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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? 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. 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." 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.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My strength is dried up, my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; 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. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. But you, O Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. 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 him, 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.

The poor will eat and be satisfied; they 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 to a people yet unborn -- for he has done it.

This is a long passage to be read to our attention-deficit culture. But, if read dramatically, it can be effectively used. First, a bit of explanation will be needed. The psalm is a messianic psalm. If explained that when Jesus quoted the first verse of this psalm from the cross, he would have evoked the whole psalm to his hearer's minds, it could then be read as the words of Christ from the cross. Its power then will lie in the fact that the despair of the first part of the psalm is followed by a proclamation that the psalmist will stand firm and faithful regardless of pain and suffering, and finally, this declaration to stand firm is followed by a vision of God's victory.

Verses 1-21 can be read to help people identify with the psalmist's pain. It can help them to understand that God, and Christ, understand their current pain and identify with it. Then verses 22-24 offer the challenge. We can offer this challenge as well. These verses are a kind of, "Fear not!" Don't give up on God. Praise God no matter what, because God has not abandoned you. God has not hidden from you. And then, as the psalm does, so too can we, turn from standing firm to victory.

The psalm in its entirety says, "Yes, there is pain in life, but if we stand firm, victory is ours. God guarantees it." This is the message we want to offer to those who are in pain, or for one who has died after dealing with a significant amount of pain.