The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. (Psalm 37: 23-25).
The verses in this lesson are a preamble and what many have called David’s Psalm of the Cross, or the Psalm of the Crucifixion. Psalm 22 expresses deep anguish and lament. As the title implies, this is a call to God for deliverance. The situation is unbearable. The suffering is severe. In these passages, David not only concludes that God is trustworthy, he prophetically shows us why.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
Haven’t we all been here at one time or another? The anguish in our heart is so overwhelming! We are distressed, heartbroken, in agony. We ask, “Why is this happening? What’s going on?! God can fix it;” He must fix it! We pray. We fast. We plead. We cry. We can’t sleep, rest, or eat. We beg. We insist! We sometimes even yell at God. Yet, God is not answering in a way we understand. It doesn’t appear that He is even hearing us. There are times of miserable wretched silence on this side of life. “ My God, My God, why have you forgotten me?” David felt it, too.
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Does God stop being God when things are gut-wrenchingly tough? Do we change our minds about Him when things don’t go our way? In our angst, we must answer these questions. As Job said to his wife, But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. (Job 2:10).
There is always a choice to be made between faith and disbelief. Sometimes, this means simply holding on until the storm (circumstance) passes. In the midst of his torment, David determines that despite what he sees, despite how he feels, despite not understanding, God is holy. God dwells in the praise of his people. God does not change. All the miraculous things He has done in the past are worthy of remembrance. Those who trust in God are not let down. He is God -the only God, there is none else. Compared to Him, we are a reproach. Here, we start to see a fade in the imagery to another man who felt great rejection and reproach.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3). As David writes unknowingly, through the power of the Holy Spirit, he begins to express the reality of Christ who is to come. Jesus is the descendant promised to David who would sit on the throne and whose kingdom would be established forever.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
There are always skeptics, doubters, and accusers. Some are family and friends, while others are mockers and enemies. David had them. You have them. Jesus had them. Those who make fun of the decision to trust in God, those who talk continuously to others, destroying our reputation, and those who hurl accusations at us about how foolish and naive believers are.
Sometimes, there is no snappy comeback. Looking foolish by trusting God is far greater than being foolish by not trusting God, which brings with it eternal punishment. David learned that. We must learn that. Our example is Jesus. Scripture prophesied and gave us an account of those who mocked Jesus at the crucifixion. Yet His suffering and ridicule is the rescue plan of God for all who believe. God the Father had declared openly who Jesus was at his baptism in the Jordan River and on the Mount of Transfiguration, but at that moment on the cross, he was silent…
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53: 5-7).
And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. (Matthew 27:39-43).
But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Whatever David’s dilemma, his heart stays faithful to God. He knew that God’s plan and purpose had been for him since his conception. We may never fully know our purpose, but we know we are not here by chance. God has plans and a purpose for each of us. David asks God to stay close because fierce trouble is present. The only one that can help him is God. Those who are in Christ's righteousness are never forsaken.
Jesus had a mission - a plan from his mother’s womb, actually before the world was formed. As Psalm 22 shares the emotions shared between David and Jesus, it opens the door, giving prophetic insight into the torture and agony of the crucifixion. Though these verses are not in this Standard Sunday School Lesson selection, they describe what no one had even thought about during the time of David’s life: the cross as capital punishment.
The crucifixion was an invention of the Assyrians and practiced by the Babylonians. The Persians are credited with its use in or around 300-400 BC. The Romans are credited with enhancing the pain and became known for using this penalty of death as a public display of shame and torture. It certainly worked as a deterrent. As you read the rest of Psalm 22, notice the detail and accuracy about many aspects of crucifixion and its alignment with the gospels’ description of events.
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. (Matthew 27: 46-49). Had the religious rulers of the time been mindful, they would have caught that the very words of Jesus on the cross led them to Psalm 22, and they would have trembled to think of what they had done.
While our experiences do not in any way measure up to the tortures of the Cross, we still are able, in our own anguish, to call up the God of Heaven. And God understands. Christ knows and cares about your struggles. Even when He is silent, rest in the fact that He knows, and He is there. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. (Psalm 22: 23-24).
Thank you for studying with us! God bless!