Day 41: Psalms 22:1-11
Psalm 22:1 To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? 2O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. 3But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. 4Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them.
Lord Jesus, some people say that You quoted this entire Psalm from the cross. While David wrote this Psalm as an expression of his own spiritual journey, David’s journey was only a shadow compared to the most terrible experience of forsakenness that anyone can know. The Lord Jesus Christ who was perfectly one with the Father for all eternity was in some mysterious way forsaken. He who knew no sin took the punishment for all the sin of all His people for all time on the cross where He suffered and died for all His people! Yet even in His forsakenness, He calls to You!
Lord, I look back in history, the history of the Bible and history since then and I see the struggle in the lives of Your chosen people when they felt alone and forsaken: Noah, Abraham, Lot, Moses and the people of Israel, the period of the judges, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, Elijah, Elisha and more. Even today through the struggles of your people so many have been through the feeling of being forsaken by You. We have cried out to you again and again and You did not seem to respond to our request! We have felt that we cried, but You did not hear.
Yet, O God, because of what Christ has done for us, You never forsake Your people. Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, still You are with us. Though we still suffer and feel forsaken and forgotten at times, we know somehow deep within that God will never forsake us. We groan and long for the resolution of our trials as we have seen in so many of Your children before us. You understand our griefs, our sorrows, our stresses, our weaknesses and even though You never sinned, You understand the temptations and the struggle of sin and sinners against us (Is 53: 3 & 4; Heb 4: 15; 12: 3).
Psalm 22: 5 They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
Lord, I thank You for the testimonies of the believers that have gone before us. Their testimony of Your grace encourages me and those around me. You have not abandoned me nor Your people. You gave them hope despite their weaknesses, their past failures and the vast multitudes aligned against them.
O God there is indeed the great salvation of each of Your children from the penalty of their sin. But there are also many repeated deliverances from the forces of sin and evil against them. Again and again, You have saved them, sometimes when they did not even realize what You had done.
In their deliverance we have hope. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. As You have helped them, so our hope and trust is that You will help us.
Psalm 22: 6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8″He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
O Lord Jesus, You were treated cruelly and You did everything right. You were despised and rejected by men though You did not sin. Lord, when I am mistreated, I know that I am a sinner. In some ways, because I am a sinner, I deserve worse treatment than I have gotten due to my sin. Yet, O Lord, as I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, I also see that there is none righteous except Christ alone.
Jesus felt like a worm because of His mistreatment. Lord, I have felt despised of men. I have had what little goodness I have done thrown back at me and despised. I have been the object of those who gathered in little rooms and conspired against me. I begin to understand what Christ underwent for me. Lord, they ridiculed me. They mocked me. They say that You are not in my ministry.
Jesus, they said to You, if He is the Son of God, then let Him come down from the cross. But because You are the Son of God You would not come down. You chose to stay on the cross to pay for our sin. If You had come off the cross, then there would be no hope for us in God.
O Lord, they have justified their sin. They have mocked our faith in You. They have despised our labors, our faith.
Psalm 22: 9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. 10I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God. 11Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help.
Lord, You brought me to Yourself at an early age. You have helped me and planned for me before I was born. You put me within a loving, godly family. You placed me in a godly church with good and godly teachers. My mother’s prayers and my father’s godly example have been a help and encouragement to me. They taught me and showed me that I should trust in You, rely on You, and serve You. They prayed for me and helped me by Your grace to follow You since my youngest years. When my human father had to be out of town on business, You taught me that You are my heavenly Father who perfectly and truly cares for me. You alone are the perfect Father, though I thank You for a wonderful earthly father. But You alone provide all I need. Be the Father to my children, to the congregation that You have put under my care.
Ultimately, You alone are the one who cares for us. All other help is only secondary and elusive. We are in a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:10-20). Satan wants to accuse us, discourage us, and destroy us (I Peter 5:8-9). All human help is vain unless You are in it. Some may trust in horses. Some may trust in chariots, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7; 33:16-17; Isaiah 31:1). Even our best efforts are nothing unless You have led us unless You are in them to deliver us. You alone can help us and no other.
Growing in Prayer 
Amen! ❤️
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