Forsaken For Us (Psalm 22:1-8)

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
² My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.^[b]

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.^[c]
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
⁸ “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”

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What is striking in this very familiar psalm is not so much the text, but that this was the psalm that Jesus began reciting on the cross.  This section of the psalm is such a cry of pain, probably the greatest of spiritual pains – the apparent abandonment by God. The Lord who has done such great things in the past has left and forsaken me.

 This was the pain of our Savior on the cross. This is what He entered into for us, all so that we would never have cause to speak these words in fact.  There may be times when followers of Jesus feel forgotten or forsaken, or when we might wonder if God is hearing our prayers and answering them. But this “forsaken-ness” is only in our perceptions and thoughts, never in fact.

So, my prayer today is twofold. First, I am praying in thanksgiving for the love of my Savior who took on such pain for me and the whole world. But I am also praying for those who today feel abandoned and forsaken by God. I pray that they will find comfort and peace in the one who truly was forsaken by the Father for their sake.

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