Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, February 23, 2025.

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Is there a time where Jesus was any more human?

Because though He was separated, He was not forsaken.

But at this moment He's bearing our sin and this is sin's effect: separation. It's a state change so profound that God refers to it as death. We can feel it, and it registers as God not being there.

At this moment Jesus fully and intensely experiences the agony and consequence of sin—separation from God. Yet, He trusts the providence of the Father.

“No one takes [my life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
— John 10:18

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
— Hebrews 4:15

This is how He won—achieving our salvation and the redemption of all of creation—by trusting the Father.

This is our God, the author and finisher of our faith, our King, our Commander-in-Chief, our example.

"He teaches my hands to make war"
— 2 Samuel 22:35

"Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name"
— Philippians 2:1-9

Like Him, we are fighting for Communion—the reconciliation of all things: oneness with God, within ourselves, with one another, and with all of creation.

This is how we war.

This is how we win.

Trust God, who has not forsaken you—no matter how it feels.

Sin has changed the world, becoming central to our experience even to the extent of changing our understanding of what it means to be human.

Sin causes separation.

The sense of this separation that causes us to feel like God is not there is a very human experience.

But it is not reality. God is there and because of His faithfulness to His purposes in creation and His unfailing love toward us, He provided atonement that is made available in Jesus Christ.

Even those who have accepted His atonement may still feel separated because sin remains present in and around us (Romans 7:14-25).

There still dwells with us the consciousness that is governed and walks according to the pursuits and illusions of this fallen world—the carnal man, as Scripture refers to it.

This is the old man of sin, which we must die to—one sin at a time, day by day. In the meantime, sin obstructs our enjoyment of God.

Therefore, we seek to be governed and to live more and more according to the new man, which is being born in us by faith in Jesus Christ—the One who gives us new meaning.

In this process of dying to sin and living to God, especially early on, it feels as though God is not there—that we've been forsaken.

But God has not forsaken us. He is there and we must trust (regardless of how we feel) to the very end in order to win (Matthew 24:13), just like Jesus—who showed us how to be perfectly human.

The prize—knowing Him, uniting with God, our exceedingly great reward—is indescribably worth it and we can have it to an ever-increasing degree, starting right now.

Believe Jesus, follow Him and know God.

He is trustworthy.

Trust Him.