Morning by Morning, March 25 - Forsaken for Us
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Good morning, Lord Jesus. In my silence, I listen for Your voice. In my watching, I wait for Your leading, as I begin my day wholly surrendered to You, as best as I can and all by Your grace. ...
"Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of the skull)... And they crucified Him.... When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' ... Then Jesus gave out a loud cry and breathed His last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom" (Mark 15:22-38).
It was the greatest moment in all history. And at the same time, it was the most horrible. It was the greatest triumph of sacrifice and love, yet it was the most horrendous travesty of justice. All our sin and shame, all our darkness and evil, all our curses and diseases, all that was less than God's will for us was laid upon You in that moment that changed our eternity.
Though it broke His heart, the Father had to look away. Though it ripped open Your heart, like the ripping of the veil of the temple, You felt utterly forsaken, despised and guilty, rejected and abandoned, to die in sin and go to hell. "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). "Surely He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that made us whole, and by His bruises we are healed... The Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:4-8).
We truly have no idea of the suffering You endured that day, and perhaps even for all eternity in at least one dimension, when You willingly chose to take our sin and all that would ever separate us from God in Your unspeakable, unimaginable sacrifice of love for us. You were forsaken, so we could be forgiven. You were rejected, so we could be accepted. You were cast alone into outer darkness, so that we could spend eternity in the intimacy of Your Presence - all through the suffering and sacrifice of Your cross.
As the astounding reality of Your sacrifice settles into my spirit, to the measure that I can even begin to comprehend what You've done for me as my Savior, I just want to be silent awhile and ponder these things in my heart. ... I am astonished at Your love for me. I am overwhelmed You chose to be forsaken for me. ... In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
