"God Sent You This"

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"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. These were the truly heart wrenching words of God Himself as He hung there upon that cross with my sins upon His shoulders. You may ask why I said that it was God who hung there in torment uttering this cry of desperation. That's because He was and is and always will be God. It's just that at that moment and for thirty-three years prior to that, He was a man. Now, Jesus Christ always has been and always will be God, but for those thirty-three years, He lived here on this earth as a man and He did that with one purpose. That purpose was to take the sins of the whole world upon His shoulders and to die a most cruel death to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. Though He was sinless, I believe it was at that moment that He felt more like a man than He had ever felt. Yes, even Jesus Christ Himself at that moment when He was bearing the burden of our sins, felt forsaken. It is my most earnest prayer, as it is with all the articles the Lord gives to me, that He will use this little article for His glory and as a very real and lasting blessing to all those who will read it.

Now, that was not the first time it is recorded in the Bible that those heart wrenching words were uttered. In the Book of Psalms we read, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from me, and from the words of my roaring?" Psalms 22:1. Yes, these were the words of king David from whose seed Jesus came. King David was not just another king, for he was special to God and God even called him "A man after God's own heart". But he was a man. And he too felt forsaken. He went on to say, "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent." Psalms 22:2.

In one of my earlier articles, I told a story of a little boy who, when the storms came and the lightening was flashing and the thunder would crack to the point of shaking the house, would lie in his bed so terribly afraid. And this little boy's Mother would come into this little boy's room and try to comfort him and to calm his fears. And I told of how that the little boy's Mother would quote scripture to the little boy in attempt to comfort him and how that she would always say, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee". And then I told of how that the little boy would say to himself, "Well, that's a good one to hang on the refrigerator or something, but right now I need something with skin on it". Well, I never said it in the previous article, but that little boy was me. My friend, I believed in God and I believed in the Bible, but at those times I was really and truly afraid I could not, as hard as I tried, see God and I just wanted someone there with me that I could see and touch. I knew my Mother could not make the storm stop or even protect me from it, but I really needed her there.

I also remember when I was a little boy when I had done something wrong and was getting a whipping for it. I made the comment, "It's hard to be good all the time." You see, I knew that my Mother who was doing the whipping at the time loved me, but at that time, I found it pretty hard to believe that she actually liked me. She really did, but I just found it hard to believe at that time. My friend, it is indeed hard to be good all the time and to be really truthful about it, it is impossible. As hard as we may try and as much as we may want to, we all make mistakes and we fail even those we love so much. But if they really love us, they will still actually like us, even though we may not understand or though we may find it hard to believe.

You will notice that I have entitled this little article, "God Sent You This". When we first built this house where my family and I now live, my wife's birthday I bought her a rose bush. Well, recently I cut her some roses off that rose bush and set them on the table in the kitchen. In front of the roses I had put there, I put a note that read, "God sent you these and I love you too!" The roses have since died, but my wife kept the note. My friend, God made that rose bush and those roses, but He so graciously allowed me to be the skin that delivered them.

As a little boy, afraid in his room, I believed in God, but I needed something with skin on it. King David in his time of desperation, believed in God, he was a man after God's own heart, but he could have used something with skin on it. Jesus Christ, as He hung there on that cross under the heavy burden of sin, even though it was your sin and mine, believed in God for He was and is God, but at that moment, He could have used something with skin on it. Let's face it my friend, we all at times need something with skin on it.

All of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour are part of the body of Christ. We are extensions of His life here on this earth. Our primary purpose while here on this earth is to seek out the lost and to lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but that is not our sole purpose. As His body, we are also to serve as skin to the other parts of the body in their time of need. When you drop something on your foot, your first reaction is to rub that part that is hurting. Now, I don't suppose that there has ever been any scientific proof that rubbing has any healing affect, but it is for certain that it truly has a soothing affect and it is sometimes that soothing affect that we as His children need the most.

The world has it's artificial skin that it offers and in one of it's advertisements it boasts, "This bud's for you". That skin, and that soothing affect, just like the world that offers it, is temporal. My friend, I don't know what heavy burden you may be carrying or are about to carry. And I don't know what trial or trouble you are facing or are about to face. And I don't know what fears or doubts you may be having or are about to have. But whatever it is, this article is for you and "God Sent This To You And I Love You Too!" God bless you!