Psalm 22

 

1 To the Chief Musician. Set to "The Deer of the Dawn." A Psalm of David.

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?

2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them.

5 They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.

6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"

9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.

10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb You have been My God.

11 Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help.

12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.

13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;

17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.

18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.

19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me!

20 Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog.

21 Save Me from the lion's mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.

22 I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.

23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!

24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard.

25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.

26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever!

27 All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.

28 For the kingdom is the LORD's, And He rules over the nations.

29 All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive.

30 A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,

31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this.

     Psalm 22 (NKJV)

 

Psalm 22 is the psalm of the Cross at Calvary. It gives an account of the Suffering Savior’s last hours and records His last words. Charles Spurgeon suggested that we should read this psalm reverently, putting off the shoes from our feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for if there is holy ground anywhere in Scripture, it is in this psalm.

 This psalm describes the crucifixion of Christ in amazing specificity.  Interestingly, more detail about Christ’s death on the cross is given here than in the gospel accounts of it.  The fact that David wrote about it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so many centuries earlier and with such accuracy gives added weight to the inerrancy of Scripture.

 Although this is a psalm of David, it contains the words of Jesus – from first verse (“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”) to the last (some say the last phrase in the original is “It is finished”), and Christ is there in the in-between. We see both the darkness and the glory of the Cross. For “He has done this” – the perfect Lamb of God, set His face to do the Father’s will, and died for all our sins. Everyone who comes to the foot of the cross as a sinner, trusting in Christ’s atoning work, will be saved.  Hallelujah and amen.

                                                 A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth

A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth to save a world of sinners.

He bears the burden all alone, dies shorn of all His honors.

He goes to slaughter, weak and faint, is led to die without complaint;

His spotless life He offers. He bears the shame, the stripes, the wrath;

His anguish, mockery, and death for us He gladly suffers.

(Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676)

To Infinity And Beyond!

 

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.  Isaiah 43 18-19

I was reading some of my older devotions when I born again.  That’s over fifteen years ago!  As I read some of them, I realized how much I have grown over that time.  It is with that in mind I decided to write  (actually rewrite) a number of other devotions over the next few weeks. I pray you will get as much out of them as I did pausing and reflecting over them.

(Revised from 10/10/05)

When we are born again, we are free from the bondage of our sins of the past.  A month ago, I mentioned that Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 spoke of the painful sorrow of sin that corrects versus worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance (see http://trdailydevotional.blogspot.com/2020/09/more-than-enough.html).  There are an infinite number of sins we could recall not only from our past but even as recent as today to dwell on.  However, we are not to focus on the seemingly infinite number of sins for as today’s verses say, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”  Today, I am focusing on God’s infinite wisdom that figured out a ‘new thing’ for us to get past it all.  Because of that, we have a future with Jesus Christ.

God’s plan always goes beyond what we can see.  Today’s verses are about prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ.  As I delved into these verses, I dissected it further than I did when I originally wrote about it.  Back then, it was simply that God made a way to remove the bondage of the past.  Today, I realize what God had done was much more profound.  He looked at the bigger problem of our sinful nature and realized there were more barriers between Him and us than just sin.  Here are some questions I asked myself in trying to understand how God looked at the problem of our relationship with Him.  How can He get us past seeing the rules and focus on loving one another (The Greatest Commandment)?  How can He help us focus on our relationship with Him and not just rituals (James 2:26)?  How can He get others to be saved who don’t even believe they are worthy (the Samaritan woman – John 4:1-26)?  Many of you could come up with a multitude of questions that ultimately Jesus Christ is the answer for.  The key today is to realize how God saw this enormous problem and knew we could not find a way to Him without great difficulty.  As such, He had the solution of sending His only Son to save us.  This is at the heart of what Isaiah is prophesying.  The new thing (Jesus Christ) was to come and make “a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”  I can barely solve a problem to get to next week, and God made a way to solve a problem for all eternity!  Then, He sent a prophet to foretell what was to come so future generations would know.  Only the true living God could have that kind of master level wisdom.  I so appreciate that He did this for us! 

God’s wisdom is unimaginable.  His word gives us a wealth of knowledge.  Answers to every problem possible is contained in it.  One might look and say, “Well God can’t fix my internet when Comcast cuts a cable by accident!”  This is true, but perhaps at that moment He wants you to pay attention to other problems He is helping you resolve.  Perhaps God is helping you with your impatience (see 1 Corinthians 13:4) or submitting to His will (Job 22:21).  The point is we cannot know who God is unless we are willing to acknowledge He knows better than us.  Let’s be willing to understand that amazing level of wisdom He brings into our lives.  Will you submit to acquire greater wisdom of what God is trying to teach you?  How will you take time to see problems through a God centered lens?  My prayer is we acknowledge God’s greatness and just how infinite His wisdom truly is or in the words of Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear, “To infinity and beyond!”  Amen.