Our current world seems to be filled with suffering. Suffering from pandemics, suffering from hurricanes, suffering from immense fires, suffering from senseless war. As we endure the suffering caused by these disasters, we can find ourselves feeling alone and abandoned by God. 
We might ask God “why have you left me alone?” “why did you not protect me?” “why are you not listening and acting upon my prayers?”
The words “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” are familiar as some of the last words spoken by Jesus on the cross. However, they were also spoken by David in a Psalm of the Old Testament. The psalmist uses the first, second and third person to dramatically describe how “I” feel, what “they” have done to me, and what “you” (God) have done or not done.
The psalm begins with the words:
My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? (Psalm 22:1)
Here the psalmist cries out in the first person like a son pouring out his heart to a father.
Calvin observes that “the first verse contains two remarkable sentences, which, although apparently contrary to each other, are yet entering into the minds of the godly together. When the Psalmist speaks of being forsaken and cast off by God, it seems to be the complaint of a man in despair….And yet, in calling God twice his own God, and depositing his groanings into his bosom, he makes a very distinct confession of his faith.”[1]
The prayer begins with a threefold complaint to God. Why has God (1) forsaken me, (2) turned away from saving me, and (3) not listened to my groaning in pain. As the pace and intensity of the questions increases, God’s absence becomes excruciating. [2] The psalmist looks to God for comfort, yet at this moment God cannot be found. Derek Kidner notes that it is neither a lapse of faith nor a broken relationship. Rather, this is a cry of disorientation as God’s familiar and protective presence is withdrawn and the enemy closes in.[3] As such, the sufferer is not really asking for an answer to the question. He is asking for action by God and abandonment lies in God’s failing to act.
The song continues in verses 2-5:
O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night and am not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted, and you delivered them. they cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. (vv. 2-5)
Although the writer of the psalm feels abandoned in their suffering, they know that God has acted in the past to save his people. The psalmist might ask – “I am praying for deliverance continuously, why did you save them and not me?” However, the writer does not lose faith, trusting that the God who has acted in the past will find a way to be present now.
Continuing, the author outlines how they are a public spectacle. The passage reads:
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him. (vv. 6-8)
In the prior passage the psalmist accuses God saying that “you” have not answered. Now, the writer turns the focus upon himself using the words “I” and “me.” “I” am a worm, “I” am not a man and they mock “me.” God’s absence is noticeable by the crowd watching the suffering. The accused feels like their humanity has been stripped away. People who may have once been friends now despise and scorn the writer. Adding to the suffering and isolation, the psalmist is mocked for having faith. The crowd concludes that if he truly did trust God then he would not be suffering.
The crowd turns the words from verse 3 around and shaking their heads in misunderstanding as they imply “If the psalmist had trusted the LORD, why then is he suffering? They conclude that either he had boasted of trusting God but was hypocritical or that God does not love him.”[4]
The irony between the earnest sufferer and the misunderstanding crowd leaves the reader wanting to cry out in pain. How could people be so callous to turn their backs on suffering! It is at this point in the psalm that we realize the suffering is not a description of an illness. Rather this is a lynch mob and we are observing an execution.[5]
After looking to the crowd, the psalmist considers their own position and relationship to God: The passage continues:
Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. (vv. 9-11)
God was the caregiver to the psalmists in the past. However, looking around the writer can only see trouble and asks that God, once again, come close.
The psalmist adds that the strength and ferocity of the enemies compares to that of the “bulls of Bashan” (v. 12) and to the “roaring of lions” (v. 13). The sufferer expects the worst as the lions are “tearing at their prey” and “open their mouths wide against me” (v. 13). The reader is left with a wild image that the crowd is no longer human, but rather are animals tearing at the psalmist’s flesh.
The writer is suffering intense personal anguish as they write in vv. 14-15b: 
I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My Strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. (vv. 14-15b)
The psalmist feels the impact of alienation and deep within his inner being. The metaphors of “water” and “wax,” expressive of formlessness, bring out the inner feeling of the anguish (cf. Jos 7:50). He can no longer function as a human being. The “bones,” “heart,” “strength,” and “tongue” fail him, not because of any serious disease, but because of a traumatic response to being hated and alienated. He can go no further. He is in a state of shock.[6]
Recognizing the current position, the Psalmist prepares for death when writing:
you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. (vv. 15c-17)
The psalmist, with deep-suffering and a loss of hope, realizes that death is now a reality. The evil crowd surrounding him are little more than ravenous scavenging dogs. They encircle him hurling taunts. The crowd of dogs pierce his hands and his feet leaving the reader with feelings of being powerless and consumed with fear as the righteous sufferer is unable to fend off the attack.
The situation worsens in verse 18 as the animalistic crowd divides his garments among them and cast lots for his clothing. The crowd, like vultures, sense the end and the clothing of the suffer is divided like the spoils of war.
As if with a final breath, the psalmist reaches out to God in faith. Using many of the metaphors as earlier, the writer believes that God will answer his prayer. When he writes verses 20-24 the author moves from the perspective of the sufferer moving higher speaking to the reader. The psalmist can now see beyond suffering and can see God’s presence despite the feeling of abandonment.
Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. You who fear the LORD praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. (vv. 21-24)
The sufferer has moved from feeling abandoned, rejected by God, to proclaiming the name of God to a faithful gathering of believers. The taunts of the mockers are drowned out by the songs and praising of the faithful. In corporate solidarity, true believers come alongside the sufferer. These words encourage God’s people that the LORD will never completely hide his face from his covenantal children (v. 24). He will rescue those who trust in Him (v. 8).[7]
The psalm concludes with a message of triumph and redemption. Verses 25-31 read:
From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! (vv. 25-31)
The message of God’s redemption is now the subject of praise among the fellowship of believers. The psalmist addresses the poor (v. 26) and the rich (v. 29) will have their needs of hunger satisfied. Those who believe will be given life. Because of God’s salvation people from around the world will turn to know and kneel before the living God. This act of suffering and redemption will be remembered so that future generations will be told about the LORD (v. 30). Indeed, even those who have not yet been born will proclaim the righteousness of God (v. 31)!
So, what can a Christian take away from reading Psalm 22? It offers a glimpse into how a Christian, who is under extreme pressure, might respond.
Here are a few thoughts:
- Suffering will happen and we will be personally overwhelmed, nearing collapse, staring death in the face, and feeling that life is collapsing around us.
- During times of suffering people around us will not understand and will even add to our feelings of persecution. At times we will be scorned, mocked and despised by people in authority. We will feel surrounded and trapped by these threatening individuals.
- In the depths of suffering it will feel that God has abandoned us. God is not intervening in our pain and God does not answer our prayers. Despite this feeling, we need to trust that God is present.
- The psalm encourages us to own our feelings and not to hide from our feelings of abandonment. We are called to communicate honestly with God about how we feel.
- We are called to continually pray and share our pain with God.
- We are encouraged to think back to times that God has been present with us. Even to the times since our birth.
- We are encouraged to trust the Word of God and how God has acted on behalf of believers in the Bible.
- We are encouraged to know that God, who is sovereign over our lives, will meet us and deliver us as he sees fit and in his time.
Armed with the truth of Psalm 22, perhaps we can make it through the darkest times to arrive into the light.
By Bryan Babcock, PhD
[1] John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms, Volume 1, Reprinted (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), 358. John Goldingay, Psalms, Volume 1: Psalms 1-41, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 324-5. Emphasis added.
[2] Willem A. VanGemeren. Psalms. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Edited by Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009, 237.
[3] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2008), 123.
[4] VanGemeren, Psalms, 239.
[5] Kidner, Psalms, 122.
[6] VanGemeren, Psalms, 243.
[7] Ibid., 247.
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