Forsaken ... but not forsaken

by David Sellnow


"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?" (Psalm 22:1).

David, who became king of Israel, wrote those words at some point in his life.  We don't know when David wrote Psalm 22, only that he sent it to the chief musician in Israel when he was king.  We also know that there were plenty of times in David's life when he might have said, "Trouble is near" and "there is no one to help" (Psalm 22:11).

Sometimes David's troubles were through no fault of his own, such as when King Saul kept pursuing him, trying to kill him.  David had dared to challenge an enemy no one else in Israel would challenge--Goliath of Gath, a gigantic warrior of the Philistines.  Saul grew jealous of David and aimed to eliminate him. At one point, David wound up going into Philistine territory, to Gath itself, to get away from Saul.  While there, the only way David could keep from being imprisoned or killed by the king of Gath was to feign insanity.  David scribbled on the doors of the gate and let saliva drip down his beard.  The king, Achish, said to his servants, "You see the man is insane. Why then have you brought him to me?" (1 Samuel 21:13,14).

Sometimes David's troubles were the result of his own arrogance and sin, such as when he seduced the wife of one of his military men while that man was away at battle. David then saw to it that the man was killed, so that David could take Bathsheba (the wife) from him and make her his own.  David's soul was plagued and troubled until God's prophet compelled him to confess his sin.  (Cf. 2 Samuel 11-12.)

Other times David's troubles were a combination of his own failures and the sins of others against him.  His son Absalom mounted a conspiracy, trying to throw his father off the throne. David needed to wage a civil war against his own son.  In the end, Absalom ended up dead and David struggled to bear such a tragedy.  (Cf. 2 Samuel 15-19.)

In our lives too, there are times when we feel forsaken by God and alone in our despair and troubles. Sometimes it's through no fault of our own; it's just things that happen to us or acts by others done against us. Sometimes our aloneness and pain are caused by our own sins and shame, torturing our minds and hearts.  Other times the anguish we face is a combination of our own failures and things done by others that hurt us further. We wonder where God is in all this. Our souls cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning? My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don't answer" (Psalm 22:1,2).  We keep crying out day and night, but find no rest.

We recognize, though, that the anguished cries of David's psalm belongs to someone else even more than the thoughts belonged to David or than they belong to us.  "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  Those words were uttered by Jesus, the Christ, as he hung on the cross.  Jesus took on himself all our sins, all our troubles, all our agony, all our shame, and experienced the abandonment of God his own Father.  He did so to atone for all our woes and guilt and hurt.  Some elements of Psalm 22 point beyond anything David likely experienced, looking prophetically ahead to the sort of death Jesus died when he took our place under all the burdens of sin.  "They have pierced my hands and feet," the psalmist said (v.16), anticipating the crucifixion that the Messiah would suffer.

No matter what our sufferings in life and no matter why they occur--by our own fault or the fault of other sinners or simply the result of living in a sin-stained world--we can know one thing for sure. Jesus suffered as much and more than anything we are suffering. And Jesus suffered as he did for us, to give us hope in the face of suffering. Our hope, ultimately, is in Jesus, whether or not the circumstances of our daily lives get any easier.  Though the Lord may bring us down "into the dust of death" (Psalm 22:15), he remains always our God from the time of our birth onward.  "All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him" (Psalm 22:29).  We can't keep our own souls alive, but God will.  And we will continue to serve him and proclaim his righteousness (Psalm 22:29-31).