Psalm 22 – Feeling Forgotten

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? (Psalm 22:1)

Does the beginning verse of this Psalm sound familiar? These are the same words Jesus cried out in Matthew 27:46, as he was suffering excruciating pain on the cross. David, too, had many instances in his life where he could have penned this sentiment. In David’s life, there were countless times that he found himself in impossible situations and wondered why God didn’t rescue him immediately.

For some of you right now, this may seem like a time where God has abandoned you or forsaken you. You may be losing your job or not having enough money to make ends meet for the next week. As one Old Testament scholar described feeling forsaken as “to have the light of God’s countenance and the sense of his presence eclipsed, which is what happened to Jesus as he bore the wrath of God against sin for us.”  Yet this feeling of abandonment lasted only a short moment as Jesus went back to the Father, and David remembered God’s faithfulness with his fathers who went before him.  We, too, need to cling to God’s faithfulness as He proved to David, and move forward with hope that during this turbulent time, we are not forgotten by our Heavenly Father. May you feel God’s love, comfort, and grace throughout this day and in the days to come.