Devotion:
For an audio version of this devotion, click here.
Read Matthew 27:45-46; Luke 23:44-46.
We cannot imagine a worse thing happening to us! Jesus’ wrists had been spiked to the cross piece, which was lifted up with him attached and then connected to the vertical piece. Then his legs were slightly bent, and his ankles were spiked to the vertical piece. This began a three-hour ordeal of him straightening his legs to take his weight off his diaphragm, getting an agonizing breath, and then giving in to the excruciating pain in his ankles and sliding back down on the cross. But the worst pain for Jesus was the feeling of separation from his heavenly Father as he took on our sin, having never known sin and the attendant separation in his entire life.
Jesus remembered Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The Son and the Father are One, and yet, in that time of agony and suddenly bearing our sin, Jesus desired the intimacy of their relationship. He felt alone. Luke tells us that Jesus also remembered and uttered words from Psalm 31, “...into your hands I commit my spirit.” In his worst moment imaginable, Jesus was faithful.
Personal Worship Option:
Pray with me, “Help me, Almighty God, to be faithful to you in my darkest times. Sometimes, I want to blame you, and sometimes, I even wonder if you are real. I know you are real, that you love me, and that you will be with me. Just let me remember and be faithful.” Amen.
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