Let the Bible speak into and through your pain

“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.”(Matthew 27 v 45-50)

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!

The above was what was in the mind of Christ as he hung on the cross.

We have just read how Jesus said the following:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

He wasn’t calling upon Elijah obviously. And in a sense though the pain of the judgment was the wrath of the Father he wasn’t even calling upon Him.

So why did Jesus say what he did?

It is because as he went through hell the power of the Word of God held him.

What was Jesus saying? Maybe this:

“Though I feel abandoned and am going through hell, I still trust Him. And I know later in this Psalm that I am quoting, a Psalm that speaks of me, that vindication will come after the suffering.”

God’s written Word is at the centre of the cross. Psalm 22, the Messianic Psalm, was in the mind of Christ. He was being held together by the Word.

Are you going through your own personal hell or you know someone who is? Let the Bible speak at these times. Memorise, meditate and speak it out. Jesus needed the Word and so do we.