My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Devotional
Companion to the Psalter
A Devotional Guide to the Psalms
Object:
Why are you so far from helping me,
from the words of my groaning? ...
All who see me mock at me ...
I am poured out like water ...
you lay me in the dust of death ...
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD ...
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn.
-- Psalm 22:1b, 7a, 14a, 15b, 27a, 30b-31a
Theme: The crucifixion psalm
Outline
1-21a: My God, my God, why?
1-2 -- Cry of agony.
3-5 -- Recalls God's past goodness.
6-8 -- Feels insignificant, is scorned.
9-11 -- Recalls God's past goodness.
12-13 -- Enemies described.
14-15 -- Symptoms of approaching death.
16-18 -- Enemies gloat.
19-21 -- A prayer for God to save him.
21b-31: Praise God!
21b-24 -- He rescued me. Join me in praising him.
25-26 -- He gives renewed zeal for the covenant's purpose.
27-28 -- Looking forward to the LORD's coming reign and rulever all people.
29-31 -- Even the dead shall worship him!
Notes
• Messianic Suffering
• Passion Psalms: 13; 17; 22; 31; 35; 41; 55; 56; 69; 86
• Interpretations:
a. This is a record of personal experience (David's?).
b. It is the ideal or typical righteous sufferer.
c. Israel as a nation is here personified.
d. A prophetic prediction of Christ's passion. "Each of these lines of interpretation contains some truth; none is complete by itself."1
• Notice there is no confession of sin, and there are no imprecations.
• The opening words were uttered by Christ on the cross, indicating this psalm was on his mind during the hours of agony. Eli (my God) is Hebrew, Eloi is Aramaic, the dialect that Jesus spoke. (See Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.)
• From Matthew 27; Mark 15; and Luke 23 see the parallel details with the psalm.
For Reflection
• What are the joyful results of the suffering as described in verses 22-31?
• "The song of praise, begun by the psalmist (v. 22), is taken up by Israel; all the nations of the earth swell the chorus; and the strain echoes on through all the ages. So gloriously ends the psalm that began in the darkest sorrow. Per crucem ad lucem. It is a parable of the history of the individual, of Israel, of the Church, of the world."2
• When we sound out our "why?" to God, he breaks his silence by the gift of Jesus and the good news of his death and resurrection for us.
• When we experience wrongs done to us, shall we choose to resemble Christ, seeking not revenge but redemption for the enemy? What will we lose doing so?
Prayer
When he hung upon the cross, your Son felt forsaken by all, even by you, and cried, "Why?" You hear the cries of all who feel deserted. You opened the way from death to life for us all in his self-giving unto death. May your people, participating in Christ's sufferings, share blessings and the hope of the gospel with those suffering hunger, weakness, and abandonment. Amen.
____________
1. A.F. Kirkpatrick, The Psalms (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1957), p. 114.
2. Ibid., p. 124.
from the words of my groaning? ...
All who see me mock at me ...
I am poured out like water ...
you lay me in the dust of death ...
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD ...
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn.
-- Psalm 22:1b, 7a, 14a, 15b, 27a, 30b-31a
Theme: The crucifixion psalm
Outline
1-21a: My God, my God, why?
1-2 -- Cry of agony.
3-5 -- Recalls God's past goodness.
6-8 -- Feels insignificant, is scorned.
9-11 -- Recalls God's past goodness.
12-13 -- Enemies described.
14-15 -- Symptoms of approaching death.
16-18 -- Enemies gloat.
19-21 -- A prayer for God to save him.
21b-31: Praise God!
21b-24 -- He rescued me. Join me in praising him.
25-26 -- He gives renewed zeal for the covenant's purpose.
27-28 -- Looking forward to the LORD's coming reign and rulever all people.
29-31 -- Even the dead shall worship him!
Notes
• Messianic Suffering
• Passion Psalms: 13; 17; 22; 31; 35; 41; 55; 56; 69; 86
• Interpretations:
a. This is a record of personal experience (David's?).
b. It is the ideal or typical righteous sufferer.
c. Israel as a nation is here personified.
d. A prophetic prediction of Christ's passion. "Each of these lines of interpretation contains some truth; none is complete by itself."1
• Notice there is no confession of sin, and there are no imprecations.
• The opening words were uttered by Christ on the cross, indicating this psalm was on his mind during the hours of agony. Eli (my God) is Hebrew, Eloi is Aramaic, the dialect that Jesus spoke. (See Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.)
• From Matthew 27; Mark 15; and Luke 23 see the parallel details with the psalm.
For Reflection
• What are the joyful results of the suffering as described in verses 22-31?
• "The song of praise, begun by the psalmist (v. 22), is taken up by Israel; all the nations of the earth swell the chorus; and the strain echoes on through all the ages. So gloriously ends the psalm that began in the darkest sorrow. Per crucem ad lucem. It is a parable of the history of the individual, of Israel, of the Church, of the world."2
• When we sound out our "why?" to God, he breaks his silence by the gift of Jesus and the good news of his death and resurrection for us.
• When we experience wrongs done to us, shall we choose to resemble Christ, seeking not revenge but redemption for the enemy? What will we lose doing so?
Prayer
When he hung upon the cross, your Son felt forsaken by all, even by you, and cried, "Why?" You hear the cries of all who feel deserted. You opened the way from death to life for us all in his self-giving unto death. May your people, participating in Christ's sufferings, share blessings and the hope of the gospel with those suffering hunger, weakness, and abandonment. Amen.
____________
1. A.F. Kirkpatrick, The Psalms (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1957), p. 114.
2. Ibid., p. 124.
