April 18, 2025
With the current events of the world, and especially in my own country, the States, feeling forsaken is becoming a more regular occurrence, forsaken by friends, by representatives, by the president. Then there are the forsaken graduate students who are being unconstitutionally jailed and deported, forsaken federal workers who no longer have jobs, forsaken women who have no rights over their own bodies, forsaken Ukrainian sisters and brothers and forsaken immigrants with green cards afraid to walk the streets. The current administration aside, feeling forsaken must be common among those who are struggling to recover from serious illness or facing the deep void of grief. Forsaken is the word of these times. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” we may find ourselves asking, like Jesus who cried out these same words before he died.
Biblical scholars assert that Jesus was attempting to pray Psalm 22 before he gave up his spirit, but he was too far gone. In acknowledgment of all who feel forsaken in any way, these verses might resonate with us:
Verses 1-5
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
Verse 11, 13
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help. Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
Verses 16-19
Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment. But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Verses 22-24
I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
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.
Verses 26-31
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!
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,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
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.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
In this raw, honest, and human psalm, the verses jump from the depths of despair to reminders of faithfulness and hope, ending with the victorious words: “God has done it!” In the end, God is there, always there. God is with us in our own deepest despair and darkest night. Others might forsake us, but God does not.
Jesus couldn’t summon the energy to pray this psalm but as a faithful Jew, he knew full-well how it ended. God has done it! On this Good Friday, that is our solace and our hope.
Blessings ~ Rosemary
Photo: Pixabay
Spirit Reflections 