Psalm 22: When You Feel Forsaken by God

Core Theme: For when your prayers seem to hit the ceiling — day and night you cry out, and heaven seems to stay quiet

(Related Theme: This psalm also carries a strong note of Sorrow & Emotional Weight — see Verses 14–18 below.)

Background

David wrote Psalm 22 out of a season of deep anguish, a time when he cried out to God day and night and heard nothing back. But this psalm reaches far beyond David’s own suffering. Written roughly a thousand years before the birth of Christ, and long before crucifixion was ever practiced, it describes with startling detail the death of Jesus on the cross: the mocking crowd, the pierced hands and feet, the soldiers gambling for His clothing. Jesus Himself spoke its opening words from the cross. Psalm 22 is one of the clearest messianic psalms in all of Scripture. It belongs in a series on the silence of God for that very reason: the Son of God Himself entered that silence, so that those who trust in Him would never be truly forsaken.

Psalm 22 (KJV)

1 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.

10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.

11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.

27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

28 For the kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the governor among the nations.

29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.

30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.

31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

The heart of it

Psalm 22 gives voice to the most painful question a believer can ask: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It doesn’t soften the question or rush past it. Day after day, night after night, the psalmist cries out and hears nothing. Yet he never stops speaking to God. Even in the silence, God is still “my God.”

Then the psalm does something extraordinary. It moves from the depths of abandonment to a great chorus of praise that reaches the ends of the earth. That turn finds its full meaning in Jesus Christ. On the cross He cried out these very words, bearing the full weight of our sin, so that the separation we deserved fell on Him instead of us. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because He was forsaken, those who trust Him have this promise: “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). God’s silence may be felt, but for the believer it is never abandonment.

Walking through it

Verses 1–2: “To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”

The psalm opens with a cry most of us have felt but have been afraid to say out loud. The psalmist isn’t whispering. He calls it “roaring.” He prays in the daytime and gets no answer. He prays through the night and finds no rest. If you have ever felt that your prayers were simply disappearing, you are not the first. And notice that even in his anguish he says “my God,” twice. He feels forsaken, but he hasn’t let go. On the cross, Jesus cried these very words: “…Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The Savior you pray to knows exactly what that silence feels like.

Verses 3–5: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

Right after the cry of abandonment comes a “but.” The psalmist reminds himself who God is: holy, faithful, worthy of praise. Then he looks back at history: “Our fathers trusted in thee… and thou didst deliver them.” When God feels silent in your own life, one of the most steadying things you can do is remember His faithfulness to those who came before you. The silence you feel now doesn’t erase the record of what He has always been.

Verses 6–8: “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.”

The sufferer feels crushed down to nothing, despised and mocked. The crowd shakes their heads and taunts him: “He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him.” At the cross, the chief priests used almost the same words as they mocked Jesus: “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him…” (Matthew 27:43). They didn’t realize they were fulfilling the very psalm they could have recited.

Verses 14–18: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”

These verses read almost like an eyewitness account of the crucifixion. Strength poured out like water. Bones pulled out of joint. A tongue cleaving to the jaws in terrible thirst, as Jesus said “I thirst” (John 19:28). Hands and feet pierced. Onlookers staring. Soldiers dividing His garments and casting lots for His coat (John 19:23–24). It is a picture of utter exhaustion and anguish, body and soul. If sorrow has worn you down until you feel poured out and emptied, this psalm shows that your Savior has walked that road ahead of you, and walked it for you.

Verses 19–21: “But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.”

Once again comes a “but.” After describing the worst, the psalmist keeps praying. He doesn’t stop calling God “my strength,” even here. Then, at the very end of verse 21, the whole psalm turns on a single phrase: “thou hast heard me.” After all the silence, the answer comes. For Christ, the answer was the empty tomb. The Father did not leave His Son in the grave. For you, it is the assurance that silence is never the end of the story with God.

Verses 22–24: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.”

The same voice that cried “why hast thou forsaken me?” now declares God’s name among His brethren. The book of Hebrews applies this verse directly to the risen Christ, who is “…not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren…” (Hebrews 2:11–12). Then verse 24 answers verse 1. God “hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.” What felt like a God who had turned away was a God who was listening the whole time.

Verses 27–31: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.”

The psalm that began with one lonely cry ends with the whole world worshiping. People from every nation, generations not yet born, will hear what God has done. The very last words are “he hath done this.” They echo the words Jesus spoke just before He died: “…It is finished…” (John 19:30). The suffering was not meaningless, and the silence was not the end. Through it, God accomplished the salvation of everyone who would trust in His Son.

Carrying this forward

If the Lord has already brought you through a season when heaven felt silent, look back on it with Psalm 22 in your hands. Notice that the silence wasn’t the last word, and that He was hearing you even when you couldn’t hear Him. It’s easy, once things get “better,” to slowly drift and forget how close you came to giving up, and how faithfully He held on to you. Remember it, and let it become part of your praise, the way the psalmist turned his rescue into a song for the whole congregation.

If you are in the silence right now, crying out by day and lying awake by night with no answer, you can pray Psalm 22 as your own. Call Him “my God,” even when He feels far away. Remember what He has done for those who trusted Him before you. And above all, look to the cross. Jesus cried these words in the darkness so that you would never truly be forsaken. Your feelings may tell you that God has turned away, but His Word tells you that He “hath not… hid his face” from the afflicted, and that “when he cried unto him, he heard.” The One who was forsaken for you is the One who promises He will never leave you.