03 Apr The Agony of Absolute Aloneness
Jesus- nailed to the Cross, hung bleeding, dying in the pitch dark middle of the afternoon. Groaning in agony with his last bit of human strength, he raised his voice to heaven and cried out loudly, “My God, why have you abandoned me?”
I bet you’ve echoed a similar— “My God… WHY?”
Wrought deep within us, from the moment we take our first breath, we cry out- I’m alone! I’m scared! It’s dark! It’s the cry of distress and helplessness. The cry of emotional and physical pain. The cry of confusion in our overwhelmed heart. And ultimately it’s the cry of feeling all alone that pleads, “WHY?” Why have you forgotten me? Why is this happening? Why have you allowed…the pain to come, the child to die, the husband to leave, the emotions to battle, the disease to cripple…
WHY, MY GOD, WHY?
Jesus cried out to his Abba Father from his soul. In the same way, your why is the cry of your soul. It plumbs the depths of gut-wrenching honesty that brings about intimacy between you and your Abba Father. You see, sin is not only what contaminated you and me—separating us from God who loves us; but sin is also the source of every single agonizing why of your life. And for that, there is also the Cross of Christ.
Put the colored eggs and peeps aside for a bit and think about this: There on that Cross, Jesus bled and died for the sins of the world that caused all the pain of this world, and the painful why’s of your heart. Yet, all the while he suffered he experienced the greatest pain of all: the agony of absolute aloneness in the most painful moment of his human life.
💜Jesus was all alone, so you never have to be.
God’s promise in Christ is to never leave us alone—never turn his face away and abandon us. And while we still cry “Why,” we do not cry alone, because GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE!
Most of our why’s won’t be fully answered this side of heaven. Right now, we only have part of the story. But one day every why we’ve ever cried will be more than answered; it will be relieved the moment we behold the beautiful face of Jesus, our Savior—the one who paid the penalty for our sins and the why’s of our suffering… for the joy set before him.
Happy Blessed Easter!
xo- P💜