Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility
To the leader: according to The Deer of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night but find no rest.3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
This Psalm of David was a song that Jesus knew from his boyhood faith. It was in His mind and came across His lips as He was hanging on the cross.
Matthew 27:45
45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land[p] until three in the afternoon. 46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The opening line is a song of despair. We don’t criticize Jesus for having those thoughts at that moment of suffering. While He might have run out of breath to finish the song, he no doubt knew how it continued:
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
When we are in despair, the first line might also fall from our lips.
Why have you forsaken me
That’s OK. That’s being human. I hope we will also be able to sing on —
4 In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
Prayer
God of my whole life, let me lift my genuine fears and praise to you, as you sustain me each and every day. Amen.