Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?

We have the wonderful assurance & the unfailing promise that God will never leave us.  We can trust that He will always be with us, regardless of our failures.  And yet this time of year, specifically the next few days, we mark the time in history when God turned His back on his beloved Son.  Even Abraham, as he offered up his son Isaac, had God by his side all the way.  In the end, God saved Isaac from death.  But Jesus had to bear all the world’s sin himself, without God’s protection & most harshly, without God’s presence.  He would not be saved from death.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Matthew 27:46

Jesus had to bear the weight & the wrath of our sin without His Father’s loving hand.  He cried out, but no one answered.