Wednesday of Holy Week (March 27). Forsaken?

Prepare to Listen.  Commit your cause to the LORD.
 
Prayerfully Read Psalm 22:1-8
1My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
   and by night, but find no rest.
3Yet you are holy,
   enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4In you our ancestors trusted;
   they trusted, and you delivered them.
5To you they cried, and were saved;
   in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
6But I am a worm, and not human;
   scorned by others, and despised by the people.
7All who see me mock at me;
   they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
8‘Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver--
   let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What caught your attention in these verses?
 
This is the only lament psalm that many Christians ever hear because it’s often read during Holy Week, a reminder of Jesus’ agonized cry from the cross.  It’s a gut-wrenching cry: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Unlike other lament psalms, this one has no introduction or formal approach to God, and neither is it polite and respectful.  The English text, “the words of my groaning,” is too tame.   “These words,” writes Tanner, “are expressed in the raspy scream of one in distress.”[1]  And yet, this is the cry of one who is intimate with God, a cry of one who knows they’re loved by God and knows God will hear, even if God appears to remain aloof.  The pray-er may feel utterly helpless, but knows he will be listened to and taken seriously.  He knows he’s not forsaken, even though it feels like it.
 
The first verse isn’t the only link to Jesus in this psalm.  Handel, early in the second part of the Messiah, draws our attention to two other links, verses 7 and 8.  Jesus was mocked even as he hung in agony on the cross.  Some said, “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ”[2]  Sadly, it’s common to mock a sufferer or a weaker person.  We see it around us all the time.  And even sadder, many who mock, sometimes in cruel words, claim to be Christians.  The psalmist felt the brunt of their cruelty and so did Jesus.  He took it upon himself on the cross.
 
Have you ever prayed verse 1?  What happened in the end?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, for all those who are screaming to you today because people are cruel and they feel forsaken, may they experience your loving presence.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Cry your lament and keep trusting.
[1] Tanner in deClaissé-Walford N., Jacobson R, and Tanner, B.  The Book of Psalms.  Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.  2014, p. 233.
[2] Matthew 27:43.