For the leader; according to “The deer of the dawn.” A psalm of David.
I
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why so far from my call for help,
from my cries of anguish?
My God, I call by day, but you do not answer;
by night, but I have no relief.
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the glory of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted and you rescued them.
To you they cried out and they escaped;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
But I am a worm, not a man,
scorned by men, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they curl their lips and jeer;
they shake their heads at me:
“He relied on the Lord – let him deliver him;
if he loves him, let him rescue him.
For you drew me forth from the womb,
made me safe at my mother’s breasts.
Upon you I was thrust from the womb;
since my mother bore me you are my God.
Do not stay far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is no one to help.
II
Many bulls surround me;
fierce bulls of Bashan encircle me.
They open their mouths against me,
lions that rend and roar.
Like water my life drains away;
all my bones are disjointed.
My heart has become like wax,
it melts away within me.
As dry as a potsherd is my throat;
my tongue cleaves to my palate;
you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs surround me;
a pack of evildoers closes in on me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet
I can count all my bones.
They stare at me and gloat;
they divide my garments among them;
for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, Lord, do not stay far off;
my strength, come quickly to help me.
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the grip of the dog.
Save me from the lion’s mouth,
my poor life from the horns of wild bulls.
III
Then I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the assembly I will praise you:
“You who fear the Lord, give praise!
All descendants of Jacob, give honor;
show reverence, all descendants of Israel!
For he has not spurned or disdained
the misery of this poor wretch,
Did not turn away from me,
but heard me when I cried out.
I will offer praise in the great assembly;
my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.
The poor will eat their fill;
those who seek the Lord will offer praise.
May your hearts enjoy life forever!”
IV
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord;
All the families of nations
will bow low before him.
For kingship belongs to the Lord,
the ruler over the nations.
All who sleep in the earth
will bow low before God;
All who have gone down into the dust
will kneel in homage.
And I will live for the Lord;
my descendants will serve you.
The generation to come will be told of the Lord,
that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn
the deliverance you have brought.
Psalms 22:1-32
Wow, there is a lot going on here. Nothing like a psalm that instantly takes us to the cross! I’m not implying that I think the psalmist was prophetically predicting the passion of our Lord. But the ancient Scriptures, and especially the psalms, are quoted throughout the New Testament for any number of reasons.
I am not an expert in theology or in Biblical studies, so I can’t be the one who explains why Psalm 22 seems to have so many references to the passion and death of Jesus on the cross. I am just going to take this as a prayer today that brings the central ideas of our faith to mind.
What if they “mock me” or “shake their heads at me”? Jesus endured the same for me. Later in the psalm, he laments that “They have pierced my hands and my feet” and “they divide my garments among them; for my clothing they cast lots.” Again, these are all things that Jesus suffered for me.
Whatever the reason for so many parallels to our Lord’s passion, I am reminded that no matter how I suffer, Jesus understands. He has literally been there. Of course I can turn to Him to lament my troubles because he understands. Jesus came to earth and willingly experienced it, Himself
We all have moments of suffering in our lives, and sometimes we feel like the psalmist in the first part of this psalm, lamenting the dangers he perceives in his life and crying out to God for help. But notice, he does continue to cry out to God, even though he just expressed his feelings of abandonment. Maybe it’s okay to tell God that we feel abandoned from time to time.
There is another thought in my head as I consider Psalm 22. This post is coming out on what would have been my dad’s 83rd birthday. As I am thinking about the message here, I am reminded how much I would love to be able to run this past him before posting it to all of you. He was the first theology teacher in my life, and I loved talking to him about matters of faith.
I hadn’t thought about it before today, but I think he would like the fact that I chose to create this blog. I think he would love to give me ideas and talk through my posts before I put them out there. Today, I think he might point out that I need to get around to the good news of this psalm.
The psalmist shifts, as is often true, to a message of praise. We can follow along as the psalmist gets his feelings of abandonment off his chest and then realizes how lucky he is that God “heard (him) when (he) cried out.” He shares his joy with all of us saying, “May your hearts enjoy life forever!” Have we learned yet to work through our problems with God like that?
That is the way my dad taught me to think about my faith. God is with us when times are tough, if we can learn to see Him. I was so lucky to have my dad with me on earth for almost the first four decades of my life, to turn to him with my laments before I learned to turn to God. In many ways, that is how he, as my earthly father, gave me the model for how to talk to my heavenly father. Today, I believe the psalmist is also trying to help us learn that lesson.