Psalm 22

A Psalm a week: Psalm 22

This is a long one, full of great verses and ideas; here are only a couple of the big ideas. Read it for yourself here!

This Psalm of David is really cool because, as I learned it at school, it contains prophecy that Jesus fulfills. After reading the first part of verse 1 (“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”) you may recognize this statement. Many years after this verse was written, Jesus was hanging on a cross and said the same thing (check out Matt 27:46 or Mark 15:34).
Why did Jesus say that? One reason is as follows. The Pharisees, with all their biblical knowledge, would recite passages from the Bible in a funny way. One of them would start by saying the first verse and then the rest of them would finish it. Jesus knew this, and so He appropriately started speaking the words of a Psalm that contained prophecies He fulfilled, so that the Pharisees that surrounded and watched his crucifixion would think to themselves the verses that follow. As we will see, the Psalm continues (verses 16-18) with random statements that happened to Jesus in the moments following his crucifixion. In John 19:24,36,37 we see these verses of Psalms repeated… “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots”, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken”, and “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.” It is really amazing that years before Jesus was even born, God was putting prophecies in the Bible that His Son would fulfill. It is just further proof that God had to inspire the words of the Bible, for 40 different men could not have written such perfectly prophesied words and verses. Awesome.

So besides this Psalm being an amazing testament to the perfectly, inspired word of God, it also has great comfort for Christians today. The title of this Psalm in my Bible says “A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise”. Repeated throughout this Psalm, we see cries of pain or loneliness, a cry for deliverance, then we see a song of praise remarking on how holy and awesome our God really is. The first two verses are a cry of anguish, a cry for deliverance from words, but David remarks in verse three “Yet You are holy.” Again we see the reoccurring theme that in pain and times of trouble, God is there for us. Holy is such a weird word, what does it even mean? Upon researching this word, it means “pure, loving nature and separate from evil”. God’s holiness demands a response of worship, which is where David’s songs of praise come in. “22 I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. 23You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you [e] will I fulfill my vows. 26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him may your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, 28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. 29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him those who cannot keep themselves alive.”
So, to sum it all up, God is all knowing (fulfilling prophecies in Jesus and composing the Bible in perfection) and God is comforting to those who diligently seek His face, worship Him, for He alone is worthy of praise, and live to give God the glory in their lives.

God bless!

p.s. sorry for the delay this week :/