A soul, lost in pain and disappointment, finds comfort in realizing it isn’t alone. Our tears are validated by a stranger along the way who cries out, “Me too!” In surprise and delight, suddenly, he is no longer a stranger but a friend, a comrade, a sojourner.

No theologian can really tell you for sure what the psalmist meant when he first etched this famous line on paper. Or what Jesus meant when He uttered those words, expressing feelings of abandonment from the Cross as He died. And yet, about one thing we can be certain—these words were written by hearts that felt utterly and completely forgotten by God. Jesus knew His Father, seeking Him desperately in a moment of pure agony, and in the answer, He received nothing but silence.

Why can we find peace in this seemingly disheartening verse? It is because we realize that we aren’t alone in our pain. Feeling let down by the One who simply cannot disappoint seems ludicrous at best. And yet, which of us can look within ourselves and not find, perhaps neatly tucked away, traces of such feelings? Ironically, amazingly, our God knows exactly how we feel, and we can hold to that profoundly beautiful truth.