And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’)” -Mark 15:34
There are moments in life when God feels silent. Times when we pray, cry out, or even beg, and it seems as if He doesn’t respond. In Mark 15, as Jesus hung on the cross, He experienced that same silence. With the little strength He had left, He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
He was at His lowest moment—physically broken, emotionally abandoned, and on the brink of death. And yet, no answer came from heaven. But even in the silence, Jesus models something life-changing: He still cried out to God. He still trusted His Father, even when He couldn’t hear or feel Him.
Some may not know that Jesus’s cry to the Father is quoting Psalm 22:1-5 which says: “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.”
Was Jesus, in the fullness of his suffering, directing us back to this truth? Was He reminding us that we can fully trust God, even when we feel abandoned?
Silence does not mean absence. Often times it’s in God’s silence that He is the closest. God was present at the cross. He had not abandoned His Son, and He does not abandon us. We’re reminded in Hebrews 13:5 of God’s promise: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” When we can’t see Him working, He’s still holding us. When we can’t hear His voice, He’s still guiding us.
We see this in the story of Job. He lost nearly everything—family, health, and livelihood—and for much of his journey, God was silent. Yet Job declared in Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Faith shines brightest not when everything is clear, but when we continue to trust God in the unknown.
The cross reminds us that even when God seems silent, He is still working out His purposes. What looked like abandonment on Good Friday was actually the pathway to resurrection on Sunday. If God was faithful then, He will be faithful now.
If we find ourselves in a season where God feels silent? My encouragement is to hold onto His promise: He is with us, even in the silence. May we continue to trust in Him.
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