The Suffering of Being Alone

To be abandoned and left all alone is one of the most dreadful experiences in all human existence. Loneliness can often become so unbearable when you feel forsaken that you feel like you are losing your mind. Prisoners of War have testified that even worse than the torture they received by the enemy was the solitary confinement—being cut off from all human communication and society. In fact, that which makes hell so unbearable is the sense of being utterly forsaken now and for all eternity by God and man. There are no loving human relationships in hell, but only cursing and hating one another in the midst of the greatest agony imaginable. There is no hope of being reconciled with the one true living God in hell. Those in hell are entirely and forever forsaken; whereas, heaven is enjoying the unimaginable blessings of uninterrupted fellowship and communion with the Lord forever and ever.
Why do we find it so difficult at times to stand all alone for the truth of Jesus Christ? To some degree, we fear the rejection and isolation of being all alone. On the other hand, most of us know the experience of going through great temptation, trial, persecution, and affliction at times and knowing that others stood with us and that Christ stood with us. The comfort and encouragement that we were not forsaken, even as we were passing through the valley of the shadow of death, kept us going (even though we may have felt like giving up at times).

The Lord Jesus Christ knew what it was to be forsaken by His disciples, by Israel, and more importantly by His Father. In the passage that is before us this Lord's Day, we shall explore the mystery of Christ being forsaken by His Father.