The Psalm of the Cross
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· 11 viewsThere is comfort for us in our deepest hour of suffering in knowing that God has not and will never abandon us.
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Transcript
To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
Let’s pray.
This mornings psalm opens with these familiar words -
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
Most of us know these words very well… but most likely, this string of words is most familiar to us, not because David penned them in this Psalm, rather we know are familiar with them because Jesus prayed these words from the cross.
You You remember the scene…
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
We know a lot about this scene when Jesus quoted these words. But the same can’t be said about the context of this mornings Psalm. We know that David was going through a dark trial where men sought to kill him. We can speculate about what trial David was going through when he wrote these words. Psalm 22 could have been written when David was on the run from King Saul, but he may have also written this when his son Absolom sought to kill him.
While we can’t be certain about this Psalm’s context, this ambiguity has actually served God’s people for thousands of years. For in the darkest hours of anguish, God’s people have prayed these same words.
You see, the psalms were songs that were sung by the congregation of Israel. But these songs were much more than memorable tunes. For thousands of years, the psalms have given God’s people words and language to pray. Such was the case when Jesus prayed these same words from the cross. So as we go though this Psalm this morning, I want us to learn how to pray in during like David the hours of our anguish.
This is a long psalm rather long, so it’s helpful to see the structure of Psalm 22 before we go further.
There are three main parts to this morning’s psalm
Display the structure of the psalm on the screen
Display the structure of the psalm on the screen
v1-10 - David’s conflict
In these verses we are introduced to David’s troubles. But more than this, we hear David’s conflict between what he feels about God and what he knows about God. - Here David will waiver back and fourth between his miserable condition that is felt and God’s kind character that he has known.
v11-21 - David’s complaint
Here David fully lays out his complaint. He lays out his complaint in two main parts… first he will describe the trouble is near to him, and then he will cry out to God’s who is far from him.
v22-31 - David’s commendation
Commendation means to praise someone for what someone has done. At the end of v 21 and through the remainder of the psalm, David’s tone will dramatically shift from lament to praise.
v.1-10 - David’s Conflict
v.1-10 - David’s Conflict
Let’s start at the top of the Psalm… David begins with his internal conflict. As we go through these verses, pay attention how David waivers between what he feels about God and what he knows of God.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
David’s prayer doesn’t begin with a request, nor doe does he start by giving glory to God for his goodness. David’s prayer begins by describing David’s confusion. Psalm 22 shows David to be a man who is perplexed by the mystery of God’s failure to act oh his behalf.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Do you hear his tension in these words? - Dad starts his prayer, not to God in the vague sense, but he addresses his prayer to his God. God belongs to David, and yet his God is nowhere to be found. It would make sense if for God to be absent if David had done something wrong. But David appears to be suffering innocently. This is very unlike what David expected from his covenant keeping God.
David Continues,
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
Does God answer prayer? Because he isn’t answering David’s prayer. And notice that David is persistent in his prayer. Crying by day and by night… but David has recieved no answer from God nor any rest.
I wonder how many of us feel like God has forsaken us this morning. Earlier we were singing of God’s faithfulness to us, when we sang,
He will hold me fast, he will hold me fast, for my saviour loves me so - he will hold me fast.
But some of us aren’t so sure if God really has us in his hands this morning... some of us, like David, might not be so sure that God loves us at all, because it feels like God has abandoned us and has caused for evil to overtake us.
If that’s how you feel today, imitate David in his prayer… pray to your God, for he is your God… pray to the Lord as your God for you belong to him and he belongs to you. The Lord, he is my God.
Furthermore, whether we feel downcast or not, we ought to pray with persistence. We live a world that gives us instant gratification.
If we have a question, we can have the answer in seconds thanks to the internet and our smart phones.
If we need something for our home, we can have it shipped to our front doors within twenty four hours.
If we want to rent a movie, and we don’t even need to leave our house anymore, we just pull open one of a dozen streaming services right to our tv.
We must learn how to be patient and persistent in prayer just as David was.So if you feel abandoned by your God, and if you feel like he does not hear your prayers, whatever you do, don’t stop praying. But instead continue to call on him as your God.
But don’t stop there… David certainly didn’t. David goes on to preach to himself even in his prayer.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
Here is the first time we see the conflict that is going on in David’s prayer… he feels one way about God - he thinks that God has forsaken him and that his prayers are not heard. But immediately after his pessimistic feelings about God absence, David goes to what he knows about God from the praises of his people.
David said that God’s holiness is enthroned on the praises of Israel. In other words, David goes back to the songs that the people sang that spoke of God’s holy character that was unlike any other. The songs of described God’s faithful character.
“In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.”
If God delivered David’s fathers before him, then certainly God will do the same thing for David.
“To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”
David cries, but he doesn’t believe God hears him… but when Israel cried out to God he he heard them and rescued them.
God delivered Israel in the past. Surely he will do the same for David. But David quickly returns back to his grief, for he doesn’t think that he is worth comparing to Israel let alone any other man. Listen to how David puts it -
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
God has delivered Israel in the past… but David feels like less than a man let alone one of the people of God. He calls himself a worm. He thinks himself to be a pathetic creature that crawls in the dirt because he is despised by everyone. The people stuck their tongues out at David and nodded their heads in disapproval. If men think so little of David, why would God think any different?
But David is not done fighting for faith.
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
David knows better than to call himself a worm. He is a man who was made in the image of God. And furthermore, the Lord sustained David in the weakness of his infancy.
It’s an amazing thing, that a baby can survive birth. They are so small, and so fragile. And yet their life is created and sustained by God. God was faithful to David in the past when he was at his weakest. Surely God will sustain David and deliver him yet again.
Are you downcast today? Learn how to pray like David. Learn to call upon your God for deliverance. Learn to remain persistent in prayer. And if you are confused by God’s silence, be encouraged by David’s own perplexity as to the mystery of God’s silence towards him.
And if you are throughly confused by your trials, and if the mystery of God’s absence has head spinning in circles, do what David did. Go to what you know about God. Go to the God’s unchanging attributes that he has revealed to you!
Go to these attributes by singing the songs that speak of God’s holy character. Singing songs of praise to our God is a great weapon against Satan’s schemes. Don’t stope here…
Remember God’s faithfulness to the generations from the past - we can remember God’s past faithfulness by meditating on the timeless stories from the Scriptures, but we don’t have to stop there. Read Christian biographies and hear about how God answer the prayers of the saints. And do more than this as well. Talk to other brothers and sisters and hear the testimonies of God’s faithfulness to them in their own time of need.
But don’t even stop there! Recount God’s faithfulness to you in the past as well. Think about how God has revealed himself to you. Recount the joy of your salvation that you had when you first received the gospel. Recount all the amazing ways in which God has provided for you and sustained you throughout the years of your life. And if you can’t think of anything, if there is nothing that comes to mind of how God has been faithful to you in the past, do what David did. Think back to your birth, and recognize that the only reason you are alive today is because God has given you life. Each and every one of us can do that much.
Yes, God’s ways can be mysterious. But his character does not change. Use what you know of God in your wrestling when you are perplexed by the mysteries of God.
But whatever you do…
Don’t listen to your heart. David’s feelings and emotions are all over the place in this psalm. His feelings, my feelings, and your feelings all make for terrible counselors. So “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Prov 3.5
Let’s learn to pray like David when trials come our way.
David transitions in this next section to laying out his complaint before God.
v.11-21 - David’s Complaint
v.11-21 - David’s Complaint
In these verses, David is not longer wavering back and forth between fear and faith. But he lays out his case before the Lord. Before we begin dig into this section, we should recognize that David’s complaint takes the form of poetic description. So these encounters that David describes are not to literal. Rather David uses word pictures do describe the power and violence of his enemies as well as his broken state.
But before we get into the poetic language, we can understand main thrust of this entire section by looking at v11.
11 Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
V11 is the counterpart to v 1. At the top of the Psalm, David was perplexed that God was not with him. And here in V11 we hear Davids first request, that God would be not far from him.
So notice, David’s complaint in the positive and the negative form here. Troubles are near to David while God’s help is far from him.
V12-18 will further develop Davids troubles that are near
while v 19-21 will develop his cry for help to the Lord who is far off
Listen to David as he lays out his troubles
12 Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
At the start of this section, David describes his trouble with his enemies. His enemies are compared to wild animals, that of strong and sturdy bulls of Bashan, and a ravening and roaring lion. Again, it’s worth noting that David is using poetic language…
This is poetry… and we should read these verses the way David intended it to be read.
If someone asks you if you take the Bible literally, the answer to this question isn’t as simple as saying yes… Instead, we should read the Bible literally when it is the authors intent to be taken literally.
But David does not intend to be taken literally here. David said, “they obey wide their mouths at me, LIKE a ravening and roaring lion. Note the word like here indicates that David is using a simile…
Here’s the definition of a simile - a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.
If someone were to say that your smile is like a sunbeam, that doesn’t mean that you your smile can shine a light in the darkness or emit heat in the cold. It simply means that your smile is bright and cheerful.
David continues this poetic imagery with the use of similes, this time focusing on his broken and poor estate.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
Again, this is figurative language here. But poetry allows us to get a better sense of how desperate David’s condition is.
And then David returns again to the subject of his enemies again
16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
Remember from v 11, David said that trouble is near to him. So David will ask the Lord to come near to deliver him from this danger.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
David used same poetic images from earlier describing his enemies, but this time in reverse… He asks the Lord to save him from the sword, the dog, the lion, and the oxen. But we know better than to think that animals are carrying these swords as weapons. Rather, David is describing men who are acting more like wild animals.
This is what sin does. It makes men turn into beasts. Men do wicked and evil things that go against what is good, right and decent.
So when we are afflicted by our enemies, be it the sin of man, or perhaps our affliction is all together different, may we learn to go to God in prayer just as David did. For those who say that they trust God, but then do not go to him in prayer prove that their trust is in fact elsewhere.
Paul says it this way,
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Our God hears our prayers, so do not let a day go by where you do not make your requests known to God. Do you doubt that the Lord hears your prayer? Well hear it from our Lord,
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
David went to the Lord as his God… we have a far more intimate relationship with our God, for he is our Father. So go to him and know that he knows how to give his children good gifts.
Do you still doubt that God hears your prayers? Does praying feel like you are beating at the wind? Know that David felt the same way in this psalm. For he cried out to his God;
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
So does God hear the cries of his people? According to David in his midst of his misery, the answer is no. But as I said earlier, you can’t trust your feelings, or even David’s emotions in his hour of trouble. Because even in this one psalm there is an apparent contradiction going on. If you haven’t noticed it yet, let me point it out to you.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
v. 20 is in the present tenses when he says, Save my soul from the sword,
v 21 is in the present tense again, when he says “save me from the mouth of the lion.
But then in the second half of v21, the tense shifts from the present tense to the past tense.
You HAVE RESCUED me from the horns of the wild oxen!
It’s as if, in the midst of David’s prayer, God drew near to him and rescued him from his trouble.
v22-31 - David’s Commendation
v22-31 - David’s Commendation
Commendation means praise, but it means more than just that. Commendation is the public form of praise before others who need to recognize the work that one has done.
God’s rescue lead’s David to his praise God before the congregation of Israel.
Listen to the tune of David’s praise -
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
When God answers prayer we ought to speak of it… tell others of the faithfulness of your God. And rejoice and be glad and sing a song to the Lord!
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
When God answers the prayers one person, it fuels praise for the entire congregation!
So church, hear these words of David and praise the Lord! Give him glory and honor, for he has done a great thing!
And what is it that God has done?
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
David has completely changed his tune. Earlier, he said that God did not hear his prayers. David thought that God had forsaken him. If you feel alone today, do not listen to your heart, for it will only make you sick. But instead hear the Word of God, for he has given us many promises.
5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
And our Lord’s final words were the same when he said
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So when face trials of various kinds, we recognize this;
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
This is why Psalm 23, the very next psalm that we are looking at this morning, says,
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Preach these words to yourself;
So praise the Lord all you who fear him! Praise the Lord here and now, just as David did when he was among the congregation of Israel.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
But God’s praises aren’t just limited to Israel;
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
All the people of the earth, both past, present, and future will give praises to God, because he has done a great thing.
So church, let the prayer and praise of David become your prayer and praise as well. Pray like David did in the dark hour of the night. For this has long been the prayer for those who feel abandoned by God. Which brings us back to where we began. That of our Lord’s example when he used this prayer in his darkest hour.
But when Jesus prayed this prayer, there was far more going on than when David, you or I pray this prayer. Let me explain.
Hopefully by now, we recognize that David spoke wrongly about the Lord forsaking him in v1. But David’s inaccurate words about God was no mistake. You see, David’s inaccurate feelings regarding God, and his poetic expressions of his affliction serve another purpose.
David’s poetic expression serve as a prophetic enumeration of the cross of Christ. Let me explain what I mean when I say this Psalm is a prophetic enumeration.
Prophetic - David is describing something that will happen in the future
Enumeration - to list something out one by one
David lived one thousand years before Jesus was born. This Psalm was written one thousand years before Jesus died hung on the cross. But when Jesus died on the cross, David’s words appeared again. But this time, they appeared not as words on a page, but as history that took place at Calvary.
David wrote,
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
Do you see your Savior treated like the worst of criminals. The great I AM treated like less than a man.
David wrote,
16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
Do you see the nails pierced your saviors hands and feet on that day when he was hung the cross?
David wrote,
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
Do you see your savior there on the tree? His flesh pulled from his bones? His enemies staring at him and mocking him outside of the city gates?
David penned these words,
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But on that hill history happened
35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.
David penned these words,
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
But on that hill history happened
39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads
David penned,
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
And on that hill, history happened
43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
And again, David penned,
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
But when Jesus Christ was on the cross, he cried out with a loud voice,
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
But make no mistake, there was no poetic expression in Jesus’ prayer. When Jesus cried out to his Father, he did not misspeak or wrongly accuse God of abandoning him. Jesus Christ on the tree drank the full cup of God’s wrath. Our Lord, who has always enjoyed the fellowship of the Father, was all alone for the first time in history.
What a mystery this was, that the sinless Son of God was forsaken by his Father who loved him.
Behold your savior on the tree and praise him.
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
Do you feel like God has forsaken you today? Listen to the Word of God.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Do you feel like the Lord has abandoned you? Consider this and believe it;
Jesus sympathizes with your suffering. He knows what it is like to be alone in the darkest hour of suffering.
But more than this, know that you are not alone. Jesus was forsaken by God so that you wouldn’t be.
So come near to the throne of grace with confidence. For he hears the cries of his people, and he will give you mercy and grace in your time of need.
Let us go throne of grace in prayer and then we will sing praises to our God, for he has done it.