Have you ever been abandoned by someone you loved or rejected by a group of people for whom you cared? Do you know what it feels like to be discarded as one unworthy of respect?
- Perhaps it was a family member or a close friend who turned against you. The one you never dreamed would leave your side began to avoid you. Perhaps he began to treat you with contempt. Or slander you behind your back. Or mock you to your face … in front of others.
- Perhaps you have been abandoned by your wife or husband. Your spouse decided that he or she does not want to be married to you anymore.
- Or perhaps it seems that God Himself has forsaken you. The painful circumstance you are going through has caused you to ask in despair, Where is God? This lie is certainly the most painful of all wounds.
Have you ever been – or felt – forsaken by someone you would have sworn would “stick by you through thick ‘n thin”? If so, be assured that Christ Jesus knows exactly how you feel. What He went through as He walked toward – and hung on – the Cross, He went through alone. He was completely forsaken. Not one person was left standing by His side.
- Certainly none of His siblings were there for Him. (John 7:5)
- One of “the twelve” from his band of disciples betrayed Him. (John 13:21, 26)
- The remaining eleven – His most faithful followers and closest friends – abandoned Him. (Matthew 26:31)
- Even Peter, His most zealous follower, denied even knowing Him – not one time … not two times … but three times – while warming himself around the campfire of those who had just arrested his Friend. (John 13:37-38)
- The Jewish nation had followed Him enthusiastically … as long as He provided them with food and healthcare. They had cheered Him as He paraded triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt. But just a few days later, many of these same people demanded that the hands and feet of their Messiah-King be impaled to one of Rome’s crosses. (Luke 17:25)
- And at the front of the line demanding His death was Israel’s religious establishment, her Bible scholars and spiritual leaders, the ones who could quote from memory the Messianic prophecies. Even they refused to submit to His rule. More than anyone else, they should have recognized Him as being their long-awaited King. But they turned Him over to Caesar’s soldiers to be executed. (Matthew 20:18-19)
Earlier, as this sin-Bearer lay on the ground of a garden pleading with His Father, He knew that humiliation and torture and excruciating pain were only hours away. He, Who had no sin, knew that He was about to be falsely accused, mocked, spit upon, beaten in the face, lashed over and over with a whip, and have three spikes driven through his hands and feet for lawless acts He did not commit. He knew that He was about to be executed for my moral crimes … and yours … and the rest of the world’s, the Guiltless for the guilty.
And He knew that He was going to go through all of this by Himself. How could He possibly feel more alone … more abandoned … more rejected than this? And then, when the weight of all our sins was placed upon Him, the unthinkable happens:
“MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” (Matthew 27:46)
Do you know what it feels like to be forsaken by others? If so, be assured that Christ Jesus knows exactly how you feel.
We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
And so, with Hebrews 4, verse 15, in mind, what should we do when we are rejected? We should do Hebrews 4, verse 16:
let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
If we do this, we will be talking to One Who is not detached from our pain of rejection. In fact, one of His Hebrew names is El Roi. He is our all-seeing, ever-present Help in time of need.
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To the readers within the believing community: I would greatly appreciate your prayers, that the Master-Teacher would be the Author of these writings.