Psalm 22 — Feelings & Patience

For the Chief Musician; set to Aijeleth hash-Shahar. A Psalm of David.

1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the day-time, but thou answerest not;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy,
O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee:
They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered:
They trusted in thee, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn:
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 Commit thyself unto the LORD; let him deliver him:
Let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out the womb:
Thou didst make me trust when I was upon my mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb:
Thou art my God from my mother's belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me:
Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gape upon me with their mouth,
As a ravening and a 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 in the midst of my bowels.
15 My Strength is dried up like a potsherd;
And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws;
And thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me:
The assembly of evil-doers have enclosed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones;
They look and stare upon me:
18 They part my garments among them,
And upon my vesture do they cast lots.
19 But be not thou far off, O LORD:
O thou my succour, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword;
My darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion's mouth;
Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren:
In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him;
All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him;
And stand in awe of him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Neither hath he hid his face from him;
But when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 Of thee cometh my praise in the great congregation:
I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied:
They shall praise the LORD that seek after him:
Let your heart live for ever.
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the LORD:
And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD's:
And he is the ruler over the nations
29 All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship:
All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him,
Even he that cannot keep his soul alive.
30 A seed shall serve him;
It shall be told of the Lord unto the next generation.
31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness
Unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it.

In this psalm of despair and patience, Daivd first pleads for help and then sits with trust within the Lord.

The opening half, speaking of David's despair, is vivid and passionate. He is out of joint and poured out - he is dried up and at the dust of death. His desperate plea to the Lord is because, first, he came to life by the Lord from the first, knowing God at his mother's breasts. Secondly, standing at the dust of death and being a mere man, made from dust himself, what can he possibly do on his own? He needs God, just as do we, today.

The second half of the psalm isn't an energetic change or a miraculous event. It is, rather, a deliberate pattern of patient & trusting behaviors. He shares the Lord's name - he praises the Lord and urges others to do the same. David is confident that the Lord hears.

It is not his deliverance that changes the tone of the psalm. Indeed, the deliverance is simply something he trusts will sometime come. The kingdom is the Lord's, this is enough. That the Lord's greatness will be shared with those yet to be born is enough. This calm patience is what we need - what I need - today.