Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Amos 5-9
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Mark 15:34
Jesus: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
“My God, My God, why have you turned your back on Me?” Jesus’ question to His father from the cross. We often read the words of Jesus from the cross and forget that many of them are prayers recited from the Psalms. This one comes from Psalms 22. It’s interesting to go back to those hymns that Jesus used as His prayers on the cross recorded for us by the gospel writers and put them back into their context. I often wonder if Jesus prayed the whole Psalm while on the cross, or just the verses recorded for us.
If you go back to Psalm 22, you’ll find the words Jesus spoke in the first verse. “My God, My God, why have you turned your back on me? Your ears are deaf to my groans. O my God, I cry all day and you are silent; my tears in the night bring no relief.”
Most of the rest of that psalm describe exactly what Jesus was experiencing.
I’m surrounded by many tormentors; like strong bulls of Bashan, they circle around me with their taunts. They open their mouths wide at me like ravenous, roaring lions. My life is poured out like water, and all my bones have slipped out of joint. My heart melts like wax inside me. My strength is gone, dried up like shards of pottery; my dry tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death. A throng of evil ones has surrounded me like a pack of wild dogs; They pierced my hands and ripped a hole in my feet. I count all my bones; people gawk and stare at me. They make a game out of dividing my clothes among themselves; they cast lots for the clothes on my back.
Perhaps we sometimes draw the wrong conclusion about this particular phrase. I usually think about God turning His back on Jesus because He carries the sins of the world on His shoulders and the Father cannot stand the sight of sin. He abhors sin and so Jesus carries the weight of all humanity’s sins alone.
But what if, instead, Jesus draws strength from reciting this psalm from the cross. The hymn begins these stark words from the depth of David’s misery. It describes the suffering Jesus will endure. But there are some other words in that same song from which He can draw great comfort.
Still, You are holy; You make Your home on the praises of Israel. Our mothers and fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You rescued them. They cried out to You for help and were spared; they trusted in You and were vindicated.
and
But You, O Eternal, stay close; O You, my help, hurry to my side. Save my life from violence, my sweet life from the teeth of the wild dog. Rescue me from the mouth of the lion. From the horns of the wild oxen, You responded to my plea. I will speak Your Name to my brothers and sisters when I praise You in the midst of the community. You who revere the Eternal, praise Him— descendants of Jacob, worship Him; be struck with wonder before Him, all you children of Israel. He’s not put off by the suffering of the suffering one; He doesn’t pretend He hasn’t seen him; when he pleaded for help, He listened. You stir my praise in the great assembly; I will fulfill my vows before those who humble their hearts before Him. Those who are suffering will eat and be nourished; those who seek Him will praise the Eternal. May your hearts beat strong forever! Those from the farthest reaches of the earth will remember and turn back to look for the Eternal; All the families of the nations will worship You. The Eternal owns the world; He exercises His gentle rule over all the nations. All the wealthy of the world will eat and worship; all those who fall in the dust will bow before Him, even the life that is headed to the grave. Our children will serve Him; future generations will hear the story of how the Lord rescued us. They will tell the generations to come of the righteousness of the Lord, of what He has done.
Could Jesus’ words on the cross be a reminder to us of the importance of scripture and prayer in the face of life’s greatest challenges? Certainly, these few hours were Jesus’ most the stressful and challenging of His short life. And throughout those hours, the majority of His words can be traced back to the scriptures He knew so well. Is this, too, the beginning of a song, only the beginning of which was recorded by the gospel writers, but within Jesus’ heart and soul, soared to His father as a song of praise and worship even in those dark hours? Could it be that He was teaching us even in these last hours of His life that God’s word remains our best source of strength in times of trouble? Jesus used it; shouldn’t we?
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