Forsaken
Text: Psalm 22:1-22
Core Idea: Christian lament is how we bring our sorrow to God. In our pain, we can wrestle in prayer, for Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of Psalm 22, was forsaken so that we would never be forsaken by God. Then, let’s turn to Christ today, knowing that He will lead us to sing again.
INTRODUCTION
Today, we’ll take a break from our current sermon series and look at Psalm 22 as a way to prepare ourselves for Easter. Psalm 22 is a psalm for those who are suffering – it’s a psalm of lament. Mark Vroegop writes, “Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God – it’s how Christians grieve. Without lament, we miss out on the opportunity to learn important truths about God and our world. Without lament, we won’t know how to process pain.” And yet the sad reality is that many of us don’t really know how to grieve in a way that honors God. As a result, we often find ourselves angry and bitter or discouraged and crushed whenever we encounter pain – all the while experiencing this raging storm in our hearts. In fact, that was me. Many years before God gifted us with Eli, Alicia and I went through a miscarriage. It was a painful experience, to say the least. I was devastated. But the doctors told us that it happens to everyone – that it’s just a natural part of life. So, I began to suppress my pain even though I was filled with sadness – I stopped grieving. But the real challenge came after this. For two years, Alicia and I could not get pregnant. Disappointment and discouragement consumed our hearts – and even though I was trying to deny all my feelings (especially my frustrations), questions started to surface: “God, why can’t we get pregnant? Is there something that I’m not doing? Should I pray more, read my Bible more, give more, serve more, exercise more? Is there something that I shouldn’t be doing? Should I stop drinking coffee? Is something in my life displeasing You? What should I do? Why are You letting this happen? Where are You in all this?” Friends, some of you may be experiencing what Alicia and I went through. If so, my heart goes out to you – and I would love to talk to you. So, please don’t hesitate to reach out. But even if you didn’t go through something like this, we’ve all gone through suffering and pain that make us feel like we’re drowning – in fact, you may be going through that right now. You or someone you dearly love may be battling an illness. You may be feeling utterly lost with parenting. You may be hanging by a thread – not to give up on your marriage. You may have been unjustly treated. You may have been misunderstood. You may have been sinned against by someone – and you’re left feeling manipulated, ashamed, or angry. You may feel hopelessly burdened because it seems there’s nothing you can do to change your circumstances. Whatever the case may be, it’s tormenting your heart – but you haven’t lamented because you don’t know how. If this is you, I pray that you’ll have ears to hear this message because, without lament, our pain and suffering can easily derail and lead us astray from God. My prayer for you is that this psalm will give you a voice to your silence and shine light in your darkness. We can lament because we have a God who understands our pain – He will hear our cries.
One more thing: the relationship between this psalm and Palm Sunday. As you know, Palm Sunday is the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem to fulfill His mission. It was a glorious moment as people waved palm branches and shouted, “Hosanna,” which means “save us or salvation is here.” People recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the One who would save them, though they didn’t realize that Jesus came not to rescue them from physical oppression through a war against Rome, but to revive them from spiritual death through His own death on the cross. In other words, underneath Jesus’ triumphant entry was this deep sorrow, lament, and heaviness in His heart – knowing what this day would lead to. He would be betrayed, beaten, and killed for our sins. The first verse of this psalm may be familiar to you because Jesus cried it out on the cross. In fact, Jesus deliberately chose these words to describe His agony on the cross – which means that we won’t fully understand the implications of this psalm unless we see it in light of Christ, and we will. But before we do that, we should first see this psalm from the perspective of the author, King David, because it will help us better connect it to the gospel story. Then, with that in mind, please turn to Psalm 22:1-22 – let me read this for us.
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.
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Let me point out three things from this passage:
· PAIN
· PRAYER
· PRAISE
1) PAIN
Verse 1 begins rather abruptly, with a desperate cry: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me?” This comes to us as a shock because the one who’s crying out here is none other than David himself. Think about it – the one who was called a man after God’s own heart was now questioning God because he felt forsaken by God. Feel the language here. David was deeply troubled that God seemed far removed from what was happening in his life. God was silent. He felt as though God had abandoned him. Listen to how Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile describes forsakenness: “Forsakenness is loneliness and let down that includes a sense of betrayal. Imagine the groom dressed in his tuxedo, awaiting his bride. While expecting to see her dressed in white, slowly walking down the aisle, he learns that she left him at the altar. That’s forsakenness. An expectation, a longing, a hope, completely shattered. Forsakenness is to be cast off, abandoned, deserted, and walked out on.” David felt that he was the forsaken one. David was struggling hard – not just with his own trials, but also with God. Injustice was one thing, but God’s lack of intervention was a deeper pain for him. He just couldn’t understand why God had deserted him – and this thought began to crush his soul. Friends, have you ever felt like this before? In fact, do you feel like you’re forsaken by God right now? Do you feel like He’s far from you? Do you feel like you’re not being heard? I think every believer can relate to this at some point in their lives, especially when there seems to be this inconsistency or discrepancy in what we see in the Word and the world around us. For example, God promises that He’ll be with us always – but at times, we feel alone. We know that God wants the best for us – but at times, we wonder how He could allow some things to happen in our lives. There are no secrets that we haven’t confessed. We haven’t neglected to study God’s Word or pray. We haven’t strayed from the community – but we feel forsaken, forgotten, and ignored. If this is you, I pray that the Spirit will minister to you through this psalm. I don’t know exactly why God is allowing this to happen, but I know for sure that He hasn’t forsaken you. He’s with you. He’s grieving with you. How do I know this? Because God hasn’t taken this psalm out of the Bible. The fact that this kind of language is part of the Bible teaches us that these feelings shouldn’t be dismissed as if they’re sinful. In one sense, God is giving us permission to feel this way.
But at the same time, this psalm shows us the right way of struggling through our pain. David may have felt like God was forsaking him – but he wasn’t going to forsake God. Do you see that? Just look at the wrestling that’s happening in this psalm. Verse 1, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me?” Verse 2, “I’m restless in heart.” Verse 3, “But You’re still holy, God. And You alone are worthy to be praised.” Verse 4, “Isn’t this why our ancestors trusted You? And they were delivered.” Verse 6, “But why aren’t You helping me, God? Why are You ignoring me?” Verse 9, “But knowing that You’re the One who gave me life, I’m going to trust You, God. I don’t know how. But I’m choosing to believe that You’ll take care of me.”
What’s going on here? Well, it shows us that David was fighting for God. He was basically saying, “With everything going on, I do want to give up – but I’m not going to give up. I’m going to trust the Lord, for the Bible tells me that God will rescue me. I know – I still feel like I am abandoned. But who else can I turn to? He’s all I’ve got. I’m going to hope in God again and again.” Pastor Mark Vroegop writes, “Lament is the honest cry of a hurting heart wrestling with the paradox of pain and the promise of God’s goodness. Belief in God’s mercy, redemption, and sovereignty creates lament. Without hope in God’s deliverance and the conviction that He is all-powerful, there would be no reason to lament when pain invades our lives. Rather, we should be quick to give up – we have no other option but to be in despair. Therefore, lament is rooted in what we believe. It’s a prayer loaded with theology. Christians affirm that the world is broken, God is powerful, and He will be faithful. Therefore, lament stands in the gap between pain and promise.” Brothers and sisters, it’s okay to struggle through our pain – but this struggle should also draw us closer to God and His truth, not away from Him. Then, struggle in the Word – and struggle with Him.
2) PRAYER
If you read this psalm carefully, you’ll quickly notice that David struggled with his pain through prayer. His anguish led him to pray because, despite his feelings of forsakenness, he still clung to the truth that God was listening to his cries. Because he chose to question the lie (that God has forsaken him) and believe the truth (that God, indeed, is with him), not the other way around (questioning the truth and believing the lie), David desperately turned to God again and again. In our suffering and pain, the biggest problem is not that God stops talking to us – it’s that we stop talking to God. Now, I understand why we wouldn’t want to pray. It could be because we think that nothing will change or that God won’t hear us. But we must recognize that this is exactly what the enemy wants. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Satan desires to devour you. He doesn’t want you pouring out your heart to God. He doesn’t want you searching the Word for truth and consolation. He wants you to lose your trust in God. He wants to isolate you so that you’re all alone. Pastor John Beeson said, “One of Satan’s favorite lies is to tell us that no one understands: no one understands our temptation, no one understands our pain, no one understands what we are going through. Like lions separate weak prey from the pack, Satan loves to isolate the injured.” Why is Satan so eager to draw us away from God? Because God alone is the source of our joy and life – He alone is our hope and strength. Satan knows this – which is why he will do everything he can to take your mind off of God. Then, let me ask you, “Do you know this? Do you know that you are in desperate need of Him?” If so, I invite you to cry out to Him today, for He alone has the power to rescue and sustain us.
Now, let’s observe how David prayed so that we may learn from him. Three things. First, he prays his questions. In verse 1, we see two questions that many of us often wrestle with: (1) “Where are you, God?” (2) “If You love me, why is this happening?” It’s comforting to know that we can come honestly before God with all and any questions. We don’t have to pretend like we have everything together. We don’t have to figure everything out before we come to the presence of God. No, He wants us to come to Him with our doubts. Again, if this were not okay, God would’ve taken this psalm out of the Bible because it’s not setting a good example. So, come to God with honesty. He wants to hear from you.
Second, he prays his pain. Listen to how David described his pain to God. In verse 12, he felt threatened and intimidated. In verse 14, he felt physically and emotionally dry, exhausted, and empty. In verse 15, he felt like dying. In verse 16, he felt lonely because he had no friends to encourage him. In verse 17, he felt humiliated. And in verse 18, he felt stripped away – powerless and helpless. Friends, do you relate to his pain in any way today? Then, know that it’s okay to pray these things to God. Be specific. Rather than allowing his painful circumstances to rule him, create bitterness or great despair, David laid out his afflictions before the Lord in a very descriptive way. Why is this important? Because unspoken frustrations can grow and unknowingly push us further away from God. But our pains, honestly expressed in our lament, will push us closer toward God, as it did for David.
Third, he prays for help. It’s interesting to see that by the middle of this psalm, David was no longer asking, “Why?” He stopped demanding God to answer his questions – instead, he began to ask for God’s help. Verse 19, “LORD, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.” This is incredible because his lament moved from the “why” questions to requests based on “who” – “Come help me, for You are my strength.” Then, trusting who our God is, in your pain, pray – tell God your questions, the depth of your pain, and your need for Him.
3) PRAISE
One of the benefits of understanding the original language of the Bible is that you see the things that are not reflected in our English translations. In fact, there are two things I want you to see from verse 21. First, the order. In Hebrew, verse 21 is ordered this way: “Rescue me from the mouth of the lions and from the horns of the wild oxen, save me.” The Hebrew word for “Save me” is located at the end of the verse to emphasize this point. This is important for David. Second, the tense. In Hebrew, the tense for the word “Rescue me” is hifil imperative, while “Save me” is qal perfect. What does that mean? This means that a better translation of the word “save me” is actually “You have saved me.” Then, let me rephrase this verse again: “Rescue me from the mouth of the lions and from the horns of the wild oxen, You have saved me.” After pouring out in agony, all of a sudden, David declares that God has answered him – and he enters into this delightful celebration. It’s unfortunate that this crucial turn is hard to see in the NIV – but those words, “You have saved me,” completely change the course of this psalm. Then, we can’t help but ask, “How was he delivered? What happened? Did his enemies get what they deserved? Was it instantaneous or more of a gradual process?” Well, David doesn’t tell us because that’s not important – what’s important is that God did rescue him and that it led him to praise God. Verse 22, “I will declare Your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise You.” Mark Vroegop says, “Lament is a path to praise as we are led through our brokenness and disappointment. The space between brokenness and God’s mercy is where this song is sung. Think of lament as the transition between pain and promise. It is the path from heartbreak to hope.” Friends, God hears our prayers. He will answer – and He will save. I don’t know how, but He will – and you will sing again. So, turn to Him in your pain. You are not forsaken.
Now, I do want to address something that’s interesting – it’s that the descriptions of David’s pain in this psalm depict a public execution. This is interesting because we know that David was never publicly executed. Then, what’s going on here? It could mean that his pain was like that of a public execution, which I think is true. But I think it also means that as David was reflecting and meditating on his pain, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he must have gotten this prophetic insight into a greater David who was going to go through a greater suffering, a greater abandonment by God, and yet a greater deliverance. Derek Kinder writes, “No Christian can read this psalm without being vividly confronted with the crucifixion.” David’s assumptions were wrong – God hasn’t forsaken him. God wasn’t far from him. God was there through his troubles. And God certainly was his strength. But not so with Jesus.
Up until the crucifixion, many things happened to Jesus. He had been flogged, beaten, mocked, and betrayed – He had thorns driven to His head and nails through His hands and feet. Now, let me just read a portion of this psalm once again. And I want you to read it in light of Christ – see how these words uttered a thousand years before perfectly describe what Jesus went through: “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. ‘He trusts in the LORD,’ they say, ‘let the LORD rescue him. Let Him deliver him, since he delights in Him.’ 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. 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. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” With pierced hands and collapsing lungs, Jesus fulfilled Psalm 22. These had been the desperate words of David, who felt as though he was being executed. Now, the sinless Son of God was the One truly being executed – and yet through it all, this excruciating pain, He was quiet. Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.” But there was a point when that silence was broken. Listen to Matthew 27:46, “About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?’).” Jesus, who was silent throughout, suddenly cried out – literally screamed. His silence was broken because He was experiencing something infinitely worse than physical suffering – He was forsaken by God Himself.
Now, why is it important for us to see this psalm in light of Jesus’ suffering on the cross? Remember verse 21? David declared, “You have saved me.” But the truth is that though God may have saved David at that moment, it didn’t mean that he never experienced pain again. In fact, David’s life had constant ups and downs. Yet, in Jesus, this declaration became true eternally. In order to make sense of this, we need to acknowledge that the biggest problem of mankind is a sin problem. The Bible tells us that all of us have turned to our own way. Yet the Bible also tells us that God, who loves with an everlasting love, pursued those who were running away from Him, and He laid on Jesus Christ the iniquity of us all. Jesus bore the wrath reserved for you and me. And in His death, the justice of God was satisfied completely, once and for all, so that we may be forgiven and made righteous. Jesus’ death is how God ultimately answered David’s and all of our questions: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Jesus was forsaken so that we would never be forsaken. He has saved us eternally. And this is why we can have hope even in our deepest darkness – He suffered this agony on the cross so that we might sing.
Then, how can we apply this truth to our lives today? First, be comforted by Jesus’ love for you in your pain. We understand that Jesus humbly and joyfully faced His death. But why? Why did Jesus empty Himself so willingly? Why did He go through this great condescension so gladly? Because of His love for us. John 13:1 says, “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” This is what Dane Ortlund says about this verse, “John’s point is that in going to the cross, Jesus did not retain something for Himself, the way we tend to do when we seek to love others sacrificially. He does not love like us. We love until we are betrayed. Jesus continued to the cross despite betrayal. We love until we are forsaken. Jesus loved through forsakenness. We love up to a limit. Jesus loves to the end.” Brothers and sisters, do you feel forsaken by God? Are you tempted to give up, stop trusting God, and stop depending on God because you feel forsaken? Let this truth comfort you: Jesus loved you to the end – and He will continue to love you to the end. Even when we feel like turning away, He will never let us go. God will always be with us because that’s what Jesus’ death accomplished for us – we would never be forsaken. He suffers with you. He grieves with you. And He is with you today.
Second, pray for those who are suffering. The truth is that we have many people who are suffering in this community, but some of them may be ready to give up because their pain feels unbearable, because they don’t have the faith to stand, or because they’re just exhausted. Friends, they need you. Then, I invite you to grieve alongside them. I invite you to wrestle in prayer on their behalf. In fact, even if you are still going through trials of your own, stand with them. I understand how difficult that is. But just as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands so that he could continue to pray, I pray that we will learn to carry each other’s burdens. My prayer for all of us is that we will become a community that “mourns with those who mourn” (Rom. 12:15) – being devoted to one another in love and being faithful in prayer.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Christian lament is how we bring our sorrow to God. In our pain, we can wrestle in prayer, for Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of Psalm 22, was forsaken so that we would never be forsaken by God. Then, let’s turn to Christ today, knowing that He will lead us to sing again.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Have you ever felt abandoned by God? What did that season feel like for you? What does it look like in your life to struggle with God but not walk away from Him?
2) Have you experienced times when pain caused you to pull away from prayer? What helped you (or would help you) start talking to God again?
3) How does Jesus’ cry on the cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” change the way we read this Psalm? What does it mean for you, personally, to believe that “Jesus loved you to the end”? How might that change the way you face your pain today?
4) Is there someone in your life who is in a season of pain? How can you walk with them in prayer and presence this week?