Do you ever get frustrated when you call someone and all you get is voice-mail? Listen to this from the Maroochydore High school in Queensland, Australia

… and you may have noticed you didn’t even get a chance to leave a message!

That’s where David is at the beginning of Psalm 22. He has the distinct feeling that God has gone off line. That nobody is listening. There’s no communication between heaven and earth – no voice from the Lord

22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

In my 40’s I discovered something that I never experienced as a child, roller coasters. I love them >>>

This psalm is a spiritual roller-coaster

David cascades down into the depths of despair
and also finds the way back up again

He follows a trajectory that many of us experience, feeling God has left us and almost having to fight our way back into communion with him.

David’s roller-coaster descent starts with

God’s deafening silence

silence – v1-2

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?

WHY? There must be a reason, but I just can’t see it!

Can you hear the blame-tone here “Why have you forsaken me”

As if to say ‘God, you’re the one who’s moved here, not me!

God seems to have left the phone off the hook!

Groaning (literally ‘roaring’)

Cry = ‘to groan’ (Hebrew)

2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.

It’s a strong crying being described here; the kind of tears that wear you out and yet don’t dry you up.

I want to alert you to something here by asking the question; Why is David so concerned about God’s silence?

It seems to me that God’s silence would be no problem to David if he had never heard God’s voice

But he had – he knew what it’s like to walk with God
to have a precious and personal relationship with him
and now their communication seems to have been interrupted

The fact that David has experienced God’s presence makes God’s absence all the more painful!

This is why, as Christians, we sometimes find tough times like this so debilitating

we’ve tasted God!
we know what it’s like to be close to him
we’ve enjoyed intimacy with him
but all that seems to have evaporated!

Can I ask you – might that be you this morning?

Do I need to go any further in the psalm?
or are you saying ‘Lord, that’s me!’

I’ve known what it’s like to know you personally – in the past but right now I feel alone

Lord, why have you left the phone off the hook?

So what other attitudes and feeling go along with this

Principle: Giving in to feeling abandoned by God can lead on to all sort of other debilitating and negative attitudes

David demonstrates them vividly – you can hear it in the voice of the Psalm

sarcasm – v3-5

4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.

5 They cried to you and were saved; they trusted in you and were not disappointed.

There’s a streak of bitterness as well as irony here.

It’s all very well for our forefathers, Lord
you helped them when they were in a fix, but you can’t be bothered with me!

self-hatred v6-8

6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

They were good enough for you but I’m not!

Let’s recognise that there is some false logic here

“God is not answering my prayers – therefore I’m not worth anything”
“I’m not good enough for God to answer me”

But if we had to be good enough for God, none of us would ever receive anything from the Lord!

separation v11

11. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no-one to help.

I’m alone at a time when I most need you Lord.

E.g. Like Elijah “Lord, I’m the only one left and they seek my life to kill me!”

In Elijah’s situation it took him to the very brink of suicide “Lord, take my life I am no better than anyone else!”

fear v12-13

12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.

Graphic picture

Bashan – a very fertile area
its cattle were known as the strongest and best in the nation
therefore it’s bulls could be the most threatening.

Here’s David comparing his enemies to vicious animals who could gore him or tear him to shreds.

weakness v14

14 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.

Poured out (elsewhere in Bible) => poured out to death

exposure v17-18

17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.

18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

Graphic picture of a body that is naked an emaciated

his clothing is used as a prize in a sweepstake
David has got to the lowest of the low
reached rock bottom

Can there be any recovery from here?

Before we consider the other side of the coin, there’s something else we need to understand. Is this Psalm …

Future prophecy or current reality?

Now, if you know your Easter story you’ll know that theses words were yelled by Jesus when he was dying on the cross and this poses some fascinating questions

did Jesus do his deliberately?

There are some prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus life and ministry that he couldn’t possibly have organised

e.g. the place of his birth
these confirm to us that Jesus was who he said he was.

There were others that Jesus fulfilled quite deliberately

e.g. staging a conspicuous entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.

Zechariah had prophesied that the messiah would come into Jerusalem this way
by doing it Jesus was effectively placing his messianic cards on the table.
He was saying “I’m doing the things you know the Messiah is going to do, now draw your own conclusions” – and immediately there was a high-level conspiracy to kill him.

So was the Psalm written because David was going through a time of feeling rejected by God, or was it written for Jesus to quote as he died? I believe it was both.

We know the psalm speaks powerfully about Jesus

but when David wrote it something was going on in his life that gave rise to this
… which the Holy Spirit later took and also applied to Jesus.

This psalm talks powerfully of what Jesus went through when he died and helps us to understand it.

Poem (Isaac Watts)

1. Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,

and did my Sovereign die!

Would he devote that sacred head

for such a worm as I?

2. Was it for crimes that I have done,

he groaned upon the tree?

Amazing pity! Grace unknown!

And love beyond degree!

3. Well might the sun in darkness hide,

and shut his glories in,

when Christ, the mighty maker, died

for man, the creature’s, sin.

4. Thus might I hide my blushing face

while his dear cross appears;

dissolve my heart in thankfulness,

and melt my eyes to tears.

5. But drops of tears can ne’er repay

the debt of love I owe.

Here, Lord, I give myself away;

’tis all that I can do.

At this point the tone of the psalm changes

God’s ultimate rescue

The roller-coaster starts turning upwards. But is this just a happy ending to make me feel good?

so I’m not left feeling hopeless and despairing?

NO!

No one is denying that David’s despair is real – and neither is ours. He’s been through the mill – and so do we.

But that’s only half the story! If we were to leave it there – what would Jesus have to offer us? not much!

BUT – if the despair is real then so also is the victory over it

so also is the release from it
so also is the renewal that God just loves to give us when we discover him in situations like this!

David wants us to reason it through – there seems to be a relentless logic to this poem

The key to understanding it is to work out whom David is talking to and what he is talking about.

Step 1:

crying out – v19-20

19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.

David is talking to God about his current experience

Quite simply he tells God what is on his heart and asks the Lord to help him.

There is a principle here: We don’t have to ‘feel good’ or be on a spiritual mountain top for God to hear us!

David feels he’s surrounded by people who are baying for his blood.

They’re like Dogs – were not man’s best friend then
they were wild and hideous creatures, dreaded for their ferocity, often hunting in packs.
Lord! I feel surrounded – I need you!
He used a 4-letter word to God(!) HELP!

doing a deal – v22

22. [and] I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.

He’s talking to God about what he’s going to do

If you get me out of this, I will tell my brothers about it
If you rescue me, that rescue is not going to go unnoticed.
I met as man once who nearly drowned at sea
Just as he feared for his life, he said “God, if you’re there I want you to get me out of this – and if you do I’ll give my life to you”

God knew this was not a manipulative ploy to get out of a dangerous situation

I’m sure you know by now that in the Psalms the voice speaking or the people being spoken to can change without warning and that’s what we have here.

David has promised he will tell his brothers about God’s deliverance – and here he starts doing it – he’s keeping the bargain.

keeping the bargain – v23

23 You who fear the LORD, [listen to me] praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honour him! all you descendants of Israel, Revere him!

Here he’s talking to the people of Israel (his brothers), urging them to put God first in their lives, to make God their highest priority

David is keeping his side of the deal!

Something struck me as I was preparing. There’s no evidence, as of this point in the Psalm, that David’s deliverance has actually happened!

If it has, then he’s speaking out of real and heart-felt gratitude to the Lord
If it hasn’t then he’s speaking out in faith – he’s still expecting God to show his hand.
And that’s the nature of faith – living today as if what you hope for has actually happened!

Result?

the Holy Spirit changes David from the inside out.

my heart takes off

25 From you [Lord] comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfil my vows.

There’s been a transformation. Slow, maybe. Gradual, possibly, but very real

You may have come to church thinking “Lord I really don’t feel like praising you today” – “by heart is heavy” – “I’m scared of what might happen…”
but slowly the Lord changes our mindset! Isn’t he good to us!
we begin to see our world, circumstance through HIS eyes!
Our circumstance may not have changed but our reactions to them have been infused with faith

I’ll tell anyone

31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn- for he has done it.

Feast your eyes on the one who appears to have disappeared