Psalm 22 - Cries of Anguish

Today we find ourselves in these ‘in between days’ between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. We stand in between remembering Jesus’ much welcomed arrival into the city of Jerusalem and his brutal execution, five days later, upon a lonely cross.

The Old Testament part of the Bible points forward to the life and mission of Jesus. It is the Old Testament which helps us to understand who Jesus was and what He came to accomplish. Psalm 22, which we are reading today, is a key Psalm in helping us to grasp what happened at the time of the first Easter.

The Psalm opens with a cry of dereliction and abandonment:

‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

So far from my cries of anguish?’

This person is a believer (they cry ‘My God’) but they are caught in a moment where they feel completely abandoned by God. They cry out but find no rest (vs 2), they have grown up with stories of God rescuing His people but they are not experiencing this (vs 3-6). Worse than this people who see them are mocking them, insulting them and taunting them with questions (vs 7-8) of ‘where is God in the middle of all of this?’ 

The Psalmist is tortured by all of this. All his life he has trusted God (vs 10) but at this moment his heart is melting away within him (vs 14).

The more we read this Psalm they more we realise that this Psalm points forward not just to the coming of Jesus, but to the experience of Jesus. On the first Good Friday Jesus was mocked and insulted, taunted by those who asked Him why God wasn’t rescuing Him (Matthew 27 vs 39-44). On the cross Jesus cried out ‘My God, my God why have you forsaken me?’ (Quoting directly from Psalm 22).

This Psalm ends with the hope that God will not ultimately abandon those who cry to Him (vs26). How can this be? On the cross Jesus took our place. God did abandon Him, so that we need never be abandoned. Jesus experienced the full pain of Psalm 22 in our place. He is the One who today says to all who trust in Him: ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ (Hebrews 13 vs 5)

Prayer: Lord Jesus you suffered the abandonment of your Heavenly Father upon the cross. Thank you that you tasted of this in my place. Even when I feel abandoned thank you that I am not abandoned and You will never leave or forsake those who trust in you.