Psalm 22

I have heard much good teaching on this Psalm and am sure I cannot do it justice here.

I have wondered often just how David came to write this song.  Did he recognize the prophetic nature of it?  Were his garments ever gambled off?  Were his hands ever pierced?    I wonder if he wrote it under the influence of the Holy Spirit (well, I know that is true!), but then re-read it and wondered what it was about?

Well, some things I just cannot know.

I can, however read this Word and be amazed by it's applicable nature to both David and Christ.
  David felt abandoned....quite unjustly.  It felt like he was at death's door.  He was weary and hurt,
and felt as though God had abandoned him.   He was ridiculed for his trust in the Almighty, whom he had trusted since a babe.  His turmoil was primarily an inner turmoil.

  Jesus was abandoned by the Father for a time when the sin of the world was put upon him. He didn't just feel like he was at death's door, he was, and did, indeed die as a result.  He, too, was weary and hurt.  He was ridiculed for His trust, and indeed his statement of being God's Son.  His inner turmoil was magnified so much more than David's, and indeed his physical torment was far greater.

This is a song of deep, deep sorrow, yet great hope and promise.  The sorrow is overwhelming, overshadowing both night and day.  It seems to be never ending.  The promise also overshadows.....all of eternity!

In his sorrow, and feeling abandoned by God, David notes that God is holy.  He inhabits the praise of His people.  He remembers the 'father's" trust in Him and how God heard, answered and delivered them.

What he knows and what he feels are different things, though.  He reverts back into lament, calling himself a worm, despised and ridiculed.  He is mocked by others who know of his trust in God.  "Let God help him!" they cry in derision.

Again, David reminds himself of his trust in God......from birth.

Then again, lament. He is weary to the point of death and surrounded by the enemy.

He cries for help from the God he trusts.  And he is heard.  And answered.

As a result, God will be praised in all Israel in David's time, then to generations afterward, and eventually, in Christ, every knee shall bow and tongue confess Him as Lord.

God did not despise either (David, or Christ), in their affliction, but heard their cry and lifted them up.  He set both upon the throne.....David as the greatest political king in Israel with promise of a decendent on the throne forever, and then, Christ as the King of Kings forever. "He has done it.".......I like the Reformation Study Bible comment on this.  "The final victory of salvation is accomplished by Christ."

I have no words to really convey what is in my heart.  Christ cried on the cross, "my God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"   so that I won't have to cry that.  He, God's Son, became the final, perfect sacrifice, shedding His own blood and taking upon Himself the judgement for my sin, so that God's wrath satisfied on Him, for me.  Words are lame, and cannot speak the deapth what my heart feels.

I am so thankful for the Word that we have!   And for the free gift of grace we have been given!