Some of us know what true abandonment feels like. But not one of us can imagine having the God of the Universe turn His back on us as He did to His own Son. Sure, many have accused God of forgetting them, but only One could rightly cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


When God turned His face away from His Son, Jesus was bearing for you and me the complete abandonment our sin deserves. He took our place. He was forsaken by the Father so that we never would be. Isaiah wrote, “The poor and needy search for water, but there is none… But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel will not forsake them” (41:17).


How does a Christ follower keep from feeling abandoned when life seems to cave in? How does a young wife handle the untimely death of her husband? How does the believer manage through home foreclosures, severe strokes, estranged children, jail time? We trust in His promise to never leave us. We know that in suffering loss we come to understand gain. Through Christ’s greatest suffering at Calvary, we have won it all.