Forsaken

Forsaken

There are times I have felt alone, but I struggled to come up with a time I have felt forsaken. The closest I could think of is when I was in high school. Some friends and I went to the beach. I had a bodyboard, but this time we were all just out in the water cooling off. As a wave would come, we would either dive through it to the other side or jump, so that the wave rolled under us. A huge wave came, and I tried to dive to the other side, but this wave was bigger and stronger. It tossed me around and kept me under the surface. With the sand swirling, I couldn’t tell which way was up or down. I began to panic thinking I would drown. I was a good swimmer, but that didn’t seem to matter as I was caught under the wave. I felt very alone. It felt like an eternity before I surfaced.

In reality, the whole incident probably happened in under thirty seconds. Although I couldn’t see them under the water, my friends were nearby and there was a lifeguard on shore. We also went out in the water only as far as we could stand with our heads still above the water, so if I had tried to swim downward by accident, I would have quickly realized my mistake. Although this was a very short “alone” moment, it has stayed with me. To this day, aside from snorkeling in calm waters, I don’t like to go in the ocean even though I love being near enough to hear, smell, and see it.

As we come to Psalm 22 today, David’s situation is much more than a thirty second feeling of being alone. As we will see, he actually felt forsaken by God for an extended period. Remember that David had an intimate relationship with God and still felt this way. I know many of you can relate to David whether you are experiencing ongoing health issues, grieving, having trouble conceiving or have lost a baby, living with the aftermath of abuse, hurting over a child who wants nothing to do with God, or suffering in other ways. You are not alone in feeling alone or forsaken. In fact, Psalm 22 poignantly points to Jesus’ being forsaken by the Father as He hung on the cross. Jesus understands your feelings of being forsaken.

As Psalm 22 is a little longer, I won’t include it here, but I encourage you to pause and read it. Then we will look at specific verses as we work through the psalm.

As you read through the psalm, you may have noticed it was divided into two sections: 1) a suffering individual who feels forsaken due to unanswered prayer (vs 1-21a), and 2) individual and corporate praise due to answered prayer (vs 21b-31).[1] We will see this as we study the psalm, but I like this overarching view as it reminds us from the beginning that no matter how forsaken we feel, this is not the whole story.

Let’s dive in. “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest” (vs 1-2). The first question in verse 1 is familiar. We recognize it from Jesus’ words on the cross. These verses capture what David felt and what Jesus felt on the cross. Although in later verses we read that it is men who came against David (vs 7-8, 12-13, 16-18), David ultimately felt forsaken by God. He felt that God was far from him, far from his cries. It seemed to David that God had not answered his prayers.

“My God” is repeated twice revealing the intensity of this cry. David further describes his suffering:

• “But I am a worm and not a man” (vs 6). Feelings of insignificance.

• “Scorned by mankind and despised by the people” (vs 6). Isaiah similarly describes Jesus’ crucifixion: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (vs 53:3).

• “All who see me mock me” (vs 7)… “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him” (vs 8). We see this same mockery of Jesus as He hung on the cross (Matthew 27:43). It questions David’s faith and Jesus’ claims.

• “Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion” (vs 12-13). Bulls were a symbol of brutal strength magnifying David’s feeling of weakness.

• “I am poured out like water” (vs 14). David is empty. He has no strength remaining. We can see this with Jesus too. The longer He was on the cross, His strength to push Himself up to breathe waned until He could no longer lift Himself.

• “All my bones are out of joint” (vs 14). Whether this was literal or figurative for David, I read this could describe what hanging on a cross did to the body.

• “My heart is like wax; it is melted within my heart” (vs 14).

• “My strength is dried up like a potsherd [broken ceramic], and my tongue sticks to my jaws” (vs 15). We know that Jesus was thirsty as He hung on the cross.

• “You lay me in the dust of death” (vs 15). This reminds us of Genesis and what becomes of man (3:19) when he dies. David feels like he is on the edge of death. Jesus did die in our place.

• “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet” (vs 16). We don’t know what this meant for David, but we certainly understand the truth of it for Jesus.

• “I can count all my bones” (vs 17). This probably refers to being emaciated from lack of nutrition.

• “They stare and gloat over me” (vs 17). David and Jesus’ suffering was not private, and we know for Jesus that it was not only physical suffering but shame as He hung naked on a cross for all to see.

• “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (vs 18). Again, we see this acted out at the cross.

What an immense depicture of suffering and agony. For David and Jesus to experience all these things would leave any of us in despair, but on top of that as we read in verse 2, David felt as though God did not hear or answer his prayer. It is no wonder David and Jesus felt forsaken.

However, even before we get to the answered prayer and praise of verses 21b-31, we see glimpses of faith. “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (vs 3). There were unknowns for David in his suffering including why God wasn’t answering his prayer, but David knew who God was. David knew that his suffering didn’t alter God’s character.

“In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame” (vs 5). This may have been both a comfort and a source of despair. We can look at how God has worked in the past and take comfort and have hope for how God will work now, but it can also be a source of despair when like David, it seems that God is not hearing or answering our prayers as He did before. Even if we are tempted to despair in remembering God’s past work or deliverance, in times of suffering or feeling forsaken, we should recall God’s past provision and that He is the same God working yesterday, today, and forever. We shouldn’t let current suffering obscure the truth of God’s faithfulness and provision.

“Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help” (vs 11). David also remembered that God created him and had been his God from birth (vs 9-10), so he could turn to God now for help knowing that God alone is the one who could care for and help him. David may have felt forsaken, but it didn’t stop him from continuing to seek God.

In verse 21, we read that David’s prayer was answered, “You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!” Just a brief statement of answered prayer on the heels of “Save me from the mouth of the lion!” It is a sudden transition, but it reminds me of how being caught under the wave felt like an eternity until all of a sudden, my head was above water, and I was fine. David experienced God’s answer, and I think even more so, David realized God had never forsaken him (vs 24). God had heard his prayer.

So, David doesn’t waste time with long descriptions of God’s deliverance, He goes straight to worship, and he calls on others to worship God with him: “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you; You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel” (vs 22-23).

As David continues his worship, we witness something beautiful: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and He rules over the nations” (vs 27-28). God allowed David’s suffering, but as David trusted God, it resulted in God’s glory and others turning to God. In an even greater way, Jesus’ suffering and forsakenness glorified God and provided the only means of eternal salvation.

Isaiah tells us, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him [Jesus}; He has put Him to grief” (53:10). It pleased(KJV) the Father to crush His only Son and Jesus willingly offered His own life because they both knew this suffering wasn’t the end. Jesus’ suffering was not meaningless. Our suffering is not meaningless. God is using it. He is working in it. He is conforming us more to the image of Jesus and is being glorified.

Psalm 22 ends, ““It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn, that He has done it.” In the Hebrew, this reads as, “It is finished.” Sound familiar? For David, he could testify to God’s deliverance from a specific circumstance, but for Jesus, His words meant that the means of deliverance was accomplished once for all time. David felt forsaken, but never truly was. Jesus was truly forsaken, so that you and I would never be forsaken.

Reflection

1. Have you ever felt forsaken by others or by God? Were you able to trust God despite your suffering?

2. Has your view of God’s character been affected by your suffering or feelings of being forsaken? In what ways? List the “God is…” truths from Psalm 22 that can help flood your mind and heart with who God is and that He doesn’t change.

3. What are ways you have witnessed God’s care, provision, and deliverance in the past that can help encourage you that He is still the same God working now even if you can’t see it yet?

4. Who can you share with what God has done? Or, if you are midst a feeling of forsakenness, who can you ask to pray and walk with you through this time of suffering?

[1] Idea taken from Mark Futato’s commentary on Psalms.