Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

April 15– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“My God, my God, why have you turned away and abandoned me?” 

—Psalm 22:1

 

These words indicate the depth of Jesus’ sorrow. No other place shows the sufferings of Christ as much as Calvary, and no other moment at Calvary is so full of agony as this cry from him: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” At this moment physical weakness was united with acute mental torture and spiritual agony beyond all expression. This was the black midnight of his horror, the abyss of his suffering. No mere man can fully comprehend it.

Some of us think at times that we could cry, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Indeed, there are times when the brightness of our Father’s smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness; but let us remember that God never really leaves us. It only seems like he does at times. But in Christ’s case it was a real abandonment. We often feel abandoned because of our unbelief, but in his case it was the utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had really turned away.

O poor, distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God’s face but now finds yourself in darkness, remember that he has not really abandoned you. God behind the clouds is as much our God as when he shines forth in all the brilliance of his grace; but, since even the thought that he has forsaken us causes us pain, what kind of pain must the Savior have suffered when he exclaimed, “My God, my God, why have you turned away from me?” [M&E]