30 Days With the PsalmsНамуна

Forsaken by God?

“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” (Psalm 22:1 ESV).

Today’s verse expresses how David feels forsaken by God. He faces so many difficulties. He is exhausted. And God seems not to answer. David bursts out in a song of lament.

But that is not all he has to tell. In his song, he reminds himself that God has not really forsaken the afflicted: “He has not hidden His face from him, but has heard, when he cried to Him” (Psalm 22:24 ESV). Even when feeling forsaken by God, David knows there is hope.

The reason that David can rejoice again is because God hears him. And strangely enough, that is possible because God did not listen to Jesus when He suffered at the cross. Jesus cited the exact words of Psalm 22:1, but without the following verses of hope. He bore the wrath of His Father and paid for humanity’s sins, so that we might never be forsaken by God.

Do you sometimes feel like God has forsaken you? Then read this psalm, and see how David finds new hope and trust in the Lord.