Psalms of Lamentਨਮੂਨਾ

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” Jesus cried in Matthew 27 as He died for our sins on the cross. But darkness didn’t prevail.

Psalm 22 is prophetic, prophesying about Jesus, the coming Messiah. It begins with a familiar statement in verse 1, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?”. It’s important to note that both Jesus and David exclaimed, “My God.” Though they were experiencing extreme agony, they never once disregarded the faithfulness and presence of the Almighty God. They weren’t crying out in anger, but rather, in desperation as God’s children.

Amazingly, David seems to describe a clear picture of Christ’s crucifixion in this psalm, even though it was not a Jewish method of capital punishment but a Roman one. David likely never saw a crucifixion occur.

How many times have we cried out to the Lord our God in agony? How many times have we asked for His deliverance? When troubles surround us, it can feel like there is no escape. Like David wrote in verse 16, “For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet.” But good news is coming!

In the story of Jesus’s resurrection, death and darkness were defeated. We see the same in Psalm 22. “You answered me!” David exclaims in verse 21. Our God is not a God of desertion. He will come after his children. We see God, our Good Shepherd, and his care for us in even more detail, as illustrated in the next chapter (Psalm 23).

1. When things get dark, is praise your first response?
2. How will you declare all that He has done for you this week?

Prayer: Holy and Wonderful Father, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sin and brokenness. Help me to proclaim Your glory to all the ends of the earth.

ESV, English Standard Version.