Have you ever reached rock bottom? Felt that absolute despair and misery and isolation? Do you remember the weight of it? It felt like there was no-one who could share that burden with you. Your heart was breaking into a million unfixable pieces.
Now imagine that multiplied by every life ever lived. The anguish and pain endured by every person piled onto one tortured life. That was Jesus. That was the blackness of that horrible day. That was his greatest torment. Not the nails that tore through him. Not the thorns that scarred his brow, or the lashes that buried themselves in his back. The heaviest weight and anguish he bore was that of every tortured soul - and the crushing isolation that brought. Isolation from a pure and deep and absolute love that he had always known was there for him. Right then it felt so far from his reach.
It was the greatest battle ever fought - just to have the strength to bear it to the end, and to cry out to God to hold him, even when he couldn't feel him near.
When you feel like God isn't there - that he doesn't understand your struggle - that He never actually was tempted in every way like we are (Heb 4:15), remember Him in these desperate hours. He wore them all. He didn't have to. But He did it so He could drag you out of that pit you're in. You might not feel like He's there, but reach up in the blackness, and He'll pull you free.
