📅 August 29, 2026
📚 BELIEVE HIS PROPHETS
📖 Daily Bible Reading: 🎵 Psalm 22
✝️ My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?
✨ From the Deepest Suffering to Victory—the Psalm That Points Forward to Christ
🌐 Read online here
🌅 Introduction
Psalm 22 is one of the most powerful messianic psalms in the Bible. David describes an experience of extreme abandonment, mockery, and physical distress. Yet his words reach far beyond his personal story. Centuries later, several statements from this psalm reappear in the accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus Himself speaks its opening words on the cross: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The psalm, however, does not end with suffering and death. Its movement leads from lament to trust, from humiliation to praise, and finally to a worldwide hope: people from every nation will turn to the Lord.
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🔍 Commentary
The psalm begins with a devastating cry: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” David experiences a darkness in which God’s presence no longer seems perceptible. He cries out during the day and throughout the night, yet the answer he longs for does not come at first. Nevertheless, he continues to say, “My God.” Even amid the feeling of abandonment, he holds firmly to his relationship with God.
David then recalls the history of his people. Their ancestors trusted in God, cried out to Him, and were delivered. At first, this memory intensifies his own pain: others experienced help—why does it now seem so distant? At the same time, the memory of God’s faithfulness in the past provides a reason not to let go, even in the present darkness.
David then describes his profound humiliation. He no longer feels like a human being, but like a “worm,” mocked and despised. The people shake their heads and ridicule his trust in God. Their mockery is especially striking: he trusted in the Lord, so let God rescue him now, if He truly delights in him.
These same ideas appear later in the account of Jesus’ crucifixion. The Gospels describe how the people mocked Jesus and essentially said that God should rescue Him if He truly was the Son of God. Psalm 22 thus acquires a prophetic depth that extends far beyond David’s personal experience.
Despite the mockery, David remembers that God has sustained him from the beginning of his life. From his mother’s womb, he was cast upon Him. Therefore, he pleads: “Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.” Humanly speaking, his situation appears hopeless, and for that very reason, he seeks God’s presence.
The images of suffering now become increasingly intense. Powerful animals surround him, his strength drains away, his heart becomes like wax, his throat is dry, and he lies close to death. The language describes a person whose physical and emotional strength is almost completely exhausted.
Particularly striking are the statements about his hands and feet and the dividing of his garments: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” The Gospels explicitly report that, at Jesus’ crucifixion, the soldiers divided His garments among themselves and cast lots for His clothing.
Psalm 22 therefore becomes one of the most significant Old Testament passages for understanding the suffering of Christ. Centuries before Calvary, it contains images and words that find a remarkable correspondence in the events of the crucifixion.
The psalm, however, does not end in darkness. After the desperate plea for deliverance, the tone suddenly changes. David declares that God has heard him. The sufferer’s cry becomes the testimony of one who has been rescued.
He now desires to proclaim God’s name to his brothers and praise the Lord in the congregation. Personal deliverance leads to public worship. What God has done for one individual should give courage to others.
Especially important is the statement that God has not despised the suffering of the afflicted or permanently hidden His face from him. At the beginning of the psalm, the worshiper feels abandoned; now he recognizes that God has nevertheless heard his cry for help.
The perspective then expands in an astonishing way. Not only Israel, but “all the ends of the world” will turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will worship before Him. From the suffering of one individual arises hope for the entire world.
Here, the messianic dimension of the psalm becomes especially clear. Christ’s suffering on the cross does not remain an isolated event. Through His death and resurrection, the message of salvation is proclaimed to every nation.
The psalm even looks ahead to future generations. People who have not yet been born will hear about God’s righteousness. The saving work of God is to be passed on from one generation to the next.
Psalm 22 thus follows an extraordinary path: it begins with “Why have You forsaken Me?” and ends with the proclamation of what God has done. Darkness does not have the final word. Suffering leads to victory, abandonment to praise, and apparent defeat to a message that reaches the nations.
For Christians, Jesus Christ stands at the center of this psalm. On the cross, He bore the consequences of sin and passed through a depth of suffering that we can scarcely comprehend. Yet Calvary was not the end. The resurrection confirms His victory, and the message of the crucified and risen Christ is carried to the ends of the earth.
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📌 Summary
Psalm 22 begins with the desperate cry of a suffering person who feels forsaken by God. Mockery, physical agony, and the nearness of death dominate the first part. Several details later find remarkable parallels in the crucifixion of Jesus, which is why Psalm 22 is one of the most significant messianic psalms. Yet the psalm does not end in suffering: God hears the cry for help, praise arises, and finally hope extends to every nation and future generation.
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💡 Message for Us Today
There may be times when God seems distant and our prayers appear to remain unanswered. Psalm 22 shows that we may express even this deepest lament before God. The feeling of abandonment does not mean that God has ceased to work. On the cross, Jesus Himself passed through unimaginable suffering and revealed how far God’s love is willing to go to save lost humanity. Therefore, even in our darkest hours, we may hold firmly to Christ: the cross shows that suffering does not have the final word, and the resurrection confirms that God’s salvation is stronger than sin, despair, and death.
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💭 Thought for Reflection
Can I continue to hold on to God and still say “my God” even when I cannot feel His presence and cannot yet see how He will continue writing my story?
