When God feels far away, remember that your head is still wet.
Read / Listen
Read Psalm 22:1-10
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 74
Q. Should infants, too, be baptized?
A. Yes.
Infants as well as adults
are in God’s covenant
and are his people.
They, no less than adults, are promised
the forgiveness of sin
through Christ’s blood
and the Holy Spirit
who produces faith.
Therefore, by baptism,
the mark of the covenant,
infants should be received
into the Christian church
and should be distinguished
from the children of unbelievers.
This was done in the Old Testament
by circumcision,
which was replaced in the New Testament
by baptism.
Summary
We quickly recognize the opening line of David's psalm as the anguished words that Jesus spoke from the cross. We've all, like David, felt distant from and even ignored by God, but none of us have come close to experiencing the total separation from God that Jesus did as he repeated these words. What a lesson for us that in the most desperate hour of His life, Jesus relied on scriptures He had studied and memorized!
Even though David expresses his frustration - anger even - that although he crying out to God but not hearing anything back, David knows that God is still there, just as He had been for those who came before David. They trusted in God, and God delivered them, so David knew that even though God seemed far away at the moment, that He was still there and would remain faithful.
David's words in v7-8 foreshadow what Jesus experienced on the cross, despised and rejected, surrounded by mockers. Keep this in mind as you navigate a world that's increasingly hostile to the truth, that whatever insults you endure pale in comparison to what Christ endured for you.
Even in the present darkness, David maintained his faith because he knew his life was in God's hands, just as it had always been from the moment he was conceived (Psalm 51:5). David didn't just become a man after God's own heart the moment that Samuel had him brought out of the fields to be anointed king. No, David, just like you, was a child of God, chosen by the King of kings, even before the universe was created (Ephesians 1:4).
Dig Deeper
It's easy to confuse who is making the promises as the sacrament of baptism is being applied. After all, the minister has several questions for the person being baptized, or in the case of a young child, the parents. And in the case of parents presenting their children for baptism, not only must the parents promise to do all they can to ensure their child will come to know Jesus as Savior, but even the congregation is asked to rise and make the same commitment.
But don't ever forget that these promises are made in response to the promise God has made first. Baptism is a celebration and recognition of God's covenant promises to His children.
We take great comfort - especially in Reformed churches - in God's sovereign election of those who will receive salvation. Knowing that an unchanging God chose us before the world was created assures us that He will never ever let us go. Since God in His Word so often extends His covenantal offer of salvation to not just particular people, but also their children, it only makes sense that we ought to extend the sign of these promises to our covenant children.
Not all Christians agree with this, and since the Bible doesn't overtly specify when in a Christian's life baptism ought to be applied, we must respect our Baptist friends who stand on scripture alone, yet come to a different conclusion.
But what a comfort it is to read Psalm 22, and know that even when God seems so far away, you can rest secure knowing that you were His child from the very beginning and always will be. Even though the water placed on you has long since dried up, and you may not even remember your own baptism, never forget that in God's eyes, your head head will always be wet, covered in His covenantal promises.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father is enthroned as the Holy One;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you, as a baptized child of God, will trust in the Lord, which God made you do even from the earliest age (v9);
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 7
