Complete trust in the darkest moment in all of history

Much has been written about Jesus words from the cross. There are 7 different sayings recorded in the 4 gospel accounts in the Bible. All of them are significant. 

Great words of grace:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34

Beautiful words of care.

“Woman,[a] here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother." John 19:26-27

Words in fulfilment of Scripture, which are stunning considering Jesus offered living water to those who would come to Him.

“I am thirsty.” John 19:28

Wonderful words of certain hope to one of the thieves who hung beside Him.

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

The words that signalled the completion of the plan that He and has Father made before the beginning of time, achieving salvation for all who believe.

“It is finished.” John 19:30

Words that showed He was in control, the He laid down His life, and that He chose to be obedient to death, even death on a cross.

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Luke 23:46

But the one I want to mention briefly is possibly the most famous.

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). Mark 15:34

But what is it in essence? 

A cry of abandonment? 

A cry of despair? 

A cry of fear? 

A cry of complete trust?

The words are a direct quote from Psalm 22:1. The psalmist is experiencing an horrendous situation in which he feels he has been forgotten, rejected and abandoned by God. 

This feeling is very real. From his view things seem hopeless.

And yet if we read the whole Psalm, the writer goes on to express trust in God despite feeling forsaken. The writer knows Gods character, not just in some intellectual way, but in a real experiential way too and he knows God is faithful to His people. The cry is genuine. The feeling is real. But it is not one of cessation of trust in God.

Some have suggested that Jesus' quoting of this shows that in that moment on the cross the eternal Son ceased to trust His eternal Father, whom He has been in perfect relationship with forever. 

Or even that this was purely the cry of a man, Jesus ceased to be the Son of God at this point.

I think this is dangerous and incorrect when we consider the Psalm in context. 

Jesus, on the cross, models for us complete trust in the darkest moment of His life and the darkest moment in history. Jesus' experience on the cross is beyond anything we can imagine.

Jesus experiences something He's never known before in relationship His Father because He becomes sin for those who trust Him. And yet, Jesus still trusts His Father.

When we read those words we can be truly comforted. 

Those words show us we can trust our Father when absolutely everything in the world is against us, when all around is dark, when we feel alone and overwhelmed. Why? Because He loves us and always has what is best for us. 

Gospel, Gospel, Gospel Care

Once again, a privilege bestowed upon me by my current job.
This time it was receiving some training on "Gospel Care" from Steve Timmis (Founder of the Crowded House in Sheffield and also Director of Acts29 Western Europe, amongst other things).

It was a wonderful reminder that the gospel really is the answer to all of life's problems, and just when you think a problem to hard, too big, too deep or too complicated has arisen, that tempts you to adopt worldly practices, or give up, the gospel remains the one true hope.

One of the main reasons for this is summed up in the following quote: "The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart."
One way to view the whole of the message of the Bible is God saying "Trust me!". Then what we see is that the essence of human sin is failure to trust God.

We spent the first of our two sessions unpacking Hebrews chapter 3 and 4. There we see that human hearts are hard, wandering, evil and unbelieving. This is terminal problem. It requires outside intervention, open heart surgery on a spiritual level.

We always do exactly what we want to do. The desires of our hearts control our wills.
The heart is the control centre of the person; affections, will and actions all flow from the heart. That's why the gospel is such good news because we are given a new heart, and that is what we so desperately need.

Our new heart is in dwelt by the Spirit and He changes us from the inside to see Christ as more beautiful and satisfying than anything this world has to offer. This in turn is the answer ultimately to all of the psychological issues that we have or situations we face. Jesus really is the answer for all of us, not just for Sunday school kids!

So, when we come to caring for others, dealing with pastoral issues and seeking to counsel people biblically, all we really need is the gospel. We need to know it well and be able to apply it. We need to be able to exegete people as well as we (hopefully!) exegete Scripture.

Alongside this teaching day we (as a staff team) are currently reading "How People Change" by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp. So far, an I am only about a third of the way through, it is excellent. It too advocates really applying the gospel to every situation. (why not check out the Christian Counselling and Education Foundation)

My thoughts on this, as my blog sub-heading suggests, are not fully formed and may seem a bit sketchy. There may well be another post on this as I think it through further and finish the book, but suffice it to say I find it liberating and challenging to truly trust that the gospel is really the answer to all of life's issues.

Mumford and Sons - The Cave

It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears and all the
faults you've left behind

The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater you see
But I have seen the same I know the
shame in your defeat

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

'Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth which will
refresh my broken mind

So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
And know my call despite my faults and
despite my growing fears

But I will hold on hope
And i won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence when
you know the maker's land

So make you're siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say

'Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

And I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

So, second song on the album, second blog post about Mumford and Sons and their interesting lyrics.
The opening verses speak poetically of someone facing up to shame and feeling empty inside because of it. But they are walking away from it, somewhere. There is real barren feel to the situation, no food, defeat, shame, emptiness, fears and faults left behind.

Then the chorus speaks of hope and the way the music changes and builds brings that feeling too. Holding onto hope, finding strength in pain, changing ways and waiting for the calling of their name, again, presuming there has been a previous calling and the result of that was positive.

The middle verses again have interesting contrasts, in the midst of sad images of widows and orphans there are tears shed. Despite there being a mind that is broken, the hope of a broken mind being refreshed by the truth is longed for. Not only that but a call is spoken of which is known despite failing and fears surrounding it.

Again the chorus kicks in and is rousing this time. Building on the last one.

The final set of verses speak of knowing dependence when you now the maker's land and needing freedom as well as how to live life the way it's meant to be.

These are not small or insignificant topics. Freedom, life, hope, shame, truth. I think there is much in this song that resonates with the way we experience life. Even if each verse, chorus or line does not directly apply to you as an individual I am sure that you see it around you in people you know.
Where do you find hope when you're empty, fearful and ashamed?
Where do you find strength in pain?
Do you long for truth, real truth that will inspire, refresh and renew your mind?
Do you want to now how life should be lived fully?
Have you experienced true freedom?

If none of those relate to you in any way, I question whether you are being honest with yourself.

The gospel has much to say about all of these things. We are beings created by a loving God. The Bible makes that very clear. Not only that but we are made in His image. Just like an inventor, God knows how His creation works best. So the longing in the song of wanting to know how to live life as it's meant to be can only come from God. He is the only one who can define that. And he doesn't leave us in the dark about it!

The truth that can refresh the broken mind needs to be truth which again can only be imparted from God. We can know true things, we can speak true things, but they cannot renew the mind and warm the heart and change a life in the way the truth of God can. Jesus said he was the truth (John 14) and the Spirit is also the Spirit of truth. We find truth in Jesus. Getting to know Him is the way to truth which will refresh the broken mind.

It is true that our minds are broken too. We are broken people, living in a broken world because we have all rebelled against God, not only in action, but firstly by not loving Him as we should. The problem is between us and God and it needs to be fixed. Only the God-man Jesus can fix it. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy).

Jesus comes to bring life and life to the full (John 10). Jesus bring true freedom to those who trust in Him for forgiveness of sin, which in turn takes away shame, and offers real hope for the future because the future is secure in Him. The freedom He brings is freedom to live the way we were meant to live. True hope is found in a relationship with Jesus. When the song-writer speaks of changing his ways that is all well and good, but we all know if we have tried that, that we can't do it. We always fail. But, the wonderful truth for the Christian is that through a relationship with Jesus we have new life and the Spirit lives in us to change us. We then really can change our ways, because it's done in his strength.

I don't even have time to go into finding strength in pain because there is true contentment in Jesus. But there really is.

As always, any thoughts or criticisms are welcome!