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.
What does it mean to feel like
God has forsaken you?
How is this sort of cry actually a display of faith?
What kind of situation
would have caused David enough anguish that he would feel compelled to write
this psalm?
::::: DIGGING DEEPER :::::
Read Matthew 27:46. What
does it mean to you that Jesus cried this out?
3 Yet
you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you
are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our
ancestors 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.
David shifts the focus away
from his anguish to appeal to God’s pattern in history. What details in verses
3-5 does he mention as he cries out to God?
In the midst of a deep
personal, inner struggle, why is it important to remember who God is and what
God has done for others in the past?
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.” NIV
Have you ever felt the way
David feels in verses 6-8? What was that time like for you?
Read Isaiah 53:3 and
Matthew 27:28-31, 38-44. What does it mean to you that Jesus lived out this
psalm?
If you know someone who is
struggling deeply, what consolation could you give them from the study of this
psalm so far?
::::: Equipping Challenge
:::::
Take time to pray. Pray
about your own depth of heart and the feelings of complete anguish that you
have experienced or that you someday might experience in your life. As you
pray, remember that Jesus, Emmanuel, has also been mocked and that Jesus has
also felt forsaken. What assurance does this give to your prayer?