Despair
Use the material to go deeper into this Series on your own, or with your small group.
Series Materials
Good morning Chapel family! Today we start a brand new series in the longest book of the Bible (150 chapters!)(by the way, we will not read all of them); it’s a book of the Bible that Jesus obviously loved and meditated on, because he quoted it more than any other book; the book of Psalms. The Psalms were written and compiled over a period of about 1,000 years—between about 1400BC and 400BC, but almost half of them were written by King David, right around 1,000BC.
If you were a faithful Jewish person, and you came to the Jerusalem temple to worship, this was your song book—the book of Psalms. But don’t think that just because they were written as songs, they don’t have serious content. I would say the Psalms deal with just about every human emotion: despair, injustice, gratitude, contentment, reverence—you name it; the Psalms aren’t afraid to talk about it. John Calvin said the Psalms are “an anatomy of all parts of the soul,” which is why we’re calling this series “Anatomy of the Soul.” And isn’t that why we love music in general? It connects with the emotions we’re feeling, right? And it helps us to express those emotions.
But the Psalms do more than just help us express our emotions. They help us make sense of them. Ed Welch wrote about how important the Psalms are when we struggle with depression. He said this: “…God gives us poetry that, somehow, gives voice to the silences of our hearts.” And then he gives this example from the Psalm we’re going to study today—listen:
When you hear the words of Psalm 22, 'My God, why have you forsaken me?' you might think about your own experience. Depression feels like being forsaken. But you also remember that these were Jesus’ words on the cross. They point to the fact that when you read these liturgical prayers, you are not alone. David composed many of them, the Israelites sang them, the church has recited them, and they all point to Jesus.
What these psalms do is straighten the trajectory of our lives. Using the words he gives us, God gently turns our hearts toward him. Instead of everything bending back into ourselves, we are able to look straight, outside of ourselves, and fix our eyes on Jesus.
You know, we are living in a culture that says the deepest truth is found by looking inside ourselves. Right? “Follow your heart.” “Be true to yourself.” But the Psalms invite us to find something deeper outside of ourselves, because that’s where the answers are. So I’m excited about this series, because I believe there are things happening in your life right now—situations and people and emotions—that God will speak to directly, through the Psalms, this summer. So I encourage you: come with your heart open; come with your mind open; receive what God has for you. Amen?
So as we begin the series today, we’re going to look at Psalm 22, which is all about despair. Despair is a dark place to be. You can see it in the eyes of people in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. But despair is not reserved for the major catastrophes of life. When you look around and see how dark this world is getting, do you ever feel despair? Or when you lose a friendship, or you lose a job, or you feel your body getting older and it seems like you’re in pain all the time, or parents—when you see your child struggling with life, and you wish you could take away their pain but you can’t—all those things can bring feelings of despair. What do you do with that? That’s what Psalm 22 is all about.
Let’s read it together. I invite you now to hear the Word of God…
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.
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.
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.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. 10 From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 13 Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. 17 All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
19 But you, LORD, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. 21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. 23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. 26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise him— may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, 28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. 30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. 31 They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! This is the Word of the Lord.
So through the experience of David, God is showing us how to respond to moments of despair. I would say it like this: In times of despair, God invites us to respond with, first of all…
Honesty. He invites us to respond with honesty. Psalm 22 is a type of Psalm called lament. Out of the 15 Psalms, about 60 of them are Psalms of lament. That has to tell us something, right? So David is lamenting the hard situation that he finds himself in. Look how he describes it. In verse 12 he says many bulls surround me. He’s obviously not talking about literal bulls; he’s talking about powerful people who are out to get him. In verse 13, he says roaring lions open their mouths wide against me. And then in verse 16 he says dogs surround me. Some of you dog lovers are saying, “Oh, I would love for dogs to surround me!” But that’s not the idea. Back then, dogs were not considered man’s best friend, at all. They prowled around garbage dumps; they carried diseases; they were known to be
vicious and dangerous. So by using those three images—bulls and lions and dogs—David is saying he’s surrounded by people who hate him and are trying to destroy him.
He never says exactly what’s happening. There was a time early in David’s life, before he became king, when King Saul was pursuing him, and trying to kill him. Much later in his life, his own son, Absalom, was pursuing him, trying to kill him and take over the throne—can you imagine being hunted down by your own son? So he might have written this during one of those times, or maybe it was some other crisis moment of his life.
Have you ever felt like that? Like people are just gunning for you? They’ve made up their mind that you’re the bad guy, or the bad girl, and nothing you can say will change that. And they’re trying to drag you down, and they’re kind of enjoying it? Maybe, like David and his son, there’s some terrible brokenness within your own family. Or maybe it’s with your friends, or your job, or your health. But it’s painful. I’m so grateful God includes this stuff in the Bible, aren’t you?
To make matters worse, look at the response of David’s own people—his fellow Israelites—verse 7: 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. It seems like the people around David have no sympathy for his suffering. They probably assume that he’s done something to deserve it. Just like Job’s friends—remember what they said when Job’s life was falling apart? “You must have done something really bad for this to happen to you.” So David’s own people are mocking him and insulting him and questioning his faith. The very people whose support he needs the most have turned against him. It’s hard to describe that level of pain.
What makes this whole thing so frustrating and confusing is that David knows some things about God! For example, in verse 4 he says 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. David knew how God had rescued the Israelites from Egypt and parted the Red Sea and provided manna in the wilderness. God had come through for his people time and time again! That’s the kind of God he is! David knew that.
But it was even more personal. Look what he says in verse 9:
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. 10 From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
David had personally experienced the love and the closeness of God all through his life! And that’s what made this so painful. David says, “God, you’ve always been there for your people, and you’ve always been there for me! So where are you now?”
He talks about how this is affecting him emotionally and even physically—verse 14: My heart is like wax; I feel it melting in me. Have you ever felt so broken-hearted that it physically hurts? Scientists have found that when you experience emotional trauma, it lights up exactly the same areas of the brain as physical trauma. The pain is real. And sometimes you can feel your heart breaking. And in his heartbreak, David cries out, My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me? Don’t you care? I keep crying out by day…but you don’t answer. I cry out by night; I still find no rest. God, I’m beginning to wonder if you’re really there, or if you’re really good.
So here’s the obvious question: is it really okay to talk to God like this?
I recently read about a guy from Minnesota who became a pastor on Long Island. And in his church, there was a Jewish follower of Jesus named David. Every Sunday after church, David came up to the pastor, and he said, “I really like that sermon. But…” And he would give a 5-minute critique of all the things that could have been better. So the pastor put up with it for a couple of years, but finally he couldn’t take it anymore. One Sunday he said "David, what is the deal? Don't you get anything out of my sermons? Why do you always have nitpick about some minor point of theology?" Awkward moment. And then David laughed. And he said, "Maybe I should explain my cultural background—I think it’s different from yours. When New York Jews like me argue about Scripture, we're asking for a dialogue. I'm expecting you to fire back and say, 'O, yeah, well I think that you're wrong too and let me tell you why.' You see, Jewish people sometimes get close by working through unpleasant feelings, even by arguing if necessary. So when I dish it out, I want you to dish it right back. That's how trust and intimacy grows in the relationship."
And this Midwestern pastor said, “That was a totally new concept to me. Minnesota people would never do that.” But then he said this: “But through my friendship with David, God has started to teach me an important lesson about prayer: Sometimes we grow closer to God by honestly bringing God all of the ‘unpleasant’ things about our relationship: our sadness, disappointments, laments, complaints, and even our anger. Based on the numerous God-given prayers of complaint and lamentation, it's obvious that God can handle our honesty.”
So in times of despair, God invites us to respond with honesty. But it doesn’t stop there. God also invites us to respond with…
Hope. Starting in verse 22, there’s a shift in this Psalm. Look at verse 22: I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. And for the rest of the Psalm, David stops lamenting and he starts worshiping. And the reason he worships is that he chooses to hope. He chooses to believe that God will deliver him from this mess that he’s in.
Now, when David wrote this, there was still no resolution to his problem! Whatever terrible thing was happening, was still happening. So this choice to hope was purely an act of faith.
Tim Keller gives this illustration. Imagine you’re camping, and someone says to you, “Go and check if there are any German Shepherds in the tent.” So you go look in the tent, and it’s going to be really easy to see—either there’s a German Shepherd in the tent or there’s not. But what if someone says, “Go and check if there are any no-see-‘ems in the tent.” You know what a no-see-‘em is, right? Those tiny little bugs that you can’t see, but they bite really bad. So you unzip the tent and look around, and you don’t see any no-see-‘ems. But that doesn’t mean they’re not there, right? Because you can’t see ‘em! So here’s the point: you find yourself in a terrible situation like David did. And somebody says, “God has a purpose for this; God’s going to bring good out of this.” And you look around, and you say, “I cannot see any possible purpose for this, or anything God could bring out of this, and therefore, there couldn’t be any.” But that’s actually very arrogant. Because God’s ways are so far beyond our ways, and just because you can’t see any good ending to this, doesn’t mean there’s not one. And faith means trusting God and choosing hope, even when you don’t see any logical reason to. It’s an act of faith.
So right there in the middle of his mess, David says, “I can just see it. I don’t know how it’s going to play out, but I know God’s going to come through. And because I know that will happen in the future, I can worship now.
So in our despair, God invites us to respond with honesty, with hope, and one more thing: with…
Love for Jesus. This is a great example of a Psalm that had an immediate context, and also a Messianic fulfillment. Does that make sense? In other words, this really is describing something that happened in the life of David, and David’s response to that event. But through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these words were eventually fulfilled in a greater way in the life of Jesus. After the Roman soldiers had pierced his hands and his feet by nailing him to a cross, Matthew 27:35 says When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. In Matthew 27:43, it talks about the response of his own people—the priests and elders of Israel said: He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ Sound familiar? And of course Jesus himself, right before he died, cried out in a loud voice in Aramaic, “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?” My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. Even Jesus realized that the things David wrote a thousand years earlier in Psalm 22 were being painfully fulfilled in him.
And knowing that should cause our love for Jesus to grow so deep. Because this is the deepest pain anyone has ever experienced. I have to quote Tim Keller one more time—listen:
If after a service some Sunday morning one of the members of my church comes to me and says, "I never want to see you or talk to you again," I will feel pretty bad. But if today my wife comes up to me and says, "I never want to see you or talk to you again," that's a lot worse. The longer the love, the deeper the love, the greater the torment of its loss.
But this forsakenness, this loss, was between the Father and the Son, who had loved each other from all eternity. … Jesus, the Maker of the world, was being unmade. Why? Jesus was experiencing Judgment Day. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It wasn't a rhetorical question. And the answer is: For you, for me, for us. Jesus was forsaken by God so that we would never have to be. The judgment that should have fallen on us fell instead on Jesus.
And that’s why, in our moments of despair, we have the opportunity to think about his ultimate moment of despair, that he went through for us, and fall more deeply in love with him.
Andrew Brunson was a pastor from North Carolina who spent 20 years leading a church in Turkey. In 2016, the Turkish government accused him of being a spy and put him in prison for about three years. He was finally released in 2019. He spoke at a Wheaton College chapel service, and I so appreciate his honesty. Listen to what he said:
[After a few days in prison], I completely lost the sense of God’s presence. God was silent. And he remained silent for two years… I was broken. I lay there alone in my solitary cell, I had great fear, terrible grief, and I was weeping. And the thought kept going through my mind, Where are you God? Why are you so far away? And I opened my mouth as I wept aloud, and I was surprised at what I heard coming out of my mouth. I heard, “I love you Jesus. I love you Jesus. I love you Jesus.” And I thought, “Here is my victory. Even if you’re silent, I love you. Even if you let my enemy harm me, I love you.”
There are times in life that are so dark, and God seems so far away. Some of you are there right now. You don’t feel God’s presence at all. But just because you can’t feel him, doesn’t mean he’s not there. Cry out to him honestly; choose to hope; and let your pain deepen your love for Jesus. Take this by faith: the pain you’re going through is temporary; his love for you is eternal.