To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
This psalm describes being forsaken by God while being surrounded by one’s enemies persecution. This psalm doesn’t appear to describe any known incident in David’s life. The events described are more fitting for an execution than for an illness. The church has recognised this Psalm as describing the events of Jesus’ death. The Gospel writers pointed out connections between this psalm and Jesus’ death. David’s poetic words of suffering became literally true of the suffering of Jesus, a righteous man, being put to death at His enemies hands.
There are times when we all feel forsaken and forgotten and alone in our troubles. David rightly recognises that even when he feels abandoned by God, God would never fully abandon him. His confidence was in his training from when he was a child and he had been taught to trust in the Lord. Where is your confidence? You cannot trust a God you do not know. The more you learn about who God is, the more you will be able to to trust that He will never leave you and is always working for your good, even when life feels completely hopeless in the moment.