Psalm 22: Hear Me!

We encounter this psalm in one week as we mark Good Friday.  The first verse gives voice to a sense of abandonment that many of us have felt in one point in our lives, of being alone and wondering where God might be.  The psalmist, in offering up this lament, like Jesus who echo these words, reminds us that part of the life of faith includes doubts.  But it also involves engagement and an element of blind trust in our Creator.  Read on and the confidence that the author of these words has in the steadfastness of God is breathtaking and inspiring.  It offers us encouragement and support as we move through the dark periods of our lives, a reminder that while God may seem far, he is always by our side.

1  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *
and are so far from my cry
and from the words of my distress?
2  O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; *
by night as well, but I find no rest.
3  Yet you are the Holy One, *
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4  Our ancestors put their trust in you; *
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5  They cried out to you and were delivered; *
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
6  But as for me, I am a worm and not a man, *
scorned by all and despised by the people.
7  All who see me laugh me to scorn; *
they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
8  “He trusted in the LORD; let him deliver him; *
let him rescue him, if he delights in him.”
9  Yet you are the one who took me out of the womb, *
and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.
10  I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; *
you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.
11  Be not far from me, for trouble is near, *
and there is none to help.
12  Many young bulls encircle me; *
strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
13  They open wide their jaws at me, *
like a ravening and a roaring lion.
14  I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint; *
my heart within my breast is melting wax.
15  My mouth is dried out like a pot-sherd;
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; *
and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.
16  Packs of dogs close me in,
and gangs of evildoers circle around me; *
they pierce my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
17  They stare and gloat over me; *
they divide my garments among them;
they cast lots for my clothing.
18  Be not far away, O LORD; *
you are my strength; hasten to help me.
19  Save me from the sword, *
my life from the power of the dog.
20  Save me from the lion’s mouth, *
my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.
21  I will declare your Name to the community; *
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
22  Praise the LORD, you that are God-fearing; *
stand in awe of the LORD, O offspring of Israel;
all you of Jacob’s line, give glory.
23  For the LORD does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;
neither is the LORD’s face hidden from them; *
but when they cry out, the LORD hears them.
24  My praise is of God in the great assembly; *
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship the LORD.
25  The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the LORD shall give praise: *
“May your heart live for ever!”
26  All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to God, *
and all the families of the nations bow before the LORD.
27  For sovereignty belongs to the LORD, *
who rules over the nations.
28  To the LORD alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; *
all who go down to the dust fall before the LORD.
29  My soul shall live for God;
my descendants shall serve the LORD; *
they shall be known as the LORD’s for ever.
30  They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *
the saving deeds that God has done.

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