Psalm 22

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me …?” (v1).  The psalmist experienced the desperation of unanswered prayer: “You do not answer … I find no rest” (v2).  He looked back at God’s faithfulness to his ancestors (v4), yet his own distress seemed unending (v11).  Nevertheless, he kept on praying, trusting in God’s character and that someday, “the afflicted will eat and be satisfied” (v26).  

Jesus, dying on the cross, took on our experience of being “forsaken” (Mt 27:46). Yet he also knew the rest of the psalm: God “has not hidden his face” from us (v24). His power and love will have the final word (v31).