My God, Why

My God, My God, Why?

There was an emergency room doctor in Kentucky that told this true story...

A guy came into the ER after being in a car accident and the guy had burns all the way around his neck. The doctor looked and said, “How in the world did you get burns around your neck after a car accident?”

The guy said, “Well, the wife and I were sitting down on the porch and we had one of them new dog collars. You know, the ones with the little zappers on it. I told the wife that I would put the collar on my neck, drive my pickup over the hill, and when I get to a certain place honk the horn. When I honk the horn, press the button and we’ll see if it works from a distance and how it feels.”

So he got in his truck, disappeared over the hill, then laid on the horn. His wife pressed the button and it zapped him so hard that he almost passed out! He started to swerve all over the road as he was screaming in pain. While he was swerving everywhere a car that was coming toward him in the other lane did what anyone would do in that situation and started honking at him.

His wife thought that it must not have worked the first time, so she hit the zapper again. He screamed again and kept swerving. The more the car honked, the more she pressed the button.

Why do people do crazy things? Why do innocent people have to suffer consequences of someone else’s actions? Why do bad things happen to good people?

There are so many questions in life that don’t seem to have answers. So many bad things that happen to good people. So much corruption in organizations that were created to do good. Have you ever found yourself asking, “Why?” There is a couple at the church we went to in OKC that our pastor, Craig, would talk about sometimes. They met at Life Church, dated, got married, wanted to get pregnant but couldn’t, finally one day they got pregnant, nine months later they had the baby, but then the baby died. Why?

When I was in high school, one of my teachers told us about her family. Her husband and kids went with her to purchase a vehicle one day. When they left to go home the kids wanted to ride with their dad in the new vehicle, so she followed behind in their old car. At some point on the way home a drunk driver slammed into their new vehicle killing her whole family while she watched. Why?

Do you ever ask these questions? Why do people who value their relationship with God and their spouse still end up getting divorced? Why do I feel so alone sometimes? Why do I feel like God is so far away? Why did Chad tell that stupid story earlier? I know I’ve asked questions like this before. Such as, why did my dad have to die so young? So many questions in life that don’t have easy, good, or even simple answers. Have you ever felt like that? Have you felt like what Jesus must have felt like when He was on the cross and cried out, “My God! My God! Why…?”

We are looking at some of Jesus’ famous last words when He was on the cross. Last week we talked about His plea to God to forgive the people who were senselessly beating and killing Him. He said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Today we are looking at the moment when Jesus asked His Heavenly Father, “Why?”

If you are following along in your bible’s, turn to Matthew chapter 27. We’ll pick up the story in verse 45...

Matthew 27:45 NLT

45 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.

Your bible might say, “from the sixth hour until the ninth hour.” In the middle of the day, when it should have been daylight, darkness came over all the land. Jesus became sin for us. When He became sin, the Heavenly Father turned away, withdrew His presence, and the world became dark. Jesus, who had spent His entire life in God’s presence, suddenly had this void as the God who had always been near to Him felt so far away. In this foreign feeling of destitution, Jesus says some of the loneliest words in all of the Bible…

Matthew 27:46 NLT

46 At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

There are a lot of things that happen in life that just don’t seem to have a good reason as to why. Good people die young. Bad people have all the success. Why does it seem like God answers some prayers, but not others? Why do some people who desire to find that special someone have to keep going home alone? Why is it that some people who really want kids are unable to get pregnant?

Someone once said...

Why is my life so empty? Why do I wake up everyday in the same old bed, walk into the same old kitchen, eat the same old breakfast, read the same old paper, drink the same old cup of coffee, kiss the same old woman, get in the same old car, drive to my same old job, see the same old people, get the same old paycheck, go back to the same old house, walk into the same old kitchen, sit at the same old table, eat the same old meal, sit in the same old chair in the same old living room, watch the same old show, go to the same old bedroom, look at the same old wife, as her the same old question, get the same old answer? Go to sleep, wake up the next day and do the same old thing. Why? Isn’t there more to life than that?

As Christ followers, we tend to oversimplify answers to these complicated questions. There are 3 common answers to complicated questions that you will oftentimes hear people say. Though they CAN be true, trying to explain all of our complicated situations with these simple answers can leave us feeling guilty, inadequate, or even empty. Sometimes trying to answer complex questions with simple answers will only make the question more confusing.

If you are facing difficult questions in your life right now, or the next time you encounter a difficult situation, you may hear these simple answers...

EASY ANSWERS FOR HARD TIMES: IT’S YOUR FAULT.

Maybe you have been in a rough time and someone comes up and says, “the reason you are going through this is because it’s your fault. If you didn’t have sin in your life. There must be some secret sin in your life! If you had a little more faith this wouldn’t be happening to you.

Another person may come up to you and say, “Well, it’s Satan’s fault.”...

EASY ANSWERS FOR HARD TIMES: IT’S SATAN’S FAULT.

Think of Bobby Boucher’s (Boo - shay) mamma who would tell him that “Foosball is of the devil.”

“Who was behind the wheel of our Lincoln town car when we drove into that crazy 8 motel? Who could it be? Could it be..... SATAN?”

The truth of the matter is that the evil one does attack and you could be in a hard time because it’s partially your fault. But then another person will walk in and say, “You know it’s God’s will.”...

EASY ANSWERS FOR HARD TIMES: IT’S GOD’S WILL.

So which is it? Is it my fault? Is it Satan’s attack? Is it God’s will? Is it some combination of the two of these? Is it all of them? The problem with the easy answers is that oftentimes very complex situations just can’t be explained with simple answers.

As we look to Jesus on the cross, it’s hard to really grasp the complexity of the situation he was facing. From looking at His life as a whole, we know that from the time He was born, Satan, the spiritual enemy, attacked Jesus.

Often times he attacked through people. Even when Jesus was a baby, Herod sought to have him killed. In His hometown, Jesus was known as a prophet without honor. Once when He was teaching in a synagogue, the people didn’t like what He was saying so they drove Him out of town and to the top of a hill so they could throw Him off a cliff.

People called Him a heretic, a fanatic, said He was demon possessed, that He was a drunk, a glutton, that He would hand out with the wrong kind of people. He was falsely accused, tortured, and beaten. He suffered all of this even though the prophesies about Him warned the people this would happen. They did it anyway. Even so, Jesus never once complained. The only thing He ever says that remotely resembles a complaint was when He became sin for us, the world became dark, the Father withdrew His presence, and Jesus cried out, “My God! My God! Why?”

It’s easy to have faith when the sun is shining, but what about when darkness surrounds us? How deep is your faith? Will we have real faith when darkness sets in our world?

I love the story of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego in the OT. Someone growing up in the 90’s may be more familiar with the Veggie Tales version of the story where the 3 kids, Rack, Shack, and Benny, were told to worship a giant chocolate bunny.

In the OT story, the three Hebrew children were told by King Nebuchadnezzar to worship a giant idol that he had built that was 90 feet tall and made of gold. They refused to worship the idol and told the king, “We will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

The king threatened to throw them into a fiery furnace and burn them alive, yet they still refused. It is one thing to have faith when I live in the bible belt and some of the most difficult challenges to my faith are trivial denominational issues. How would I react in the face someone like King Nebuchadnezzar who threatens to destroy me? Listen to their incredible faith...

Daniel 3:17–18 NLT

17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

They had faith that God would rescue them. But then they took their faith to a whole other level when they said, “BUT even if He doesn’t rescue us we will still rely on Him alone.” Even if God doesn’t do what I think He should. Even If God doesn’t come through the way I expect Him to. I will not bow down to some false god/false promise, because I worship the One True God.

To me, their story teaches so much about perspective. From their perspective, all they needed was God. Everything else really didn’t matter much as long as they had God. Even if God didn’t do what they hoped He would, as long as they had the Father, they would be fine.

That is the same perspective Jesus had. As long as He had the Father, He was fine. He would have everything He needed to endure the physical pain and the emotional pain. All He needed was God’s presence. The only time He complained was when the Father had to withdraw His presence.

The same is true for us. We only see our part of the story. The other perspective is God’s perspective. The story is so much bigger from God’s perspective. What if Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego had have only viewed their situation from their perspective? They were probably going to die! Would it really hurt to worship the idol once? Surely it wouldn’t even count if they crossed their fingers first! God put them there for a reason, He wouldn’t want them to go and get themselves killed.

Whatever situation we face, there is always two perspectives. Our perspective and God’s perspective. I like the way Paul explains these two perspectives to the Corinthians in chapter 13. He explains that our perspective is imperfect, but in eternity we will see things from God’s perspective...

1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT

12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

No matter what we think we know, it is important to realize that our understanding is imperfect. No matter what answer we have for these complex questions it is important to remember that even our solutions are just like blurry reflections in a mirror.

We only see part of the story. When I think about Jesus dying on the cross, I can only IMAGINE the different perspectives of the story:

We read about the crowd yelling, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” They must have been watching this unfold thinking, “We are getting rid of one more crazy heretic.”

The disciples might have been thinking, “We gave up everything, left our homes, left our families. We honored and followed Him. We did everything He said. He is the Messiah, and now He’s dying. Was it all for nothing?”

Thinking about Jesus’ part of the story, what was going on in His mind? He was clearly fulfilling prophecy, but still, why did He ask God, “Why?” Was there no other way for God to reconcile us to Him?

Then God’s part of the story. His heart was surely breaking. Can you imagine how difficult it might have been for God to hear His Son say, “My God, My God, Why?” Let’s quickly look at God’s perspective on this moment. Why did He forsake Jesus in this moment? In this story we see at least 2 reasons why God had to turn away.

THE FATHER FORSOOK JESUS BECAUSE HE BECAME SIN.

Why did God forsake Jesus? Because he became sin for us. Paul spells this out pretty clear for us in his second letter to the Corinthians…

2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Jesus became sin and died on the cross in our place. God hates sin. Wherever He finds it, sin must be judged. Jesus took all of that on Himself for us. So why did God not look on? God is so perfect that He can’t even look at sin. He cannot tolerate it at all. In a conversation with God, Habakkuk was wrestling with some of these complex questions we are talking about today when he acknowledged this about God…

Habakkuk 1:13 (NIV)

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing…

When Jesus became sin, hatred, murder, adultery, lying, envy… When Jesus became our failure to be the righteousness God desired, God’s eyes were too pure to look upon sin. He had to turn away. When explaining God’s holiness, British Bible teacher, Arthur Pink, said this…

Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of creature doings is utterly impossible. A fallen creature could sooner create a world than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite Purity. Can darkness dwell with Light? Can the Immaculate One take pleasure in “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6)? The best that sinful man brings forth is defiled. A corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. God would deny Himself, vilify His perfections, were He to account as righteous and holy that which is not so in itself; and nothing is so which has the least stain upon it contrary to the nature of God. But blessed be His name, that which His holiness demanded His grace has provided in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every poor sinner who has fled to Him for refuge stands “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). Hallelujah! -A. W. Pink

From His perspective, when the world asks why, God, who is so Holy and full of love, answers, “For you.” It was done for us. Never forget the Father’s perspective. Jesus cried out, “My God! My God! Why?” and God had to turn away because Jesus became sin and God could not look on sin. Second...

THE SON WAS FORSAKEN SO WE COULD BE FORGIVEN.

Jesus became sin, died with sin, and was buried in a grave. Three days later, God raised Him from the grave. Death, sin, hell, and the grave had clearly been defeated.

In the most sacrificing, selfless act of love that you could ever imagine, He allowed His Son to suffer for you in your place. He had to turn away from His Son. The one He loved and brought Him great pleasure. The Father did it so that you could be forgiven. So that sin would no longer have power over you.

If you ask “why?” Why you are hurting. Why none of it makes sense. Never forget the Father’s perspective. Never forget God’s part of the story. What we see is just a wavy, blurry image in a dirty mirror. Our Heavenly Father knew it would be tough and painful, but He sent His Son anyway so that we could be with Him. He sacrificed so that we could be made new.

Even if you are not suffering today or wrestling with a complex question, I would challenge you this week to think about your story from God’s perspective. Try to look beyond the imperfect, puzzling reflection in the mirror and seek the clarity that comes from God’s view of the picture. Realize that what you see is partial and incomplete, like Paul said.