Psalm 22:1-11 - The Path of Suffering Leads to Glory

Chad Werkhoven
Apr 18
6 min read

Find the key to experiencing peace in the midst of suffering.

Psalm 22:1–11 (NIV)

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from my cries of anguish?

2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

you are the one Israel praises.

4 In you our fathers put their trust;

they trusted and you delivered them.

5 To you they cried out and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,

“let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him.”

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;

you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.

10 From birth I was cast on you;

from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Articles 1-14

Article 17: The Salvation of the Infants of Believers

Since we must make judgments about God’s will from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy,
1. not by nature
2. but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included,
Godly parents
1. ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children
2. whom God calls out of this life in infancy.

Summary

We don't know what crisis King David faced as he penned Psalm 22, but it certainly must have been significant. God Himself described David as a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), and yet there were moments that this man who was so close to God felt forsaken and like his cries of anguish went unheard.

It would have been bad enough if David were truly alone in his misery, but the people surrounding him only made matters worse. He felt scorned and despised by everyone as they hurled insults, shaking their heads at David's misfortune. It wasn't just that David had fallen on hard times that provoked their ire; it was that he trusted in the LORD but yet fell down anyway. Their taunts of let the LORD save and deliver him dripped with irony; if the LORD had allowed (and maybe even caused) David's troubles in the first place, His salvation wouldn't be of much value.

But David does here what we've seen so often when heroes of the Bible struggle: he falls back on his theology. David knows the LORD is enthroned as the Holy One and that the generations who came before trusted Him and were not put to shame. David knows that from the very moment that the LORD brought him out of the womb that the LORD has been his God.

Reminding yourself who and what God is in the depth of your struggles refocuses your attention from the afflictions du jour, broadening your perspective. As you dwell on God's covenant faithfulness and His sovereign promise to work all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), your present problems begin to seem much smaller.

It's theology like what David supplies in Psalm 22, recognizing that he had been tightly held in God's hands from his earliest moments, that those grieving the loss of a child can cling to in knowing that without any doubt such a child has eternal salvation because it is rooted by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included.

Dig Deeper

Most of you are reading this on Good Friday, recognizing the moment that the opening words of David's psalm were infamously uttered by our dying Savior. Commentator Mark Futato notes,

The path that David traversed was the path of suffering that leads to glory. This was the path that Jesus traversed in the extreme. Because Jesus Christ has traversed this path for us, we too can traverse it. No, we must traverse it, for “if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering” (Rom 8:17). Psalm 22 is a remarkable guide along the way. It points us to the mixture of pain, faith, and prayer in this present age. It points us to the glory that is ours in the midst of the pain, as it points us to glory that awaits us in the future. It points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has gone before us and will go with us to the very end.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is enthroned as the Holy One;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray along with David: Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: