shows the power of His suffering, and serves as a good lesson for us all today. That prayer is a proof of the point in His life when the humanity of our blessed Saviour weighed down on His soul. Could you believe that faced with the agonizing responsibility of dying for our sins, and beholding as His Father turned away from Him, Jesus cried out in despair, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" So when you are feeling that way, you should know that Jesus knows exactly how you are feeling because He has been there!
I don't know the prayers you have been praying for years and it seems as if God has forsaken you. It seems as if God is keeping mute. My message to you today is don't despair because God never fails. There is no debate or argument whether God fails or not. He NEVER fails. Keep puttting your trust in Him, He will answer.
Did you notice that the scripture was careful to record the exact time when Jesus made that prayer? Through out the story of Jesus' crucifixtion, that was the only time the Holy Spirit looked at the clock. It was exactly 3 O' clock.
to be continued...