Psalm 22 (part 2): when God seems to turn away
I just realized there are three functional parts to this psalm - and that’s not because I chose to divide it this way to make it convenient for me… there really are three parts. They are best seen if you look at the psalm from Jesus’ point of view, as He is on the cross and utters the first verse.
The first part, which I wrote about yesterday, can be called biographical, or historic. It talks about the foretelling of His birth and his upbringing. The part I’ll write about today can be called the present. It deals with the persecution He was suffering as He lay on the cross. The third is the future, and deals with the victory He was to gain upon His death and resurrection. The three parts are also fairly equal in length, which is also a nice coincidence. The first part spans verses 1-10, the second, verses 11-21, and the third, 22-31.
There are so many references to other Biblical figures in this part, I can’t talk about all of them. But I do want to point out Daniel in verse 13, “Lions ravening and roaring open their jaws at me” and Job in verses 14 and 15, “… my mouth is dry as earthenware, my tongue sticks to my jaw.” The parallel between Job and Jesus can’t be missed here, because their suffering is similar in their separation from God. Both, in their hour of need, were asking for God’s help, and God was not answering. In Job’s case - and it’s not important whether he was a real person or not - we know it was because God wanted to show us that sometimes we simply cannot understand His reasons, and that sometimes He tries us to test our faith. In Jesus’ case, we know it was because He bore the burden of all the sins in the world in those hours, including mine and yours. That’s a lot of sins to bear, and God, understandably, turned His eyes away - the sight of them was too much for Him.
The prophecy foretold in verse 18 and fulfilled in Jesus’ life must be mentioned: “they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” Wow! That happened to the letter! We all know that Roman soldiers considered Jesus’ garment too precious to tear into pieces, so they cast lots for it (see John 19:23-24). How could David know this without God’s inspiration?
Verses 19-21 are a second plea from Jesus to God. The wonderful thing is that, just like in Daniel’s case, the “lions” did not harm Jesus. It’s important to note that the prophecy about not a single bone in his body being broken was fulfilled to the letter - verse 17 says: “I can count every one of my bones, while they look on and gloat.” Even though the legs of the thieves were broken to hasten their deaths, Jesus was already dead. To test his death, a Roman soldier pierced His side with a lance, and a mixture of blood and water came out, fulfilling yet another prophecy (see John 19:31-37).
This is also important for us. We may feel as if God has turned away from us and our prayers do not reach Him. We may feel as if we are surrounded by evil everywhere we turn, and we desperately need His help. We can rest assured that we will get it through earnest prayer, all circumstances aside. God will come through to our aid, make no mistake about it!
