22 May 2024 - Psalm 22

God, why are You so far away?

Psalm 22:1-2(NLT) reads: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.

What stood out for me when reading this Psalm, was the authenticity of David as he speaks to God. He openly expresses his feelings: that God is distant from him, the seeming absence of God in his life. He calls upon the Lord yet feels that God neither hears him nor cares about his suffering. This isn't solely David's experience. It echoes the feelings of many of God's people when they face profound adversity.

Yet even in David's intense pain — a pain felt in body, soul, and spirit — he remains cognisant of God's presence. He commences this Psalm with My God, my God, signifying his personal relationship with God. Amidst his tribulations, David recognises God as his sole beacon of hope, recalling His past acts of kindness.

Psalm 22:4-5(NLT) says: Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced.

Later in this Psalm, even as David grapples with his dire circumstances, feeling abandoned by God and encircled by adversaries, he arrives at a pivotal realisation: God remains his sole refuge.

Psalm 22:9-11(NLT) states: Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast. I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born. Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help me.

Always remember, when you feel distant from God, when you sense He isn't listening or when you feel ensnared by challenges, trust that God will see you through. As Dillon Burroughs aptly said - “God is never late and rarely early. He is always exactly right on time--His time.”