THE JOSHUA CODE | WEEK 41

i was going to combine week 41 and 42, but catching up on last weeks verse was so powerful, that it needed its own post. i hope this verse speaks great volumes into your heart as it did mine - what a sweet, sweet reminder!

w e e k -  f o u r t y   o n e 

'And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, 

saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is,
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

m a t t h e w  2 7 : 4 6 

. . .

IN GALILEE JESUS WAS FORSAKEN BY HIS FAMILY 

(Matthew 13:53-58)

When Jesus was forsaken by His own family He did not give up. all alone, He reached up to His heavenly Father. This is the challenge for all of us who know the haunting reality of being forsaken. Instead of giving up, we can reach to the Lord in prayer. He is the only One who can truly identify with your feelings and needs. 
For He too knows what its to be forsaken.

AT GETHSEMANE JESUS WAS FORSAKEN BY HIS FRIENDS
(Matthew 26:36-56)
But after His disciples deserted Him, instead of giving in... Jesus reached in. Hear Him from under the olive trees of Gethsemane: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even to death... If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:38-39). Our Lord did not give in to the circumstances that swirled around Him. Instead He reaches in -- into the depths of His own being to find His solace not in His own will but in the will of the One who sent Him.
Have you reached in lately? That is, have you come to the place in your own experience where you join Jesus in praying, "Not as I will, but as You will"?

AT GOLGOTHA JESUS WAS FORSAKEN BY HIS FATHER
(Matthew 27:33-46)

Does a loving God forsaken His own?

He did not forsake Daniel in the lions den (Daniel 6).
He did not forsake the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace of Babylon (Daniel 3)

So why is this strange cry from the lips of our Lord in His most agonizing moment? The Bible tells us that a holy God cannot look upon sin (Habakuk 1:13). ON the cross Jesus was bearing your sin and mine in His own body, suffering this punishment for our sins as though they were his own. [...] There on the cross, bearing our sin, Jesus was momentarily forsaken in order that we might never be forsaken. 

When this happened our Lord was tempted by the devil to give out, to cry 'Enough! I quit!' But instead of giving out ... He reached out. Hear from Jesus, from the cross as He reached out and said, " father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). Hear Him reach out to the dying thief alongside Him: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise" ( v 43). Jesus' arms are open wider than when they were stretched out on the cross. Jesus did not give out; He reached out. 

What about your own life journey?

 Have you been to Galilee or are you there now, in that place where you are so tempted to hive up? Reach up. This is the place where you surrender your will to His will.

Have your been to Gethsemane or are you there now, in that place where you are so tempted to give in? Reach in.

This is the place where you search yourself. 

Have you been to Golgotha, or are you there now, in that place where you are tempted to simply give out? Reach out. This is the place where you sacrifice your will to Him, as Christ did. 

Yes, our Lord was forsaken by His family, His friends, and His heavenly Father -- but only so we might never be forsaken. (Isaiah 53:4). What a Savior!

As you memorize this verse, meditate on the way we never experience anything in this life that Jesus Himself did not experience before us and for us. 

Forsaken? Don't give up; reach up!

Don't give in; reach in!

And don't give out, reach out!

pg 205-209

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