Psalm 22: Yet

Psalm 22 may be the most prophetic of all of David’s writing. While David was writing figuratively of his own experiences, he described the suffering of Jesus the Messiah more than a thousand years later. The details are amazing. David wrote some of the exact words of Jesus’ mockers, “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him”. He described the form of Jesus’ death, “they have pierced my hands and feet”, the fact that He would die before His legs could be broken, “I can count all my bones”. The Holy Spirit even empowered David to write of a detail that no one could have or would have predicted ahead of time, “they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” With all these clear prophesies, this Psalm is mostly known for it’s first verse, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It was one thing for David the king to feel forsaken by God, but when Jesus shouted these words from the cross, could it have meant that the Father had forsaken the Son, that somehow God had forsaken Himself? This has been debated, even argued many times, it will be preached often in the next few weeks as we approach Good Friday. I’m not sure that I will settle any arguments or win any debates, but I believe there is one small word in the midst of this Psalm that is often neglected, but that the entire thing hinges upon.

David asked God why He had forsaken him. He asked why God was far from saving him, why he cried out day and night, but God didn’t answer. Then he wrote, “Yet you are holy”. The word “yet” signals that there was a difference between how David felt and who God was, it reveals that David was about to turn his attention from what he feared to what he knew. David was writing, “I feel forsaken, but You are holy.” It’s as if David was letting his heart speak and then he was speaking to his heart, he was allowing space for his feelings but then making room for the truth. David continued, writing that the fathers of Israel trusted in God and He delivered them, that they cried out to Him and were rescued, that they put their trust in Him and He never allowed them to be put to shame. David was visiting a theme that was common in his writing, in his praying, in his living, “wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD.”

The Psalm continued to describe David’s distress and Jesus’ suffering. It speaks vividly of death and betrayal, but it doesn’t stay there, it doesn’t pretend the suffering is not real, but it also doesn’t assume that it’s permanent. In fact, it declares that from the suffering something good, something great, something beautiful will arise. David wrote, “I will tell of Your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the LORD, praise him! All of you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of Israel!” Does that sound like someone whose been forsaken? Do the excluded sing praise? Do the forgotten offer worship? Do the unwanted stand in awe? David and Jesus then make a declaration that answers the question of verse 1, “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him.” When the Psalms started David asked, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” As it nears its conclusion David answers his own question by saying, “I am not forsaken!”

On Good Friday many will address Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 22:1 from the cross and say that at that moment the Father looked or turned away from the Son, that in that moment, as Jesus became sin that the Father forsook Jesus for our sake. Here’s the question I will raise to those thoughts and statements: When Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1, was He referring to only a single verse or was He calling our attention to the entire Psalm? Jesus is the Word of God, He’s the Living Word  revealed by the written Word, He is One with the Holy Spirit who breathed all of Scripture, this means that Jesus never took Scripture out of context, He never applied a verse for His purposes but stayed true to God’s character when speaking God’s Word. I believe that when Jesus cried out from the cross “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” that He was pointing the onlookers and all of us to the entirety of Psalm 22. Imagine being a mocker that day and then reading your own words written by the psalmist? Standing there watching the crucifixion and then realizing that King David had written that the Messiah would be pierced in His hands and His feet? Imagine being one of the Roman soldiers gambling for Jesus’ clothes and then finding out that more than a thousand years earlier your actions had been written about? I believe Jesus was saying, “My humanity may feel forsaken, but My Father has not hidden His face from Me. I may look forsaken to You, but I am, even now, being saved and rescued.”

I am not a scholar or a theologian, but I believe that the character of God borne out through the Scripture shows that He does not forsake us, in fact Jesus promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. I know it’s often explained that we are not forsaken simply because Jesus was, but I’m sorry, I don’t believe it. I believe that as the Son bore the sin of the world that the Father never took His eyes off Him. I believe that as the One who knew no sin became sin for our sake, that the Father stayed close to Him. I believe that God is faithful to us and that He was faithful to Himself, faithful to His Son. I believe that Jesus cried out not to show us the depth of His pain, but the steadfastness of God. I believe that King David poured out his heart to God and then God poured out His heart to the king and that on the cross Jesus had the same experience. Yes, He felt forsaken, yet God was, and He is holy.

Once again, today we are welcome to express our feelings, we are invited to cry out with our questions, we are allowed to feel our pain, but the Spirit, the Word and the Son will always remind us, “yet” the Father is holy. I can tell you confidently today that you are not and will not ever be forsaken, and I tell you that because when Jesus seemed forsaken, He was protected, when He looked cast out He was taken in, when He was thought to be destroyed, He was resurrected. I won’t tell you that you will never feel forsaken or that you are wrong to have those feelings, but I will tell you, don’t ever forget the “yet”, there is a truth greater than your feelings and there is a Father that is too faithful to ever forsake you, too faithful to have forsaken His Son.