Jonathan's Bible Study Site

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me,
and from the words of my roaring?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not;
and in the night season, and am not silent.

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
They cried unto thee, and were delivered:
they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

But I am a worm, and no man;
a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn:
they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him:
Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint:
My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd;
and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws;
and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
For dogs have compassed me:
the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me:
they pierced my hands and my feet.
I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
They part my garments among them,
and cast lots upon my vesture.

But be not thou far from me, O LORD:
O my strength, haste thee to help me.
Deliver my soul from the sword;
my darling from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion's mouth:
for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

I will declare thy name unto my brethren:
In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Ye that fear the LORD, praise him;
all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him;
and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Neither hath he hid his face from him;
but when he cried unto him, he heard.

My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation:
I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
The meek shall eat and be satisfied:
They shall praise the LORD that seek him:
your heart shall live for ever.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD:
and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
For the kingdom is the LORD'S:
and he is the governor among the nations.

King James Version

This scripture reading is chilling to me when I read it in the context of the story of the Crucifixion. In this psalm, King David, centuries before, records words from God of what it will be like to be the Son of Man rejected by his countrymen, to be nailed to a cross, to have water pour out from a spear-pierced side, and to know that even in that horror, God rules over all!

And just think - those standing there at the cross were so wrapped up in their anger and self-righteousness that they missed it! We know that the religious leaders, and most of the people, knew the Psalms so well that they could have recited Psalm 22 in their sleep. They could have joined in as Jesus, in Matthew 27:46, started quoting this psalm in his cry "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?".

But they didn't.

They didn't even hear what he said.

Some of them even thought he was calling for "Elias," the dead prophet Elijah! They were so caught up in themselves and their self-appointed cleansing of their human-created religion, that they didn't even catch what he was saying.

Of the many lessons in this Psalm, the one that speaks to me most is how ignorant we, too, can be of God's message:

Jesus told his disciples in four Aramaic words that his death was foretold and that God would conquer all -- and they mourned the loss of their leader.

Jesus declared his victory with those four words to his oppressors as they stood mocking him -- and they instead celebrated the death of the man that threatened their authority.

Jesus tells us with four simple words that no matter how bad we think we have it, no matter how much worse our situation gets, God will still be Ruler of All! Do we miss that message, too?

Comments? corrections? suggestions?
Please email me at jon@jmbiblestudy.com.

Meditations:

Psalm 22:1-8, 14-28God Always Hears

Psalm 22:1-8, 14-28
God Always Hears