Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
Psalm 22:1-31
Today is the first Sunday of summer. There are songs we associate with different times of the year. Summer songs have a particular feel and bring back memories of school getting out, being on the beach, and summer love. Depending on our age, there are different songs that we may remember and associate with summer. For some of us it may be songs like Summer Wind by Frank Sinatra, Summertime (and the living is easy) sung by Billie Holliday, or Nat King School getting everyone excited about Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer or That Sunday, That Summer.
[powerpress]Many summer songs evoke the beach and surfing including The Surfaris 1963 hit Wipeout and almost any song by the Beach Boys including I Get Around (1964) and California Girls (1965). For those not fortunate enough to spend the summer near the beach the Lovin’ Spoonfuls sang about Summer in the City (1966). Some may have listened to Alice Cooper’s School’s Out For Summer (1972), but it’s not one of my favorites. I prefer Martha Reeves and the Vandellas Heat Wave (1963) and Dancin’ In The Street (1964). There are one hit wonder songs like Mungo Jerry’s In the Summertime (1970) and laments like See You in September, by the Happenings (1966).
You may know that the Bible contains a song book; it is called the Psalter or the Book of Psalms. Like some of the songs I just referenced, there are songs about love and heartache, lament and remorse, trust and betrayal, thanksgiving and praise. This summer at BBC, I am going to be preaching from the Book of Psalms looking at some of those songs in which every human emotion is brought to God in prayer and worship. The Psalms are an incredibly valuable resource for teaching us about who God is, what the Lord has done, and how we may communicate with our Creator. Martin Luther said about the Psalms when comparing them to other prayer books, “Ah, there is not the juice, the strength, the passion, the fire which I find in the Psalter. Anything else tastes too cold and too hard.”
The Psalter is composed of five books of psalms, which remind us of the Torah’s division into five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Books One and Two are mostly Psalms of Lament in which individuals pour out their cries, complaints, and grievances to God and plead for healing, deliverance, protection, or vindication. In addition to individual laments there are community laments that give voice to prayers for the nation. Books Three and Four are significantly songs of praise. Book Five is composed mostly of Pilgrimage Psalms and Songs of Ascent that were related to going up to Jerusalem for worship and special holy days.
One third of all the psalms are laments which demonstrates the human tendency to cry out to God when we are hurting, frightened, lonely, or despairing. The next largest group is songs of praise that express gratitude and awe to God. Lament and praise tend to be the two fundamental ways in which humans beings communicate with God. We also need to learn how to pray to and praise God in times of adversity as well as in times of prosperity.
Many of the Psalms are attributed to David (especially 3-41), as well as to Korah (42-49) and Asaph (73-83), others have no title or superscription at all. It is striking that all the psalms with superscriptions referring to episodes in David’s life are laments. While we talk about the Bible as God’s Word to us, there is a sense in which the Psalms are human words to God. Every human emotion is on display in the Psalms – there are passages of soaring beauty and ones that make us cringe. The psalms are the songs that accompany the People of God on their journey through history. I want to encourage you to dig into the Psalms this summer. I think you will find in them a rich resource for your spiritual life. In fact, if you begin on July 1 and read five psalms a day, perhaps two in the morning, one in the middle of the day and two in the evening, you can read through all 150 psalms in a month. Since July has 31 days, you even have built-in grace if you miss a day.
One of the most familiar laments is Psalm 22. It is recognized by some people because Jesus quotes the opening verse of it when he is dying on the cross. Mary read the first 18 verses earlier in the service, listen to the rest:
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, & not human; scorned by others, & despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
8 “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”
9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shriveled;
17 I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
From the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me.
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,
31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.”
Psalm 22 is a lament. A characteristic of laments is that nothing is withheld from God. To lament is to express sadness, regret, grief, sorrow, disappointment, or annoyance. Although laments focus on the negative side of human experience and emotions, there is no reluctance on the part of the psalmists to offer them on their own behalf or for the community of God’s people. The writers of the psalms had no problem speaking plainly and directly to God in prayer. They had no shame in sharing the deepest despair, fear, and anger of their lives with their Lord. Lament is not a common element of our worship and perhaps not as much a part of our personal approach to faith as it should be. We may think or hope that as long as we have faith or believe, everything will always go well for us and God will make everything turn out right. However, it doesn’t always happen that way does it? We pray and hope and believe yet good people still die young, live in abject poverty, or can’t find work. People are still stricken by diseases and illness, accidents happen, folks struggle with a whole host of issues and we are faced with the problem of how to affirm our faith when so much of the evidence in the world is negative. If nothing else, I hope this message will encourage you that we can learn from laments how to speak honestly to God about how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about the Lord.
Most laments share a common outline or elements including most of the following: address to God, followed by a complaint, and affirmation of trust, petition (what I desire or want), additional argument, curse of enemies, assurance of being heard, vow of praise (what we promise to do), and hymn or blessing. I can’t touch on all of those elements this morning.
Psalm 22 begins with an address to God desolate cry of abandonment that many people can relate to:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.”
The psalm goes on to describe the psalmist’s troubles, using vivid metaphors. He is a “worm, and not human” (verse 6). He is surrounded by “bulls,” “lions,” and “dogs” (verses 12-13, 16) ready to tear him to pieces. He is “poured out like water” (verse 14). And he is not afraid to place blame where blame is due:
“You [God] lay me in the dust of death” (verse 15).
However, even in a circumstance of dire peril and need in which he feels forsaken, he is still crying out “My God, my God.” Hear the personal relationship being expressed – not God in general, not, “If you’re there God,” but, “My God.” We’re told that Psalm 22 is a psalm of David and we know that David was a man after God’s own heart. We also know God loved Jesus deeply. Yet even Jesus and David had moments when they felt abandoned and forsaken. To be forsaken means “To give up (something formerly held dear); to renounce; to leave altogether; abandon.” David endured the betrayal of his son, Absalom. Jesus the betrayal of Judas and the timidity of Peter, but both thought God would stick in there with them and yet their situations are such that they’re wondering what happened. If Jesus and David felt that way, it shouldn’t surprise us that there are moments that we may find ourselves crying out to God in a similar way. “Why God, How long God?” are two of the most common cries in laments. David and Jesus both clung to God even when they were feeling overwhelmed.
David knows where his help lies; strangely enough, from the same source he has just accused of abandoning him. In verse 19 he cries, “But you, O LORD, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!” Such direct address to God in both complaint and cry for help is typical of a lament. The psalmist shakes his fist at God while at the same time holding on to God in faith, knowing that his help can come from no other source. David accuses God while at the same time holding God to God’s promises. “Since my mother bore me you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near & there is no one to help” (10-11).
At verse 19 the psalm shifts from complaint to cry for help, always addressing God directly. Even more dramatically, a few verses later, the psalmist moves from lament to praise. Lament ending in praise is, again, typical of the form of laments (see Psalm 13:5-6, for instance). The movement from lament to praise in Psalm 22, however, is so abrupt as to cause whiplash. The psalmist cries out to God for salvation from ravenous enemies: “Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me!” (22:20-21).
In the middle of verse 21, metaphorically precariously pinned on the horns of wild oxen, the psalm inexplicably turns to praise: “From the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me!” But the fact of God answering is enough for David. It is exactly what David first sought, the problem in the first place was the feeling that God was not responding: “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer“ (verse 2). Now that God has answered, David can move from the depths of despair to the heights of praise. His circumstances might be awful, but God has not abandoned him.
He moves to a vow to praise (again, typical of a lament and something we sometimes do also, “God if you just get me out this I promise I’ll tell all my friends how great you are and go to worship every week the rest of my life and try to be a good person…”). David says “I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (verse 22). David moves quickly to calling on various groups to join him in that praise: all who fear the LORD, offspring of Jacob/Israel, all the ends of the earth, all the families of the nations, all who are dying as well as those yet to be born: “proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it” (verse 31).
The praise moves out like ripples from a stone tossed into a still pond. The faithfulness of God to this one who has been sorely afflicted, and the fact of God’s hearing and answering (verse. 24) leads to witness. The psalmist cannot help but tell of God’s work. This reveals the power of testimony to build not only our own faith but the faith of others as we hear what God is doing. And witness does its work. God’s faithfulness and loving kindness to this one individual leads to worship of the LORD, not just in the psalmist’s immediate family or community, but in the whole world, across space and time. The psalm, which began with an appeal to God’s faithfulness to the ancestors (verse 4), ends by witnessing to coming generations and to a people yet unborn.
Some of you will recognize the opening lament, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 22 is traditionally read on Good Friday, and was used by both Mark and Matthew as a lens through which to view the Crucifixion of Jesus. In the summer, perhaps the psalm can speak to the suffering that attends every life, in every season of the year, not just in Holy Week. The psalm teaches us often-overly-pious Christians how to lament—honestly, passionately, while still holding on to God and God’s promises.
It is also important to be clear that Jesus quoting this verse doesn’t mean he thought God had truly abandoned him. Jesus must have felt on the cross, as at no other time in his life, how the weight of human sin separates a person from God and he endured that for you and for me and for all people. But he also knew the entire psalm and how it moves from lament to affirmation of trust and praise. In quoting from a psalm that connected in a host of ways with the awful experience he was having, Jesus was quoting a psalm that also ends with a testimony of God’s greatness and deliverance (see verse 24).
Psalm 22 teaches us how to lament and praise. The praise that ends a lament in the Bible or in our own prayer doesn’t negate the pain of the person praying. Indeed, the praise is made more robust by the psalmist’s journey through hell. God has answered him, and that has made all the difference.
Sometimes our outward circumstances such as our physical condition, economic troubles, or grief remain the same, but somehow as we pour our pain out to the Lord we know that God has heard us and that makes a difference. That knowledge, the assurance of God’s presence, is enough to move us to praise. Psalm 22 can teach us to lament honestly, to praise the Lord in the midst of hard circumstances, and to witness to the faithfulness of the God who hears and answers, from generation to generation.
HOMEWORK
I want to leave you with some homework. Here are some questions to assist you in writing your own lament to God or to guide you in a verbal prayer. I hope you will find them helpful.
Book Recommendation
Dallas Willard’s Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship With God
For Further Reflection: Writing Your Own Prayer of Lament
Below are questions that you might find helpful for your own reflection. You can use them for writing your own lament or praying them verbally. Feel free to adapt them according to your own situation and way of relating to God.
- Address to God: How do you address God? How do you believe your relationship with the Divine will initiate change in your life situation?
- Complaint: What is your complaint? What anger do you have that may need to be discussed with God?
- Affirmation of trust: Have you experienced God being on your side in the past? Is there something you can look back on and say that you experienced the presence of divine love in your life?
- Petition: What is your deepest desire from God? What do you want for your life situation right now?
- Additional Argument: Having gotten in touch with your desire, is there anything else you want to say to God about your need and why God should intervene? What past situation do you feel like you would like to “remind” God of?
- Curse on enemies: Are there things or people in your life that feel like enemies? How can you bring them to God? How does Jesus’ teaching about enemies in Matthew 5:43-48 impact our praying in regard to enemies?
- Assurance of being heard: What do you need from God to feel heard?
- Vow of praise: What can you promise or offer to God?
- Hymn or blessing: What thing/person/event (no matter how small) can you thank God for? What other things/persons/events can you be grateful for?