My God, My God why have you forsaken me?
Psalm 22 Lexham English Bible
22 My God, my God why have you forsaken me? Why are you far from helping me, far from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I call by day and you do not answer, and by night but I have no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 Our ancestors trusted you; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 They cried to you and were saved; they trusted you and were not ashamed.
Have you ever felt forsaken or forgotten? Have you ever gone through something so hard and difficult that you have truly come to believe that the Living God has removed His hand from your life and no longer hears your prayers? This Psalm is written by King David. It speaks prophetically of all that Christ would endure during the events of Calvary.
Jesus didn’t have a beginning. He has always been with the Father. He is not created. He is the Son of God. He is God Almighty. All throughout eternity The Father and The Son have been in perfect relationship and perfect unbroken fellowship. Even during Jesus earthly ministry there was never a time until the events of Calvary that Jesus was not in perfect fellowship and intimacy with The Father. But at Calvary all of this would change.
Jesus would cry from the cross My God, my God why have you forsaken me. He cried this as the sin of all humanity was placed upon Him. He who knew no sin had become sin for us. As the sin of the world was placed on The Son and He truly became the sacrificial lamb for sin, The Father turned away. Not only was the heart of The Son broken, but the heart of The Father was broken. But it had to be this way. This is the only way humanity could be saved.
Sometimes we may feel like we call to God day and night and He doesn’t answer. Or we cry out to Him and He doesn’t hear. But we know from His word and His promises that He hears us. When we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. When we seek Him, we will indeed find Him. But David writes these words describing all that Jesus would experience at Calvary. Sometimes we may wonder does Jesus really understand my pain and heart ache and the answer is yes.
God is holy. The word holy means holy, commanding respect, awesome; singled out, consecrated for. holy (pure) — having the characteristics of moral or ritual purity; context often emphasizes one over the other[1] God is set apart. He is holy. He is perfect in moral purity. There is no evil that is found in God. He will work all things together for our good. He is never the author of evil or confusion. Even when hard and difficult things are taking place, God has a purpose in all of it.
In verse four David writes Our ancestors trusted you; they trusted and you delivered them. The word trusted means trust; be confident; unsuspecting; hif. to cause to rely; inspire confidence[2]. The word delivered means escape, be free; bring out, save[3]. God is the one who can be trusted to save and deliver. We can have unshakable confidence in God because He will be the one who will set us free. David based this on what had taken place in the lives of those who had gone before them. It wasn’t merely based on David’s experience with God, it was based on God’s proven track record.
The same stands for you and me. We are not the first ones to walk with the Living God. We are not the first ones that Jesus has called. Yes, the Christian journey can be hard and difficult at times, but there is a purpose in it. God hears us when we pray, and our confidence and trust is based on His faithfulness to His word and His promises.
Those in the past who cried out to God were saved. They trusted and were not ashamed. God will never let us down. He will never fail us. No matter how much the enemy tries to taunt us, every word that proceeds from his mouth is a lie and deception. He simply tries to overwhelm us to the point of quitting. But when we spend time in the word of God daily our minds are renewed, we are transformed, the strongholds of the devil are demolished, greater intimacy with God is built. This is often the result of going through hard and difficult things.
Today I encourage you to continue to pray, to continue to press in. Regardless of how hard or difficult, God is working. He is working in the unseen. He is always working, and He is always faithful. It is often in the hard things where our faith is truly built, refined, and established.
Prayer
Father thank you for the hard and difficult things. Thank you for the trials. Thank you for your encouragement and strength. Thank you that your carry me when I feel like giving up. Thank you that you are always faithful. That you never fail. That what you begin, you will complete. Thank you for how much you love me. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen!
[1]Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
[2]Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
[3]Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
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