THE SUFFERER’S PSALM

 

Psalms 22:1 (NIV)
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

               In preparing for Good Friday, I have been struck again by Jesus’ cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” His words come right out of the first verse of Palm 22. As it happens, in my devotions today I was directed to read Psalm 22. In addition to that, I have been reading Philip Yancey’s book, Where is God When It Hurts, which dovetails with Psalm 22.

               The big question that we all struggle with when pain and suffering come into our lives is why? It hangs in the air over our head demanding some kind of an answer. Yet, the answer rarely comes. We might get a partial answer. I had a heart attack because I allowed my cholesterol to get too high. In one way that answers the question, but it isn’t very satisfying. The real question we are asking is, why did God allow this to happen to me? It is the question at the heart of the book of Job and it is the question on the minds of a majority of people, whether they believe in God or not.

               I had a friend who claimed to be an agnostic. He suffered from clinical depression and was on permanent disability. He challenged me with the age-old question, if there is a good God, why would he allow me to suffer like this?

               Neither the book of Job nor Psalm 22 answer that question. Instead, they both point us beyond the why question to call us to examine our response to our circumstances. Jesus literally brought all this together on the cross.

               When Jesus cried out those words on the cross, he was directing us not to His despair, but to his response. If we look carefully at Psalm 22, we can see two things. We can see a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death on the cross. In graphic terms, the Psalm depicts what Jesus endured on the cross. It is as if the Psalm writer were standing by recording Jesus’ experience.

               Jesus often pointed back to the Scriptures to show that they were speaking about him. He did this both before and after his death and resurrection. His cry on the cross was one more example of Him saying, look! This fulfills what was predicted long ago. Jesus’ cry of desperation would not have been lost on the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. They would have instantly recognized those words. They were an indictment against those who sought to silence Jesus.

               But I think there is something else here. Something we can hang onto in our times of suffering. Jesus is giving us a pattern to follow. A path through suffering to faith.

               When we suffer, the first place we should take our suffering is to God. We often complain loudly about our suffering and imply that God is not fair, but do we talk with God about it? Complaining to others is not the same as taking our suffering to God. It is both okay and right for us to express what we are suffering to God. He understands and He can handle it. Jesus experienced our suffering on the cross. He stands with us in our suffering.

               As we unburden our hearts to God, we need to remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness in the past. The Psalmist remembers that God helped the people of Israel in their time of suffering and that God had been present in his life from the beginning. When we face suffering, we need to remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness in the past. We can look back at times when we faced a challenge and God got us through, even though it was hard. It is easy to forget that in the midst of suffering, but it changes our response to suffering when we remember.

               This brings us to a critical choice. Will we trust God in the midst of this situation or not? The Psalmist pleads with God to be present in the midst of his suffering, but he also expresses his trust that God will indeed act on his behalf. Psalm 22 ends with a call to praise God for who He is. The Psalmist is confident that God will act on his behalf.

               Jesus was honest about His suffering, but He was also confident that the Father would not abandon Him. According to the Gospel of Luke, the last words of Jesus before He died were, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Jesus died in the confidence of the Father’s love even in the midst of great suffering.

               In our times of suffering, we can choose to become bitter and turn away from God or we can choose to turn toward God and seek comfort from Him. The path of bitterness only leads to more pain and suffering. The path of faith, although it may not alleviate the immediate pain, will lead to hope and comfort.

               We live in a fallen, broken world. It is a world filled with pain and suffering because of sin. Paul places our suffering in the context of living in a broken world.

Romans 8:18-28 (NIV)
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

               Jesus gave us a reality check and a promise regarding our life on this planet. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NIV)

               Jesus lived out Psalm 22 on the cross for us. He fully entered our suffering so that He could comfort us in the midst of suffering. Pain and suffering throw us off balance. Faith in God can restore that balance if we will have the courage to trust the one who gave His life for us.

Job 13:15 (NIV)
Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.