Why Have You Forsaken Me?

From the Salvation Army, you're listening to Wonderful Words of Life. Welcome back everybody. This is the day that the Lord hath made.

Yes. Amen. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Happy Easter to all of you that are listening to this episode. Christ the Lord is risen today.

He is risen indeed. This is our final episode of our Easter series with Ken and Amy Argot. We're so grateful for them. And I hope that their story has been a blessing to you. And if you're currently experiencing a mental health crisis, I pray that their story has given you hope.

I second that share. We are truly grateful to the Argots for sharing their hearts and their testimonies with us. In this episode, we study some of the final moments in Jesus's life. There are times, especially when experiencing a period of depression that we may ask, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And you know what, Bernie? It's okay to ask that because it's important for us to realize that just because we're Christ followers doesn't mean that, you know, we put on a mask like everything is okay in our lives, right? I mean, there are real serious situations that we're going through, that people go through as Christ followers. And it's important for us to know as Christ followers that it's okay to not be okay.

And that Jesus understands exactly where we are. I mean, that's the beauty of the gospel that He understands because He went through it. He went through rejection. He went through pain.

He went through His closest friends betraying Him, right? And so He understands that. He comes alongside of us and He helps us to heal, right? And so you know, it's really important to know that if you're not feeling all of this celebration and the feelings again, are not of celebrating the Easter season, don't feel bad about that, but understand and know that Christ meets you where you are.

Amen. And He sees you and He wants to bring you to a place where those feelings match the reality and the truth of what He has done for you on the cross. From a biblical perspective, we go to James chapter one, verse three. And this is hard to grasp, particularly in crisis, but it says, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance. The thing is, I don't want to go through the pain to get to the victory. A lot of us just want the victory. But the reality is there is sin in the world. We're sinful people. And we have to, when we are going through those trials, when we've made it through those trials, we can come alongside other people and help them through similar situations. We're not alone.

Absolutely. Jesus went through the same thing in the garden. Do you remember when He said, Father, if this cup can be taken from Me?

He didn't want to go through it either, but He knew the victory on the other side was so worth it. And that victory is ours today through Christ Jesus. Amen. Well, happy resurrection day to you and your family. We hope you have had a wonderful weekend.

If you've enjoyed this series, please share it with a friend. You can have them subscribe to Wonderful Words of Life on their favorite podcast store or visit us at salvationarmysoundcast.org. And we'd love to hear your thoughts on this series and your prayer requests.

So send us an email at radio at uss.salvationarmy.org or call 1-800-229-9965. God bless you. God bless you. I'm in His hand. The days I cannot see have all been planned for me. His way is best.

You see, I'm in His hand. God bless you. The Salvation Army has launched a new podcast. The Storyteller series is a daily podcast where we read a chapter a day from a book in the Bible, followed by an engaging and entertaining conversation about the chapter with a group of friends. In the first season of the show, we studied the Book of Luke. And beginning Easter 2020, we'll be reading the Book of Acts.

Subscribe to the Storyteller series on your favorite podcast store or visit salvationarmysoundcast.org. Happy Resurrection Day. So you mean Easter, right? Yes, Easter. I don't like Easter.

What? You know, okay, so bear with me. Like, I don't enjoy Lent. I don't know that anybody enjoys Lent. And then you have all the gory stories about Jesus through Good Friday, and Easter reminds me of a time where I have to dress up, get up insanely early in the morning, dress up in a leisure suit, which was itchy, drive all the way to Baltimore, and, you know, celebrate in a long, long service that does not have good memories for me. That's interesting, because Easter has wonderful memories for me, including Good Friday. I remember Good Friday, that for the most part, my mom was not working or she was off that day.

And we would prepare ourselves that morning to go to Good Friday service at noon, and then be there for a couple hours. But there's also this picture book that my mom would put out. And it was a seasonal book. And there was a picture of Jesus dying on the cross. And I remember, I have that book, actually, she's given it to me. But I remember even as a little girl looking at that book and feeling just so sad that I couldn't do anything to help Jesus. And my mom tells me the story that I look up at her and say, why could they not put a band-aid on Jesus to make him feel childlike faith? And then, of course, Easter Sunday was, yeah, we got up early, but I'm a morning person.

So maybe I started young with that. But Easter Sunday morning, we got up and I'm from a peninsula. So sunrise service was always on the water, literally watching the sun come up. So you and I have two different views, memories of Easter.

Well, maybe I have a little bit too much PTSD going on. Because again, Easter now as a pastor is somebody has to get up and set all that stuff up before six o'clock. You know, you can't just go out there and enjoy the sunrise over the water. There has to be all this stuff that has to happen in coming up to Easter and Good Friday services, and I know churches are probably more busy during this week than any other time, and it just becomes a stressful time.

Okay. Well, let's dive into what we want to share today. Well, I think that's what we do want to share is this issue that for Easter and the victory of the resurrection is not a feel good to everybody, because we live in this world of the kingdom is here, but not yet. And sometimes we think that while Jesus is all the answers to our problems, Jesus doesn't fix everything and make us glorified on Easter Sunday. Yes, he is the answer to all of our problems. We're not stuck. We're not stuck in that false narrative that we have been telling ourselves over and over again. And when we find ourselves in that valley, it's okay.

It's that it's a time that God is working in us, with us, through us, and his grace is sufficient for us. The bad circumstances are not going to go away, but Jesus promises to walk through with his grace, and that's sufficient, even in the midst of our weaknesses. When I think about Hebrews chapter 11, after the writer of Hebrews has went through all the stories of faith, it says, I could tell stories of more and more people about how many great things they did, but then it ends with, others were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers, flogged while still others were chained, put in prison. They were stoned, they were sought in half, they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them.

They wandered in desert and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground. They were commended for their faith, yet none of them even received what has been promised. For God plans something better for us so that only together with us they would be made perfect. And then you get in the great line, since we're surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and let us fix our eyes on Christ.

I remember the cloud of witnesses that came around me, and they gave me permission to feel what I was feeling, to experience it, and also permission and encouragement to walk through it. And so today, Ken and I want to be that for you. God has created us with purpose, despite the circumstances, and every day with Jesus, you can do it. So happy Easter, after all.

Yes, happy Easter. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support, and we would love to hear from you. Email us at radio at uss.salvationarmy.org. Call 1-800-229-9965 or write us at P.O.

Box 29972, Atlanta, Georgia, 30359. When you contact us, we'll send you our gift for this series. It's totally free for listeners like you, one per household, while supplies last. You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes or your favorite podcast store and be sure to give us a rating. Just search for Wonderful Words of Life. Follow us on social media for the latest episodes, extended interviews, and more. And if you don't have a church home, we invite you to visit your local Salvation Army worship center. They'll be glad to see you. This is Bernie Dake, inviting you to join us next time for the Salvation Army's Wonderful Words of Life.