Unforsaken

 This week's verses are the whole of Psalm 22:

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
I groan in prayer, but help seems far away.
My God, I cry out during the day,
but you do not answer,
and during the night my prayers do not let up.
You are holy;
you sit as king receiving the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted in you and you rescued them.
To you they cried out, and they were saved;
in you they trusted and they were not disappointed.
But I am a worm, not a man;
people insult me and despise me.
All who see me taunt me;
they mock me and shake their heads.
They say,
“Commit yourself to the Lord!
Let the Lord rescue him!
Let the Lord deliver him, for he delights in him.”
Yes, you are the one who brought me out from the womb
and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.
I have been dependent on you since birth;
from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Do not remain far away from me,
for trouble is near and I have no one to help me.
Many bulls surround me;
powerful bulls of Bashan hem me in.
They open their mouths to devour me
like a roaring lion that rips its prey.
My strength drains away like water;
all my bones are dislocated.
My heart is like wax;
it melts away inside me.
The roof of my mouth is as dry as a piece of pottery;
my tongue sticks to my gums.
You set me in the dust of death.
Yes, wild dogs surround me—
a gang of evil men crowd around me;
like a lion they pin my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones;
my enemies are gloating over me in triumph.
They are dividing up my clothes among themselves;
they are rolling dice for my garments.
But you, O Lord, do not remain far away.
You are my source of strength. Hurry and help me!
Deliver me from the sword.
Save my life from the claws of the wild dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lion,
and from the horns of the wild oxen.
You have answered me.
I will declare your name to my countrymen.
In the middle of the assembly I will praise you.
You loyal followers of the Lord, praise him.
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him.
All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him.
For he did not despise or detest the suffering of the oppressed.
He did not ignore him;
when he cried out to him, he responded.
You are the reason I offer praise in the great assembly;
I will fulfill my promises before the Lord’s loyal followers.
Let the oppressed eat and be filled.
Let those who seek his help praise the Lord.
May you live forever!
Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to him.
Let all the nations worship you.
For the Lord is king
and rules over the nations.
All the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship;
all those who are descending into the grave will bow before him,
including those who cannot preserve their lives.
A whole generation will serve him;
they will tell the next generation about the Lord.
They will come and tell about his saving deeds;
they will tell a future generation what he has accomplished.

When Jesus was on the cross, he quoted the first verse of this Psalm. If we follow along, we can see some parallels with his crucifixion in there, and some encouragement in how things turn out. Even though these verses were written by King David long before Jesus found himself on the cross, they seem to go side by side.

The Psalm starts off in a bad place. David feels like God has forsaken him. Why? Because his life is miserable and he prays and prays endlessly without any visible results. Have you ever found yourself wondering if you've been left all alone? Wondering if God has a grudge against you? If so, you're not alone. Even King David found himself in that place.

But on the cross, when Jesus quotes it, it's beautiful, not bitter. It's almost as if he's winking at us, saying "I know what it's like, being tormented without recourse." He, and we, and King David are all side by side in our suffering. He gets it. He lived it and suffered for us.

After venting about his crappy life, David turns to talking about how holy God is, how praiseworthy he is, and how reliably he has come through, all throughout recorded history. Do we do that when we vent about our crappy lives? If things aren't going our way, do we still see the holiness of God? Do we still see how good he is, and how reliable he is? I think a lot of us skip this part of our prayer and just stick with the complaining!

Then David talks about being tormented and mocked. Wasn't Jesus also tormented and mocked before and during the crucifixion? And didn't they also say to Jesus "ask God to rescue you?" Whenever we're bullied, or when people mock us for our faith, we can know that even King David was in that position sometimes. And Jesus suffered like that too.

So then David talks about how God has been with him since he was born. Do we recognize his lifelong involvement in our lives? Do we date our connection with him to the day we decided to become Christians? Do we recognize that everything has depended on him from the beginning?

David talks about his bones being dislocated. Jesus' bones were dislocated on the cross. David says the roof of his mouth is dry like pottery. Jesus suffered thirst on the cross. David says he's surrounded by a crowd of evil men. Jesus was surrounded by evil hostile men before and during his crucifixion. He says that his hands and feet were pinned by them. Jesus' hands and feet were pinned to the cross by nails. David said that people were gloating and casting lots to divide up his clothes. People cast lots for Jesus' clothes. It's like a play-by-play of suffering!

And now David brings the whole thing home. God has answered his prayers. He talks about the same group praise we talked about in weeks past. He wants everyone to gather together to celebrate that God has answered. God did not despise or ignore the suffering of the oppressed!

Towards the end he makes an interesting statement: "All those who are descending into the grave will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives." That's powerful! Even people who didn't choose him, for whom it is too late, will still be so impressed by him that they will bow before him. Wouldn't it be better to bow now, when we can still choose him for eternity? We see that with the thief on the cross next to Jesus who chose him even though he couldn't escape death.

So next time you're having a rough day or week or season, consider this Psalm and the suffering Jesus endured for us on the cross. He understands. He is worthy of our praise and devotion. And we should choose him, even if we can't change anything else in our circumstances.