"It Scares Me!" (Psalms 22:1)

Many years ago, when I was in college, I was doing medical research in a hospital. One of my fellow student colleagues was a brilliant and affable young man, who had a sharp mind and even sharper tongue. When he found out I was a Christian, he immediately launched into his diatribe. “You know what bothers me about Jesus? When He said, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ It scares me!”

The concern of my colleague was genuine. For him, this verse, uttered by Jesus, was one of  the stumbling blocks that prevented him from accepting Jesus as His Lord and Savior. He felt that Jesus lived a delusional life, thinking He was the Messiah, and, only when He hung on the Cross, did He realize that it was all a lie.

In spite of many conversations attempting to explain what this verse meant and how the resurrection of Jesus Christ proved that He was not living a delusional life, my colleague persisted in his belief.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
Psalms 22:1 (ESV)

Jesus cried out with this verse from Psalms because for the first time in His life, He was separated from God, the Father. The weight and burden of every sin that was ever committed or ever will be committed was placed upon Him. His very nature was being torn from Him.

It scares me as well, that one Man would pay the price for my sins and for the entire world.  In this life, I will never understand the full meaning of what happened on the Cross. I only know that because of God’s grace and mercy to me, He paid the price for my sins so I may be redeemed before God.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.