He has not forsaken you! He will not forsake you!

Introduction

I Psalm 22 is a Psalm of extreme anguish and lament. When we examine the words of this Psalm one thing is abundantly clear the psalmist the writer of this song is not having a good day up. The Psalm is a Messianic psalm that explores themes of suffering, abandonment, faith, and ultimate victory. The Psalm foreshadows the experiences of Jesus Christ . It begins with expressions of despair and feelings of being forsaken, transitioning to a powerful declaration of triumph, deliverance, and victory.

In our own seasons of suffering and despair, we must learn to lift our anguish to God and trust His promises, remembering His past faithfulness, and knowing that even when we feel abandoned, He is still present. In Christ, we see that God does not waste our pain, He walks with us through it, and brings hope from it. This is the heart of Psalm 22, and it leads us to this central truth:

Central Message (Slide)

In times of suffering and despair, we should express our anguish to God knowing we can trust in God’s promise of deliverance. We should remember Gods past faithfulness, and know that he is present even in suffering, and remains faithful through hardship. He ultimately gives us hope out of our anguish through Christ's suffering and victory.

This is the central message of our sermon today.

Transition Statement

This central truth, that God is present even in our suffering and brings hope through Christ, comes into sharp focus in the psalmist's opening words. Before the victory, before the triumph, and before the deliverance, there is deep, sorrow and lament.

Psalm 22 doesn’t begin with victory, it begins with an outpouring of grief and confusion. And so, as we walk through this psalm, we begin where the psalmist begins: with a cry of despair.

Body

A Cry of Despair (Slide)

Illustration

Imagine a woman, Lets call her Carol; who has walked closely with God for years. She’s not just someone who goes through the motions of faith—she genuinely loves the Lord. She reads her Bible not out of duty but desire. She prays with sincerity, not just when life is hard, but because she treasures communion with God. She strives to live a life that is pleasing to Him—showing kindness, serving others, walking humbly, pursuing righteousness.

She isn’t perfect, but she’s faithful. She wants her life to reflect the heart of God.

And yet now, she finds herself in a cold, quiet hospital room, holding the fragile hand of her child. The doctors have said there’s nothing more they can do. She’s prayed—oh, how she’s prayed. She’s begged for healing. She’s believed. She’s hoped.

But heaven feels silent.

In that moment, through trembling lips, her faith still clinging to God by a thread, she whispers, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

She doesn’t say it in rebellion. She says it in relationship. She believes—yet she feels abandoned. She trusts—but she cannot sense His presence.

This is the voice of Psalm 22. David’s cry isn’t the cry of someone who’s turned from God—it’s the cry of someone who knows Him, loves Him, and yet feels the pain of His apparent absence.

Exposition

Carol represents so many believers, people who love God, strive to honor Him, walk in obedience, and yet still face moments when God feels distant. Psalm 22 reminds us that these moments are not signs of weak faith, they are part of the journey of faith.

People process feelings of abandonment and despair in different ways, but Psalm 22 teaches us this truth: God invites us to be honest in our pain. Lament is not unfaithful—it’s faithful. It means we still believe God is listening, even when He feels silent. (slide)

Let’s examine the words of David in Psalm 22:1–2. These verses capture what many of us have felt but have been afraid to say out loud:

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.

This is not polished or sanitized faith, this is raw, unfiltered grief. The Psalmist feels as though God is absent. Notice how personal his plea is: “My God, my God.” He still believes. He still calls on the God. But that relationship feels strained under the weight of suffering.

The Psalmist isn’t accusing God, he’s searching for Him. He’s asking the questions that suffering people ask:

Where is God when it hurts? (slide)

Why doesn’t He respond when I need Him most?(slide)

Honest lament: The Psalmist feels abandoned.

A feeling of distance from God.

Transition Statement

Psalm 22 doesn’t end in despair.

When the present feels dark, we can look to the past. When God feels distant, we remind ourselves of when He was near.

That’s what the Psalmist does in verses 3 through 5. And it’s what the woman in the hospital room begins to do.

Remembering Past Deliverance

Illustration

Sitting in the stillness, still holding her child’s hand, Carol remembers.

She remembers how God provided for her when she was a single mother with no income and no place to stay. She remembers the time her son had nearly drowned and survived, how the doctors said it was a miracle. She remembers when she thought her marriage would fall apart, but God restored it. Tears still fall, but now they fall with something else, memory. The pain is still there, the fear is still there, but now there is also hope.

Now Carol’s heart whispers something new—not just “Why have You forsaken me?” but “You were faithful then… maybe You are still faithful now.”

What’s happening in that hospital room is what often happens in the life of faith. The pain hasn’t gone away. The situation hasn’t changed. But her perspective is beginning to shift.

She’s still grieving, still uncertain—but now she’s remembering.

That act of remembering becomes a lifeline, it doesn’t cancel the sorrow, but it brings it into context. Her story isn’t just shaped by the suffering of the present, it’s anchored in faithfulness as she remember the blessing of the past. God has been faithful. God has delivered before. God has answered the cries of His people.

Exposition

Listen to how David expresses this shift, starting in verse 3:

Psalm 22:3–5 NIV

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Notice the contrast, the psalmist poured out his anguish, but now he says, “YET” That word is important. It shows us that lament and faith can coexist. Grief and trust can walk hand in hand.

The pain is acknowledged

Gods Sovereignty is acknowledged (3)

Transition Statement

The Psalmist doesn’t stop with remembering past deliverance, he presses further. In verses 19 through 31, we see a turning point in the psalm. The cry of abandonment gives way to a declaration of confidence, hope, and praise. This is exactly what Carol stars to realize.

God Did Not Forsake Them

Illustration

She’s still sitting by her child’s bedside. The future is still uncertain. But something inside her has changed.

She remembers God’s faithfulness in the past. She remembers how He carried her when she couldn’t carry herself. And in that moment—through the silence, and pain, she senses something holy.

Peace. A presence. Not the absence of suffering, but the nearness of God in the midst of it.

She still doesn’t have all the answers. She still doesn’t know how this chapter of her story will end. But she knows this: She is not alone.

God is with her. Right there in that hospital room. In her anguish. In her waiting. In her tears.

And it dawns on her, deep in her soul: God did not forsake her. God will not forsake her.

Psalm 22:19 NIV

19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

Psalm 22:23–28 NIV

23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 24 For 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. 25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. 26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever! 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

The Psalmist sees God was listening the whole time. He had not turned His face away. He had not forsaken Him. Now the Psalmist can say not only that God was faithful to the ancestors, but has been and is faithful to him. God did not forsake him, He will not forsake him.

Public Praise and Testimony

Global Worship and Future Generations: The psalm looks forward to a time when "all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD

God Is Our Hope and Deliverance (slide)

We’ve have followed the Psalmist on a journey, from despair to praise. We’ve heard the cry of abandonment, the remembering of past faithfulness, and the realization that God never left.

And now, as the psalm closes, we come to see the full picture: this isn’t just a psalm about pain—this is a psalm about hope. (slide)It’s about a God who meets us in our suffering, who hears our cries, who walks with us in our anguish, and who ultimately delivers. He dose not always deliver in the way we expect, but He always delivers according to His perfect plan.

From Carol’s hospital room to Psalmist lament, and ultimately to Jesus on the cross, Psalm 22 points us to one unshakable truth: God is our hope. God is our deliverance, He dose not forsake us, he will not forsake us.

Application

As we step back and look at Psalm 22, we find: this is more than a psalm of pain — it is a testimony of trust. A song of suffering that turns into a proclamation of praise. And it shows us how to walk through our own seasons of anguish with honest faith.

People process their feelings of abandonment and despair differently, Psalm 22 reminds us that even in our darkest moments, we can trust in God’s faithfulness.

God invites us to bring our cries to Him. We don’t have to hide our pain or clean it up before we come to him (ugly cry slide) We can pour our pain out in prayer. Lament is not a sign of weak faith; it's what faithful people do when life breaks them open(slide).

We don’t lament alone. **God sees our suffering. He hears our cries. And through Jesus—who took up the very sins on the cross—**He enters into our suffering with us. He walks alongside us. Jesus was forsaken so that we would never be.

In our hardship and suffering we can ask Is God refining something in me? Is He revealing something I need to surrender? Is He drawing me closer through this pain?

Even in the middle of our, hardship, even when there are no clear answers—we can still worship. Not because we ignore the pain, but because we trust in God's presence, God's goodness, and God’s deliverance.

Psalm 22 ultimately shows us: God’s faithfulness extends beyond your present circumstances.(slide) He is writing a bigger story. A redemptive story. A resurrection story.

So when you feel forsaken—cry out to God. When you feel forgotten—remember His faithfulness. When you feel broken—look to the cross, and know that your hope is not in vain. (slide)

He has not forsaken you. He will not forsake you. God is our hope. God is our deliverance. (slide)

Conclusion

As we close, let’s remember the journey we’ve taken through Psalm 22.

We began with a cry of despair—the psalmist’s raw, honest lament: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We saw that even faithful people can feel abandoned. But God invites us to bring our pain to Him—to cry out in faith, not in rebellion.

Then we looked at remembering past deliverance. The psalmist anchored his faith in the history of God’s faithfulness—not just to himself, but to the people of God throughout generations. And we learned that when the present feels dark, we must look back and remember that God has delivered before.

From there, we saw that God did not forsake them—and He has not forsaken us. The psalmist moves from lament to confidence, from confusion to praise. The same God who heard the cries of the afflicted still listens, still delivers, and still reigns over the nations.

Finally, we ended with the truth that God is our hope and deliverance. Not just in theory—but in real suffering, in real pain, and in the real hope we find in Christ.

And if you’ve forgotten everything else today, remember this central message:

In times of suffering and despair, we should express our anguish to God knowing we can trust in His promise of deliverance. We should remember God’s past faithfulness, and know that He is present even in suffering, and remains faithful through hardship. He ultimately gives us hope out of our anguish through Christ’s suffering and victory.

As we come to the end of Psalm 22—and this message—I want to return to Carol’s story.

We first met her sitting in a cold hospital room, holding the hand of her child, praying through tears, and crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In her anguish, she felt abandoned. Heaven was silent. But she didn’t let go of her faith. She didn’t walk away. She prayed. She wept. She remembered.

She remembered how God had been faithful to her in the past—how He provided when she had nothing, how He rescued her family, how He carried her when she had no strength of her own. And through the remembering, her heart began to shift.

No, the pain didn’t disappear. The questions didn’t all get answered. But in the quiet of that room, she realized something sacred: God had not forsaken her. And He never would.

maybe you’re like Carol. Maybe you’ve walked with God. You’ve tried to live a life that honors Him. But now you’re in a place where heaven feels silent. You’ve prayed. You’ve cried. You’ve begged. And still, you’re asking: “Where is God?”

But like Carol, maybe today is the day you remember. You remember how God carried you before. You remember how He never left you—even when it felt like He had. And in the middle of your pain, you sense something deeper than answers—you sense His presence.

Cry out. Remember. Trust. And you realize, like Carol did: God did not forsake me. God will not forsake me. He is my hope. He is my deliverance.