My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?

Occasionally I get caught up in the repetitive motion of just doing the things I know I should be doing to get by and so very often leave behind great life lessons in the process.  Today was almost one of those days.

I so often look into the word of God expecting some miraculous truth to come shining out at me that will perfectly fit into my life right now.  Unfortunately, more often than not, I come away just learning some good life lesson that five minutes later I forget, because it does not immediately apply to my life, or so I think.  This morning was one of those times as I read Mark 15:33-40 about the last moments of Jesus' death when he cried, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  Initially, I read this and just glanced over it, as it is something I have read before.  Then I was given some questions that really made me think.  

How did Jesus respond in this moment?  I have always thought it was odd how he responded as even though I know who Jesus was 100% God and 100% man, a concept I can't quite wrap my mind around, I tend to think of him more in the God sense.  With that I forget the separation that he must have felt from God at that time as he took on my sin.  Then I read this.

We can imagine what it would mean to a righteous man to feel that he was forsaken of God. But the more we feel and enjoy the love of another, the greater our sense of loss at being deprived of it. Considering, therefore, the near and dear relationship between the Son and Father, it is evident that we can never know or fathom the depth of anguish which this cry expressed. Suffice it to say, that this was without doubt the most excruciating of all Christ's sufferings, and it, too, was a suffering in our stead.  

Jesus at this time did not just feel the hurt of separation from a loved one, like I do when for instance when I am in an argument with a friend or relative. He felt a pain that I will never know.  He was the only true sinless one who for the first time in his approximate 33 years had been separated from the most initmate relationship that there has ever been.  And how did he respond?  He quoted scripture. (Psalms 22:1)  

So how do I respond when I feel like God has forsaken me?  First, I will never know the pain Jesus felt that day since I have racked up a more than fair share of sin.  However, I do experience many times in my life when I just don't feel I was given a fair shake, or don't feel that I was handed as easy a life as some others.  In those times I, more often than not react with more sin.  

Beyond the fact that I believe most of our hard times are simply a result of our own idiocracy, God has never forsaken me.  However, times have come and will come when we all feel like God has left us.  Even more in those times must we lean on the tremendous sacrifice that Jesus made for us and realize that he is the only one who ever felt truly forsaken. 

We've all got something to say...

I have been fighting the urge to enter the world of blogging for sometime and have finally succumb to the temptations to let the whole world (or at least the 2 people who give rip) know what I have to say.

To be honest I have resisted this blogging movement, partly because by natural process I am getting older and less technologically relevant and partly because I have always looked at blogging as our virtual fifty foot neon sign flashing, “HEY LOOK AT ME, I’M IMPORTANT!!!” I already struggle a bit with humility; balancing the fine line of leading by example and drawing attention to my every action and deed. However, as I have began to read the blogs of the people I thought I knew, I have found that there is so much I tend to miss. Am I not listening to true life of those who surround me, or are they not talking? I have a feeling it is a little bit of both.

At the risk of sounding much older than I am, there was a time, even in my generation, when the world seemed a lot smaller and more intimate. A time when our circle of influence may have consisted of a total of 40 to 50 people of whom only a few we honestly shared life with. Maybe this was just my experience in the booming metropolis of Azle, TX. Actually, I can’t even claim that. I lived in Briar. My world consisted of the neighbor across the field and pet cow named Buttercup, who ultimately ended up as a steak.

Anyways, my point is that now I may come into physical contact with 40 to 50 people a day. Outside of that I have 150 or so “friends” on Facebook ranging from family to people I knew high school, to people I knew in college, to people I work with, to people I don’t really know, but I thought it would be rude to reject their invite. And each of them have 100 to 500 “friends” their connected to. I find myself now with an infinite number of “friends” and yet somehow have very few friendships.

The problem is that I have built most of these friendships upon the occasional polite smile and nod (since nodding is more manly than waving), and the ever so popular status post, telling everyone in two sentences or less what just happened in the last five minutes and which Office cast member I am most like. (By the way, I am Jim, but aren’t we all?) All this time I have a new, true, friend who just experienced an unspeakable tragedy in his life and because I have become so inept at communication, all I have to offer is, “How are things going?” Luckily, he was honest enough to say, “Horrible.”

With all that said, I know that I can't replace human contact with the posting of my deep thoughts on the internet, but I have gotten to know a few people much better lately by just taking some time to read theirs. With any luck this blog will help stir up some conversation in real life situations and since we all seem to be a little more open and a little deeper when we put things down in written word, I hope we can begin to really share life with each other.