My God, why have you forsaken me?

While on the cross, Jesus cried out: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 

In other words:

Where are you?
Why have you left me?
Why have you abandoned me?

I think for those who followed Jesus, this could have been the most terrifying and sad thing he could have said. I can imagine them thinking:

Was he just a man after all - not God?
Was he crumbling in midst of pain and death?
Have I put my faith in nothing, a lie?

To yell this out seems very out of character for Jesus. Up this point, he was resolute about going to the cross to die. I would expect that he would at least say it silently to himself in his agony. 

He made sure people heard it.

One thousand years before, King David wrote a number of songs that the Jews sang during the time of Jesus. One of those songs (Psalm 22) starts this way: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 

It describes the crucifixion of Jesus, and states that God is in control. It says people from all over the earth will turn to Him...

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.

Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him - may your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him - those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!

If I were there, maybe hiding nearby like one of the disciples, I would hope to hear something that would reassure me in my doubt. Jesus crying out the start of this song would prompt me to remember the rest of it: This is was the way things were supposed to happen, and people had been singing about it for a thousand years.

It's very easy for me to question my faith - I often do. I think God expects that, and he provides things like this to reassure me that I'm not a fool.

He has done it!