Psalm 22, pt. 3
A Cry of Distress
From the Lord’s Anointed One

Ps 22:9-15
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.

This is truly pitiable both in the case of David as well as Jesus. Each had been brought to a place where there was truly no one in this scene but the man and his God. As he reflected on his current situation, he acknowledged that this was the way it had always been.

His conception, his birth and those early moments of life which are so fragile had been created and then protected by the Living God.

But now there is truly none to help. While David pretended insanity among the Philistines and the Philistines debated whether to kill him there was not a single companion to watch out for the man of God while he slept and no one to have concern as to whether he might eat.

With Jesus, all of His companions had, at least for a moment, “forsook Him and fled.” Those oaths and affirmations that they would “follow Him even to death” had been cast aside and left behind like John Mark’s garment. The Apostle John was the first to recover himself but he could do nothing but stand and watch as his Savior and friend was brutalized and savagely treated. The best he could muster was to stand with the women at the Cross and receive the commission to care for Mary.

“Be not far,” means “please be near by,” and reminds us that there was a sense of abandonment in the whole thing. The Philistines thought all gods were local though they had been taught differently when they seized the ark of the covenant. But the feeling was real to David there in that pagan city bereft of all
consciousness of the Deity of Israel.

And, we know that that sense of being alone was so very real to Jesus as He hung there draped in the sins of His people and being treated as guilty of them all. His cry, “why have you forsaken me,” was a legitimate
acknowledgment of how thoroughly He had been identified with His people and what that had cost Him. There is no doubt that the physical suffering described below was the smallest of the agonies He went through.

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. KJV

The sense of being alone and being despised by so many is the fear of every human. The pressure to conform that we always deal with is driven, whether consciously or not, by that terror. It is felt most powerfully for most when we are in our teen years and happily as we age it grows less, at least for some. But, who can imagine what that must have been like for both men?

David, of course, was delivered and did not die for many years to come but not Jesus. He had been brought to the “dust of death” and would now experience it for every person whose sins He bore.

He urged upon us the duty of diligent preparation for such moments of rejection and possible death every saint is subject to enduring.

Matt 16:24-25
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. KJV

A very real part of that is preparing to die in just such a way. Millions have gone this way before us and some are facing this in a very real way as you read this. Are you ready?

— May 2, 2020