BaptistWay: Trusting God in the Darkest Hour

• The BaptistWay Bible Study for March 24 focuses on Psalm 22.

 • Download a powerpoint resource for this lesson here.

Psalm 22 especially is prominent for the church because of multiple quotations and allusions in the New Testament that connect lines from the psalm to Christ’s experience, particularly the agony of the crucifixion. When we read the Psalter, we find a number of psalms reflect similar themes and styles of expression.

Noting this feature, interpreters have identified different types or genres of psalms. The most common type, surprisingly, is the psalm of lament, wherein a psalmist laments or complains to God about some tragedy, injustice or imminent danger. Lament psalms are sometimes quite pointed, or even shocking, in the harshness of their tone (see Psalm 137).

Public display

The fact these laments appear in the Psalter means they represented a major feature in Israelite worship. People of the Old Testament world thought it quite important to express their fear, pain and grief to God in the context of public worship, in contrast to the tendency of modern western culture to eschew such frank expressions of pain at church.

Perhaps the psalmists could help us understand worship is an appropriate place for being honest with God about our fear and suffering. While psalms of lament express pain, they also serve as petitions to God for help, and the vast majority of these psalms also incorporate expressions of confidence in God’s help, praise and even thanksgiving for expected deliverance.

Psalm 22 is classified as a psalm of lament, and it echoes themes common to this psalm type, with a complex intertwining of lament and hope. In his book Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak to Us Today, Bernhard Anderson outlines the structure of Psalm 22 this way: cry of distress (vv. 1-2), expression of trust (vv. 3-5), lament (vv. 6-8), prayer of confidence (vv. 9-10), petition for help (v. 11), another lament (vv. 12-18), another petition for help (vv. 19-21) and song of thanksgiving (vv. 22-28). In this fashion, Psalm 22 moves from “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (v. 1) to “you are the source of my praise” (vv. 25).

Suffering and grief

The psalm is a wonderful model of what to do in a time of pain and struggle, suggesting the following steps for a person in the midst of suffering or grief:

1. Honestly speak to God about your pain and even doubt (vv. 1-2, 6-10, 12-18);

2. find confidence by: (a) remembering how God has delivered his people from struggles throughout history (vv. 4-5), and (b) remembering God’s faithful provision for you in the past (vv. 9-10);

3. seek the closeness of God’s presence in the face of trouble (v. 11);

4. boldly pray for God to deliver you from danger (v. 19-21);

5. witness before others about the goodness of God, and call them to join in praise to the Almighty (vv. 22-28).

Psalm 22 is the poignant expression of an ancient poet’s personal experiences of lament and hope in God. The poem is not a prophetic prediction of what would happen to Christ; however, a Christian reader is struck by some remarkable parallels between the psalmist’s descriptions of his own plight and what happened to Jesus on the cross.

Remarkable parallels

For example, the psalmist speaks of others mocking him with taunts that the God he trusts should save him (vv. 7-8), which the mockery Jesus received on the cross echoes (Matthew 27:39; Mark 15:29; Luke 23:35). The psalmist’s description of physical pain and thirst (vv. 14-15), might remind one of Christ’s pain and thirst in the crucifixion (John 19:28). Psalm 22 speaks of tormenters who cast lots for the psalmist’s clothes (vv. 17-18), which is what the soldiers did with the clothes of the crucified Christ (John 19:23-24).

The most profound parallel comes in the fact Jesus himself quoted from Psalm 22:1 during the crucifixion: “‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:1). At the point of our Lord’s deepest agony, the language of this psalm became his way of expressing pain. The quotation is astounding, for it implies even Jesus, in the suffering of the cross, felt as if he were completely alone, as do some of us when experiencing pain. We can only imagine, though, how much greater was Christ’s agony.

He humbled himself

The quotation of Psalm 22:1 suggests at least two important points about our Lord. First, the depths of Christ’s love meant he “humbled himself” (to recall the language of Philippians 2) even to the point of this deepest of all suffering, the suffering of feeling abandoned, in his identification with our pain and in his sacrifice for our redemption. Second, Jesus was so accustomed to thinking about Scripture and finding in it meaning for his life, that even at—or perhaps especially at—his darkest hour, this Scripture came to mind. While the Gospel writers do not report Jesus quoted any part of Psalm 22 other than verse 1, it may be he also thought about the rest of the psalm and found encouragement in the poem’s bedrock confidence that God is “my Strength” and the one who delivers those who trust in him.