Why Have You Forsaken Me?

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Scripture: Psalm 22:1-2 (NIV)

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from my cries of anguish?

2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.

 

Devotion:

 

            No Christian can read the opening lines of this psalm and not be confronted with Jesus’ cry from the cross in Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46. It is no wonder that this psalm is considered a messianic psalm. The cry of pain and abandonment simply fit no situation in David’s (the psalm’s author) life. A cry from a cross is the only thing that fits these words. Even though crucifixion was not devised and a method of death for several centuries after this psalm would have been written.

 

            Psalm 22 goes on to affirm that David’s ancestors cried out to God in their pain and God heard their pleas for help. Israel’s history is full of such examples. From Noah’s faithfully building an ark when there seemed to be no reason to build a boat in the midst of a desert. Think of the cries of Daniel in the den with the lions. God always seemed to answer when His children were in dire need. Why was God so far from helping David as he faced his trouble? Indeed, why was Jesus able to voice the same complaint from the cross at Golgotha as he faced death.

 

            The cry from the cross resonates with many Christians in our modern world. Not so much in the West but in the global south where many are persecuted to death for their faith in Jesus. These brothers and sisters put their lives on the line every single day for Christ. We in the west may face ridicule and possible cancellation from our job and our social contacts but that pales in comparison with what other Christians in far flung corners of the world endure.

 

            Yet Psalm 22 does not end without giving hope. In the end all the nations will bow before the one they have hung upon the cross. Great celebrations will be had in His honor. All of His shame will be exchanged for glory and honor. That is the great Christian hope. Out of death, life will arise and triumph. Mourning will give way to dancing and all flesh shall see it together. Here are some encouraging words from Psalm 22:27-28 (NIV)

 

27 All the ends of the earth

will remember and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

will bow down before him,

28 for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. 

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