Never alone

Last week we talked about how we all have a cross we must bear. However, God is good and gracious to us. I’ll say that I am surrounded by my friends’ children every week and they are just the best. I am their aunty and I get weekly cuddles and get to chase them around and hang out with them. My brother had a baby who is turning 1 next month and her smile just makes my heart smile. So I may not have kids of my own but my life is full. God is a good God. He always makes a way to fill the spaces in our lives and bring fulfilment from unexpected places.

Taking up our crosses would be impossible if God just folded His arms and watched us from heaven. But praise God we have a hands-on God who walks beside us and with us. I am sure He, 99.9% of the time, carries the cross for us which is why we sometimes forget just how weighty it is! Whatever God is asking you to do, He empowers you to do it. The cross is suffering, but God sits with us in our suffering and He heals and restores and helps us to keep putting one foot in front of the other as we head towards heaven.

This week we are going to look at another aspect of the cross. The cross was emotional turmoil. Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, talk about betrayal! As though that were not enough, Jesus was stripped and hung on a cross naked. Talk about humiliation. The cross took away Jesus’ dignity. It took away His reputation. The thief mocked Jesus to save Himself. The Son of God, now fighting for His final breaths on the cross. The cross took everything and Jesus was willing to give it.  It is no different for us. Taking up our cross means we lay down everything. Yes, everything.

The cross was emotional turmoil. Imagine the rejection Jesus must have felt from the people He came to save. From His family. From His friends. Peter, one of His best friends, denied Him 3 times! The other disciples scattered and hid in the shadows, and worst of all, no one spoke up for Him when the crowds yelled, “Crucify Him!” Imagine that.

Not one person spoke up for Him. No one from His family, disciples or thousands of people He fed with the 3 loaves and 2 fish. Not even His friend Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead. Not one of the thousands He healed and/or delivered from demonic torment, nor even the crowds that followed Him everywhere and were singing Hosanna when He came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. When the crowds yelled, “Crucify Him!” Not one person said, “Hold on, wait a minute!!” There was silence. He was utterly alone. Jesus felt every bit of it. Yes, He was fully God, but He was also fully human and experienced pain and suffering in the way we do. That would have broken His heart long before He got to the cross.

Taking up our cross means sometimes we are going to have to walk through some seasons alone. Sometimes the people we would expect to walk with us in that season may be the reason why we are in that season! Yes, the same people who screamed “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday, showed up a few days later and yelled, “Crucify Him!” That is not always the case, sometimes people may have their own stuff happening or they may not agree with the direction we feel God is taking us. It doesn’t matter how we get there, but at some point in life we may find ourselves in that space. Where we feel utterly alone. Maybe you are being accused of something you did or didn’t do or you are just walking through a difficult situation but the silence from where you expected support feels loud. Jesus understands.

Jesus knows how that feels. In addition, Jesus felt abandoned and rejected by God. Mark 15:34 says, “About three o’clock, Jesus shouted with a mighty voice in Aramaic,  “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”—that is, “My God, My God, why have you turned your back on me?”” But this was because He was carrying all our sins. He faced the abandonment and rejection that was meant for us. Papa God turned His back on Jesus so He would never have to turn His back on us. Does that mean people will not reject or abandon us? Nope, but it means we have a Saviour who never will and who also understands exactly how it feels when that happens.

God’s promise to us is that even when it feels silent and like no one has our back, even when everything feels dark or even lonely, He will never leave nor forsake us. Taking up our cross and following Jesus means there may be some seasons where we may have to do the journey alone. But we know God is still with us.

His grace is sufficient and His mercies are new every morning. I have been mindful lately, with the craziness of life, to pause and remind myself that I have grace for today. So yes, tomorrow’s problems seem insurmountable, but when I get there, I will have what I need to get through it. If you are feeling overwhelmed at the cross you must bear, just take it one day at a time. Just one foot in front of the other, knowing you never have to do it alone. God’s got you.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano