The following is the result of some reflection, as I've been dealing with lots of stuff lately. It is my hope that whether or not someone shares my beliefs or agrees with my words, that what I am sharing here will at least provide some food for thought.
So...today was a very reflective day for me. I was really missing my mom especially, because she always made me feel safe & comforted when life was stressful. What I would give to hear her voice again. But it's all good. No sadness, because she's in Heaven with my dad, my brother, my miscarried baby & other miscarried grandchildren & great-grandchildren, & other family members. I have a ton of stress on my plate, but again, it's all good because I'm a "glass is half full" type of person, & my faith in God is strong. But sometimes when I find myself praying repeatedly for the same thing, & it appears God doesn't care, or that He's choosing to be silent, I feel as if God has forsaken me. Going to Good Friday service on Friday reminded me of how much Jesus suffered because of my sin (and the sin of us all).
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It really hit home with me though, when after church today, I watched "The Bible" & also "The Passion of the Christ" on TV. Both were very well done. Both showed the suffering of Jesus in very graphic terms, especially the realistic "Passion of the Christ", which showed the blood & gore that Jesus actually endured for us all, not the watered down version that we like to think of. They actually had to tone it down for the movie because if they had shown the brutality of what was done to our Lord as it actually looked, it would be too psychologically upsetting.
The part of both movies that especially resonated with me were the words quoted of Jesus in the Bible, where as He hung there suffering on the cross, bloody & beaten to a pulp, barely able to breathe without excruciating pain & effort, hands & feet throbbing from thick nails being driven into them, & extremely painful back pain from having had to lug that cross on his beaten & bloody & skinless back up the hill to Golgotha, then being hung in such a way that his back was arched, when Jesus cried out to God, "My Father, why have you forsaken me?".
The part of both movies that especially resonated with me were the words quoted of Jesus in the Bible, where as He hung there suffering on the cross, bloody & beaten to a pulp, barely able to breathe without excruciating pain & effort, hands & feet throbbing from thick nails being driven into them, & extremely painful back pain from having had to lug that cross on his beaten & bloody & skinless back up the hill to Golgotha, then being hung in such a way that his back was arched, when Jesus cried out to God, "My Father, why have you forsaken me?".
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It occurred to me that who am I to feel forsaken by God over my deep stress, when the very Son of God Himself was crying out to God how He felt forsaken as He hung there on that cross, enduring such excruciating suffering, taunting & pain, as a blood sacrifice for MY sins?? Who am I to complain? Well, Jesus didn't have to do this. He chose to out of His love for us. What love that was & is, to be God, & to choose to step out of His Heavenly throne & live as a human being, one of His own created beings....to humble Himself in that way.
The thing is, by Him doing that, He became relatable to us in our struggles. He too felt hunger & thirst, exhaustion, frustration, He faced temptation, humiliation, a broad range of emotions, & He suffered immensely, facing excruciating pain & then death. In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was arrested, He felt alone as He prayed & wept, because God was silent, His disciples were too tired to stay awake & pray with Him, & He knew the future events that were about to happen to Him. Imagine us having that type of knowledge about our own futures.
The Bible says His weeping & drops of sweat were blood. That's some intense anguish He felt, to have burst capillaries or blood vessels due to profound emotion & stress as He prayed. How alone He must have felt, even though as God (the Son of God and God are separate but the same - think of an egg yolk, shell, & white of the egg), He already knew the wonderful way things would turn out. He even prayed to God, asking Him "if it's your will, please remove this cup from me".
So what I'm trying to say is that God knows about our suffering. He understands our fears, our worries & our stress. Why? Because Jesus Christ our Lord God experienced these things Himself, only He bore the sins of all mankind back then, now, & in the future, out of His love for us, because God can't & won't allow even the smallest of sins into His perfect Heaven, & Christ's sacrifice & our acceptance of His gift, provides the way to Heaven. If Jesus, God's Son, felt forsaken by God, then He understands when we do. What gave me some comfort with my own feelings of being forsaken, is that God was silent.......but only for a time.
After Jesus died, there was a great earthquake which damaged the curtain to the sacred Jewish Holy of Holies in the temple of the priests who sought & won Jesus' execution. The skies got very dark & people trembled in fear. One of the Roman centurions said "truly, this WAS the Son of God".
Then on the third day after, Jesus defeated death & rose from the dead. Talk about God having the last word!! Talk about justice for Jesus!! I realized that if God gives such an awesome victory to Jesus for what He went through, & if Jesus went through that over His love for us, then God will give us victory over the things in our lives too, that we struggle with or may feel that God has forsaken us over. We just need to trust Him & pray for His will, because as it turns out, God's way tends to work out better!!
The thing is, by Him doing that, He became relatable to us in our struggles. He too felt hunger & thirst, exhaustion, frustration, He faced temptation, humiliation, a broad range of emotions, & He suffered immensely, facing excruciating pain & then death. In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was arrested, He felt alone as He prayed & wept, because God was silent, His disciples were too tired to stay awake & pray with Him, & He knew the future events that were about to happen to Him. Imagine us having that type of knowledge about our own futures.
 |
| Photo: all-free-download.com |
The Bible says His weeping & drops of sweat were blood. That's some intense anguish He felt, to have burst capillaries or blood vessels due to profound emotion & stress as He prayed. How alone He must have felt, even though as God (the Son of God and God are separate but the same - think of an egg yolk, shell, & white of the egg), He already knew the wonderful way things would turn out. He even prayed to God, asking Him "if it's your will, please remove this cup from me".
So what I'm trying to say is that God knows about our suffering. He understands our fears, our worries & our stress. Why? Because Jesus Christ our Lord God experienced these things Himself, only He bore the sins of all mankind back then, now, & in the future, out of His love for us, because God can't & won't allow even the smallest of sins into His perfect Heaven, & Christ's sacrifice & our acceptance of His gift, provides the way to Heaven. If Jesus, God's Son, felt forsaken by God, then He understands when we do. What gave me some comfort with my own feelings of being forsaken, is that God was silent.......but only for a time.
After Jesus died, there was a great earthquake which damaged the curtain to the sacred Jewish Holy of Holies in the temple of the priests who sought & won Jesus' execution. The skies got very dark & people trembled in fear. One of the Roman centurions said "truly, this WAS the Son of God".
 |
| Photo: all-free-download.com |
Then on the third day after, Jesus defeated death & rose from the dead. Talk about God having the last word!! Talk about justice for Jesus!! I realized that if God gives such an awesome victory to Jesus for what He went through, & if Jesus went through that over His love for us, then God will give us victory over the things in our lives too, that we struggle with or may feel that God has forsaken us over. We just need to trust Him & pray for His will, because as it turns out, God's way tends to work out better!!
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| Photo: all-free-download.com |
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