This statement got me thinking--yes, about my own moments of darkness and doubt, but more about the darkest moment in human history which I believe is one of the most misunderstood moments of God's story. In Christ's cry from the cross--"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt. 27:46)--we also find the most vibrant demonstration of faith.
G.K. Chesterton once wrote "Let the atheists themselves choose a god. They will find only one divinity who ever uttered their isolation; only one religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist." I once read an author (I can't recall who at the moment) who took this quote and said he agreed with Chesterton that Christ was at one time an atheist as he hung on the cross. Let it be noted that this author was taking Chesterton out of context because G.K. wrote that God seemed to be an atheist. But more importantly the author took Christ out of the entire context of his life as presented in the gospels.
Christ never once doubted the majestic and almighty presence of God. That is why Christ asks the question, "Where are you, God?" Yes, Christ was taking the full weight of our sins upon him. Yes, sin cannot exist in the presence of God for his glory would surely obliterate the evil. But all his life Christ never once had a doubt that the Father was real and that the Spirit was communicating the wisdom and love and glory of the Father to him while on earth. For example, we Jesus learns that a little girl is sick, he determines to go and heal her. But he gets sidetracked on the way by a woman who had been bleeding constantly for twelve years. Jesus stopped to assure the woman of her bodily restoration, and in the meantime word arrives that the little girl has died. Jesus is not phased by this revelation. He continues on his journey to the girl's house. Upon arriving Jesus straight-faced asks the company of mourners why they are weeping. "The child is not dead but asleep." (Mk. 5:39) Jesus did not see this instance as a challenge: "Oh, no! The child died! I failed my mission." Rather he knew exactly what the Father could do and would do through the Son.
So why would Christ doubt the existence of God (as atheism does) on the cross? Quite the opposite is Christ's question. In this one moment Christ asks his Father why he has seemingly left him all alone. One could put the question like this: "Dad, you've always been with me. Why can't I find you now? You're supposed to be here with me." I do not mean to minimize the emotional and spiritual pain and separation that Christ felt. Without it the writer of Hebrews could not truly and fully declare that we have a great high priest "who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin." (Heb. 4:15) But whereas in my moments of weakness and darkness I may doubt the very existence of God and have my temporary moment of atheism, Christ did not. In Christ's darkest moment even there he believed that God existed and should still remain with him in his darkness.
And this, it can be said, is why Jesus could say with confidence "No one knows who the Father is except the Son." (Lk. 10:22) Jesus fully knew the Father. Enter Chambers' quote that if we do not see God as perfect and holy even in our darkest moments, "we do not yet know him." But Christ knows the Father, and so he does not tarnish the glory of God even in his darkest moment.
And now the good news, for you may have read this far and thought, "Great, I don't know God like Christ does." Ah, but perhaps you do. Or at the very least you have the ability to know the Father as the Son did. Jesus continues his confidence with this: "No one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." So you see, we can know the Father fully so that in our darkest, blackest moments nothing about God is tarnish, diminished or lost. This is the assurance of faith. Even when my back is against the wall, even when it seems all is lost, even when the entire world appears to be against, I may ask the question as Christ did "My God, where are you?" The question is not atheistic in nature. The question is childlike faith in nature. "God, you said you would always be with me and never forsake me. That means you are supposed to be hear right now. I believe that. Help my unbelief."
Lord Jesus, help us to have the kind of faith that knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Father is good, the Father is full of love for us his children; that He will never leave us nor forsake us; that He is working all things for the good of those who love Him; and that nothing will ever be able to separate us from His love that is found in you. Let us stare down the darkest, blackest, bleakest moments of our life on this earth with full confidence that God has not changed, is not changed, and will not change, and that I will get through this in His Spirit. Amen.
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