Why Have you Forsaken Me? (Psalm 22) (10/11/26)

Good morning come to preach to you today out

of Psalm 22 Psalm 22 let me read it for you My

god my god, why have you forsaken me? Why are

you so far from saving me? From the words of

my groaning. Oh my god, I cried by day, but you

do not answer and by night, but I find no rest

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of

Israel. In you our fathers trusted. They trusted

and you delivered them. To you they cried and

were rescued. In you they trusted and were not

put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me.

They wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord.

Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, for

he delights in him. Yet you are he who took me

from the womb. You made me trust you at my mother's

breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and

from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be

not far from me, for trouble is near, and there

is none to help. Many bulls encompass me. Strong

bulls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their

mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water, and all of my bones

are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is

melted within my breast. My strength is dried

up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my

jaws. You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs

encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles

me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can

count all my bones. They stare and gloat over

me. They divide my garments among them, and for

my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord,

do not be far off. O you, my help, come quickly

to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my

precious life from the power of the dog. Save

me from the mouth of the lion. You have rescued

me from the horns of the wild oxen. 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 you offspring of Jacob glorify

him and Stand in awe of him all you offspring

of Israel for he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted and He has not

hidden his face from him, but he has heard when

he cried to him From you comes my praise in the

great congregation my vows. I will perform before

those who fear him The afflicted shall eat and

be satisfied Those who seek him shall praise

the Lord May your hearts live forever All the

ends of the earth shall remember and turn to

the Lord and all the families of the nation shall

worship before you For kingship belongs to the

Lord and he rules over the nations All the prosperous

of the earth shall eat earth eat and worship

before him shall bow down all who go down to

the dust Even the one who could not keep himself

alive Posterity shall serve him and it shall

be told of the Lord to the coming generation

They shall come and proclaim his righteousness

to a people yet unborn that he has done it this

is I'm used to ending the Psalm with a Gloria

Patri, but we've already done that today, but

this is the Word of the Lord. Let's pray before

the sermon. Father, thank you for your Word.

Thank you for deep and complex insights from

your music book that tell us how our feelings

are able to be and what is actually at work in

the background when things seem grim. I pray

that this would work its way into our hearts

as it is your spirit's word. And it is for your

glory and for our pleasure's sake. In Jesus'

name I pray. This is a long psalm and I'm not

going to preach through each verse. So you're

not getting a 30 part exposition. I intend to

mainly focus on the opening phrase, my God, my

God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so

far from saving me from the words of my groaning?

Or why are you so far from the words of my groaning?

Oh My god, I cry by day, but you do not answer

and by night, but I find no rest There are a

couple other Pieces that I want to point out

to verse 19, but you Oh Lord do not be far off.

Oh You my help come quickly to my aid to be followed

by the last verse that says he has done it so

here's the question this psalm starts with a

shocking statement that god has abandoned the

singer and the question is has god abandoned

the singer because the psalm tells us when i

cry for help he heard me and he has done it so

what's going on here this is a complex thing

it's not um the bible gets the respect should

get the respect of being read like an intelligent

piece of literature and not just like some words

thrown out. When I was in the 10th grade, I remember

being in my Algebra II class and talking about

the Bible because we didn't just do math in there.

We sat around and talked when the teacher was

busy. And I was talking about the Bible with

someone else and a nearby girl said, The Bible

is just a list of do's and don'ts There's nothing

else to that story because I can't remember what

happened next, but it made an impression on me

Because I this is the first time I ever actually

encountered somebody who thought this I was I

lived in what we called there the buckle of the

Bible belt in North, Texas and Lots of places

maybe call themselves that but we did Most people

I knew there as a child were church people who

had a deep personal relationship with the Bible

But I came to understand that non -believers

did not have that experience with God that was

needed to understand that the Bible was complex

and that God's Word was lovingly written to handle

the difficulties of real life When I was in the

eighth grade, I got into a disagreement with

a girl in class who did not like me reading verses

out of the Bible to someone else. We got into

a conversation. She was upset about it. She scooped

my Bible out of my hand and threw it on the floor

and told me that I would be disappointed by God's

absence from reality when I died. She told me

in anger that she had known someone close who

was dying and that she and her people had prayed

and nothing happened. and he died anyway. I had

a friend a few years ago who was becoming increasingly

disappointed that God was not answering his prayers

for specific things and he was becoming angry

with God but his anger led him to greater and

greater disbelief until he quit trying to believe

altogether. I tell you all these anecdotes to

say there are going to be times in many or most

of our lives where God seems distant. He seems

not to have shown up on time when we called for

him I want to tell you that God there that God

who is loving and wise Has made us a point to

tell us in the Bible that he knows He will seem

distant at times. I I think it's um an interesting

contrast a Couple of stories one of which we

we heard this morning in the lectionary reading

that when Moses was on the mountain, he delayed

in coming down. And when the people noticed it

was taking a long time for Moses to come back,

they resorted to other gods. They said, well,

we sent Moses up there to ask help from our God,

but our God and his man are taking too long.

We feel abandoned. So let's go to these golden

idols for help. In contrast to that in the New

Testament John 11 when Jesus Is told that Lazarus

is sick? Sick to death he's getting close to

the end The Bible tells us that Jesus delayed

on purpose Going back But then when Jesus shows

up his friends there are still faithful Now what

do these faithful closest friends of Jesus do?

when he shows up to them. You remember what question

he has met with, what response he has met with

as soon as he gets there? Jesus, if you had been

here, Lazarus would not have died. So he has

a complaint given to him that he left them without

resource. You weren't here. That is similar to

saying you abandoned us. But you see this is

a different response from the response of the

people with Aaron and the golden calf Aaron and

the people of the golden calf used their frustration

at God's timing to turn away from him and Mary

and Martha used their frustration at God's timing

to turn toward him and Jesus Says to them. I

am the resurrection and the life and he raises

Lazarus from the dead. There's a point There

is something good going on Not only is there

something good going on and that Lazarus was

raised from the dead and they got to see his

glory and we got to learn Jesus Statement that

I am the resurrection in the life, but it was

absolutely crucial that Lazarus died Do you know

why you needed Lazarus to die? Because you needed

Lazarus to be raised from the dead. Do you know

why you needed Lazarus to be raised from the

dead? Because Jesus needed a reason to be crucified

the resurrection of Lazarus is the trigger that

Jesus used to get the Pharisees to crucify him

and that's it actually what the Bible tells us

it's not just an interpretation they went and

said we can't have this he's raising people from

the dead we got to we got to put an end to this

so they made a plan to kill him it was important

that God not do what they wanted it was better

for them that he not do what they wanted when

they wanted it. Can you think of who is the most

famous person in the Bible that prayed for something

and didn't get it? It's Jesus. Jesus in the night

before he was crucified said three times, Father,

let this cup pass for me. If it's any way possible

that this crucifixion cannot happen, it says

he was worried. He said it says that he was worried

to death It actually says that that he had turmoil

and it said he told the disciples he was sick

to death and yet God didn't answer his inner

turmoil with giving him what he asked for and

It was necessary Elsewhere the Bible tells us

that Jesus endured the cross Because it was worth

it He mocked it shame because it was worth it

That he would be raised from the dead and sit

down at the right hand of the father if you can

imagine a child Having to go into an MRI machine

Have any of you ever had to go into an MRI machine

before? You think you're getting capsulated in

this really loud environment and you get cuts

you off from the rest of the world It's it's

there's this clicking and buzzing. It just goes

on and on for like an hour The child's parents

if the child had to go into that would be wanting

to say beforehand You won't be able to see us

But rest assured we will still be there When

you can't see us we can still see you We have

situations in life where we feel like that and

when we ask where is God he's given us Psalm

22 as one of the ways of telling us, when you

can't see me, I can still see you. The Bible

confirms for us that the language of how we feel

is appropriate, even appropriate for worship.

It does feel like God has abandoned us at times.

There are different kinds of Psalms for various

occasions, and we know that the Psalms of lament

cry out to God. We've been given a whole set

of various Psalms that say things like this.

Like Psalm 44 says, awake. Why are you sleeping,

O God? Rouse yourself. Do not reject us forever.

Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget

our affliction and oppression? I want to teach

you in this in this sermon in this moment that

when the Bible speaks this way It does a couple

things one it one it approves that language for

worship. It's okay for you to in your prayer

time say to God I Kind of feel like you're not

Doing what I expect you're not showing up But

it also teaches us that these language this language

while it is given to us to say to God Is about

our feelings and not about reality So God says

I give you permission to emote in prayer But

you also need to know that when you think I've

hidden my face. I have not hidden my face It

actually literally says that in the psalm it

says I'll find it. I'm trying to pull this out

of order in the sermon. It's later in there I'll

come back to it so I don't have to search with

my small print here In order to properly make

this point. I need to to say that one God Does

at times abandon us? It does feel like God abandons

us But the second point that we'll get to is

that God never ever abandons us The apparent

contradiction is found fully in this psalm in

a single package so that we can tell that it's

intentional It's not just you read this psalm

and it kind of said somebody wrote this psalm

and it sounds morose Somebody wrote this psalm

and it sounds triumphant and they just kind of

got stuck into a book together By two guys who

didn't really know the same God had different

ideas about religion but David writes this psalm

David himself writes this psalm and The two parts

of it are not only in the same psalm together

But they also show up elsewhere in the Bible

quoted together as two halves that need to go

together And I'll show you that in a minute,

but at first let's look at how How thoroughly

it describes that bad feeling of being abandoned

in verse 11 He says be not far from me for trouble

is near and there is none to help In verse 14.

He says I am poured out like water All my bones

are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is

melted within my breast In verse 15, my strength

is dried up. My tongue sticks to my jaws. You

lay me in the dust of death We we know that this

psalm Is a messianic psalm and we also recognize

this psalm as being deeply connected to the event

of the crucifixion I don't know if you remember

as we read through there were lots of descriptions

that sound like it's reporting on Jesus at the

cross It says in that section for for dogs encompass

me a company of evildoers encircles me You imagine

around the cross that the people circle circling

I can count all my bones As he had been whipped

and it says his bones were visible They stare

at me and gloat over me. They divide my garments

among them and for my clothing they cast lots

We know that literally happened at the cross

It also says in verse 8 he trusts in the Lord.

Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him for he

delights in him And that is actually literally

quoted out of the mouths of the people around

the cross in Matthew 27. So there's lots of pieces

describing the cross. It actually literally even

says they pierced my hands and my feet. So this

is a fairly thorough going description of the

cross. But what is the first verse and what are

the last verse? We'll look at that. Do you know

that there are seven famous sayings? It's the

seven last sayings of Jesus from the cross. Two

of them come from this Psalm. The first verse,

Jesus says, is what is said in Matthew 27, 46.

About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a

loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lema sabachthani.

That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken

me? So Jesus begins to quote Psalm 22 from the

cross and we read in John 1930 When Jesus had

received the sour wine. He said it is Finished

and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Let's look at the last verse of Psalm 22 They

shall come and proclaim his righteousness to

a people yet unborn that he has done it He has

done it. There is the trans the same the same

phrase as it is finished. So he actually says

both the first and the last verse of this psalm

from the cross. He's experiencing the cross as

it was prophesied to be for that moment. But

you notice that the my God why have you forsaken

me part is how it feels to the psalmist at the

beginning but the rest of the psalm goes on to

describe how he has called on the Lord the Lord

has heard him has not shamed his affliction will

do what he says and he has done it so when Jesus

is saying it is finished he is affirming that

God has not actually abandoned him Okay, so Jesus

we it's a it's a problem if we accidentally not

knowing this Psalm Make our theology about the

cross from the fact that Jesus says my god Why

have you forsaken me and we go to tell people

well got Jesus was Forsaken on the cross and

God turned his back on Jesus the Bible Cannot

abide that do you know what it says? in Hebrews

in Hebrews 13 it tells us in verse Quoting the

Old Testament it says as He has said I will never

leave you Nor will I ever forsake you So it can't

be both. He can't promise I will never forsake

you and then we we hear Jesus God in God incarnate

say to God you have forsaken me Build a theology

that God sometimes forsakes us sometimes he he

forsook Jesus Because God promised never to forsake

his people But it is completely possible to make

a theology that God has room for us to tell him

it feels like he has forsaken us because we have

Whole complex pieces of music sung to start off

with I feel really bad God I feel very abandoned.

And yet, when I come to worship, I repeat the

fact amongst my brothers that I called out to

you. You heard my cry. You did not despise my

affliction. You have heard my cry and you have

come to my rescue. One of the benefits of seeing

that Jesus himself went through this is knowing

that when you feel that lowest moment, and you

feel that you are alone, who is with you? Jesus

is with you in that affliction. We do not have

a God who cannot understand us in our afflictions.

We have a God who has participated in our humanity

and who has understood what it feels like to

suffer through the plans of God, the good plans

of God. That involve suffering and the Bible

says in Hebrews 13 That same passage that says

he will never leave us or forsake us It says

so Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order

to sanctify the people through his own blood

Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and

bear the reproach he endured we Suffer with him.

It's Philippians tells us that we will be glorified

with him it Provided that we also suffer with

him We are as the body of Christ You know it

was the body that of Jesus himself literal body

that was put to death on the cross and as the

figurative Body of Christ the body of Christ

suffers in front of the world the but it actually

tells us in in Colossians that we fill up what

is lacking in the sufferings of Christ in front

of the world Which doesn't mean that anything

is lacking. It's a phrase a turn of phrase. That

means God prepared the suffering of Jesus and

that we are Using up what is remaining of it

for the world to see the cross is being born

out in our lives There are times that it is necessary

for God's good plan to happen Like Lazarus that

he wait that he hides from our vision But he

doesn't hide from seeing us and taking care of

us It's necessary sometimes to put us in the

MRI tube and to tell us as Children hand the

Psalm 22 to us and say I'm not going anywhere

You're going to feel very alone now, but I am

not, I'm not gone. I still see you. So, so far

we have talked about the, there's the benefit

of knowing that this language is available to

us in worship and also the truth that God is

actually present. He is actually present in our,

in our distress, but It is also important to

finally to think about what should you do when

you end up in one of these situations? What's

the benefit of knowing? There is comfort in knowing

that God is there, but what should you do about

it? When you pray, I imagine any number of us

can know people or have experienced times when

we've prayed for the same thing for decades and

haven't seen the answer. What do you do about

that frustrating moment or that frustrating request?

the psalm leads us to stay faithful to the Lord

in the midst of his apparent absence and to continue

to worship and It says that the result of those

who are watching There are two two groups of

people. It says that are watching one. It says

that there are people mocking There are people

wagging their heads and saying Let God take care

of him if he delights in him. God will take care

of it. They mean it as a joke. There's another

group that says that in the sight of all the

congregation when God has rescued him, he bears

witness that God did this. God has taken care

of him. The world is watching. I think that many

of us have made decisions as Christians to do

things that don't make sense to people we know.

Don't make sense to the world around us. You

waste your Sunday mornings in church. You have

more children than you have money for. You get

married at a young age and quit. Quit playing

the field. Who knows what kinds of things? I

mean, those are basically normal seeming decisions.

There would be any number of I won't go into

business with this person because I don't trust

his ethics or I won't do this. I won't do this

thing. You will do things as a Christian. Other

people will say come on That's that's that's

foolish and you say well, I think I should do

this and then when you do it it doesn't go well

for you and you suffer in front of those people

and You're going to be tempted to go to God and

say May I say tempted may not be the right thing.

You may need to go to God and say I Did what

you asked me to and I am suffering Because I

obeyed you that you have permission to say if

you do that in order to say and Yet you are holy

and I trust you and I want to prepare myself

for the time when you vindicate yourself By continuing

to worship now Jesus was mocked by people who

said he trusts in God. Let God take care of him

And yet Jesus was faithful all the way to death

We may have to be faithful in these times. Even

to the point of death, we may not see the result

that we are asking for, but God's Word will be

vindicated. And in the future, in our resurrected

state, we will have the pleasure of seeing God's

glory and our pleasure together in having trusted

Him. But what is important is that the world

needs to see that God's people trust Him despite

the difficulty. And when God glorifies himself

in front of the world, you will have left things

in a good position for them to see and fear and

put their trust in the Lord. I want to finish

by, I want to read you a quote I read. Somebody

I know recently posted some words from the end

of a sermon. So I'm I'm I'm not plagiarizing

because I'm telling you where it's coming from

Yeah, if I have made my pages Two different here

it goes. All right This is Peter light heart

from a sermon apparently from 10 or 11 years

ago What's going on when we don't get what we

ask? It may be many things but Jesus makes it

clear that one thing is definitely not going

on This is not God giving you stones for bread

a snake or a scorpion instead of fish This is

not God giving you the short end of the stick

This is not God keeping the door locked He doesn't

do that never ever ever He gives good gifts to

his children always always always Nothing but

good God always gives you what you ask or something

even better It's hard to understand sometimes.

That's the end of the quote. It's hard to understand

sometimes but what God has prepared for his people

is goodness and He has done it in Final final

conclusion. Let me tell you what you do when

you get to the end of Psalm 22 and the feelings

that you've been abandoned you turn the page

and you read the Lord is my shepherd I shall

not want he makes me lie down in green pastures

even though I walk through the valley of the

shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are

with me your rod and your staff they comfort

me surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life and I shall dwell in

the house of the Lord forever that's on the next

page God is always good to us even when it feels

bad so you It's okay to say so, but the truth

is he's with you. And because of that, come to

him and worship. It will help keep the guardrails

on your fear and your anger. Praying with the

Psalm will help you keep the guardrails on the

way that you feel, so that it reminds you, not

only can you tell God how you feel, but the truth,

you are not abandoned. Let's pray. Father, I

thank you so much for Never actually abandoning

us. I also thank you for choosing hard things

for us that are the right things even if we wouldn't

like it Because those things are good and you

are wise and you are holy Thank you for glorifying

yourself and thank you for letting us be included

in your family in your pleasure in the resurrection

in your future in your kingdom I pray that we

would be faithful stewards of your salvation,

that people watching us would be able to see

and fear and put their trust in the Lord. In

Jesus' name I pray, amen.