Psalm 22: 1My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.b 3Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.c 4In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 7All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. 8“He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” 9Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. 10From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 11Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. 12Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 13Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. 14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 15My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they piercee my hands and my feet. 17All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
18They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. 19But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. 20Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. 21Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. 22I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. 23You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 24For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. 25From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear youf I will fulfill my vows. 26The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever! 27All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him, 28for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. 29All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. 30Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. 31They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
Today’s Three Pearls
- My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far….My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest – V.1-2: A great lesson to learn from Jesus when He uttered these words in His dying moments – He cleaved to an afflicting God, a God that was allowing Him to undergo the torture He was under, for a divine purpose. But God did not really desert Christ, He was supporting Him; Although His pleased face was hidden from Him, His omnipotent arms supported Him. The Son cried out in grief and not in doubt; He never doubted the power or faithfulness of the God He cried to. Why? Because He was submitted to the end-goal of God’s purpose in allowing this affliction. We humans usually do not have the privilege of knowing the specific reasons why God allows us to go through our trials, though most have this general idea that it is for our future good. That is a limited view. Just as with His son, the end-goal of our affliction always has to do with God’s own glory. As with Christ, when we submit to that end-goal, we are powerfully supported.
- they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment – v.16-18: It is a good habit to soberly meditate on the minute details involved in the crucifixion and death of our Savior periodically. The agony: the piercing of skin, muscle and bone with large nails, the laceration of blood vessels and tearing of pulled nerves; all this innocent agony for sinful men who would scream in pain and fret about tetanus should they accidentally step on a small carpenter’s nail. The nakedness, the mockery, insults and spitting upon the frail body. Yet, He was largely silent, only following His Father’s script to a T. And what does the average Christian/Follower of Christ do when he is humiliated?
- But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me – v. 11,19-paraphrased: Repeated twice, the plea for a nearby presence of God is instructive. He is not pleading for immediate relief, nor for the most comfortable or nearest presence of God. Just a reassurance that God is near-by somewhere, a sense of His presence, He remains focused on God’s end-goals. And God reassures us too, while His face may be hidden for a season and a reason, His presence is always nearby because His most frequent promise in Scripture is that He will never leave nor forsake us. He is always with us especially when it feels hard to believe that fact.
Ref: Treasury of David
Hilltop Thoughts, Valley Strengths 