By Pamela Rose Williams
“But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.” (Psalm 22:19)
As I read today’s verse, I was reminded of how many times we read in the Bible that people cry out to the LORD. Even those that had great faith because they simply believed that the LORD would always protect them. In fact, in this Psalm (vs 6-8) David’s enemies are mocking him for trusting in the LORD:
“All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”
But look at how the Psalm starts out with such lack of faith — or is it? “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (vs 1)” Does that sound familiar to you? Well, it did to me. In fact, I know that these were some of Jesus’ last words on the cross. So, of course that caused me look to the Bible for where I might find His words. And I found that it is the only saying of Jesus that is recorded in more than one Gospel account. We see it here:
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)
“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)
Look closer in the context. In the passages from Matthew 27 (vs 42-44) and in Mark 15 (vs 29-32) the people are mocking Jesus. They are basically saying “He said He was the Messiah, yet He cannot save Himself”! But what I find to be most interesting is that Jesus only cried out the first verse of Psalm 22. To me it is interesting but to most of the people present at the crucifixion that first verse would have triggered the entire context of the Psalm, and they would have understood the exact meaning of Jesus cry. Just as in all of the other words that Jesus spoke on earth, these words were teaching!
We must remember that Jesus is fully God and fully man. The human aspect of Jesus is just as important as the God aspect. His cry was that of our Savior who was suffering the death as our penalty for sin. He stepped down from His throne to take on our humanity for the sake of His creation. He knew He had to do His Father’s will and He knew that God would use it to prove to the people that He was indeed the Messiah in spite of their ridicule.
Don’t we sometimes want to just tell God not to leave us? Don’t we sometimes doubt that God can fix things for us? Don’t we often forget that He created the world in 6 days and our little problem is truly a drop in the bucket for Him? Don’t we sometimes think He is taking way too long to help us? Unlike Jesus, don’t we sometimes forget that others are watching how we are handling our circumstance and that indeed we can use it as a teaching moment just like Jesus did?
Oh! How wonderful are the words of God. They never grow old nor lose their power. Lord, please help me to remember that you will NEVER leave nor forsake me. You are our strength and our courage:
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
