Psalm 22:1-31
I cry out, but You do not answer
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.
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.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the LORD,” they say,
“let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
19 But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
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.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
David in this Psalm, asks God when he cries out, why doesn't the LORD answer him...David asks why is He so far from saving him?...He asks My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?...Jesus also asks God that very question when He was dying on the cross (Matthew 27:46)...
I think this is a feeling many of God's believers have...Some may have this feeling of when we cry out, why doesn't God answer us, and answer us immediately...Most of the time King David was confident that God was near him...David led a successful life...But David's life also included difficulties, temptations, and sin...Many of the great believers have had this feeling...Job, Moses, John the Baptist, Mother Teresa, King David, and even Jesus, when He was on the cross...At times in our lives, especially the difficult and suffering times we God is so far away, that He will not give us that answer we currently need...And when we are really down, we may even ask Him, why has He forsaken us...
Why doesn't God just help us understand these tough things?...Then I could move on...
We often ask, why didn't I get this, why didn't I get that job, why am I sick, why I am poor, God where were You when this was going on in my life...It is good to clear the mind and heart of painful feelings...Life does move on, as does faith...God is listening...He is there...He was there, with you in your difficult times...It is good we understand that God is not going to give us everything we want, even though we may only want a few things...It is good that we will never understand all the things the God knows...He wants us to seek Him, and ask about Him...He wants you to learn from these difficult times...He wants us to learn from the times, we think He is hiding...Also we must remember during our especially difficult times, we cannot count on our own understanding...Like Job realized, there are certain things only God can understand...We must understand that there are things we will not understand...And this is where faith comes in...For those things we do not understand, we must trust in the LORD...Trusting in the LORD is a sign of your faith...God sees this...He understands...Faith is hoping in the LORD, when we do not understand...