"He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him." Sermons 1. Direct. In these the reference is exclusively to the Messiah; every phrase is true of him, and of him alone, and cannot be so translated as not to apply to him, nor so that it can, as a whole, apply to any one else. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and also the second and hundred and tenth psalms are illustrations of this. 2. Indirect. In these the first meaning is historical, and applies to the writer himself; but many phrases therein have a second and far-reaching intent; of these the fullest application is to him who was David's Son and yet David's Lord. The psalm before us is an illustration of this indirect Messianic structure; and this not only, perhaps not so much, because in the first writing of the words the Spirit of God pointed forward to Christ, as because our Lord himself, having taken a human nature, and shared human experiences, found himself the partaker of like sorrows with the Old Testament saints, plunged into like horrible darkness, which found expression in the very same words, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Mr. Spurgeon, indeed, admits some possible application to David himself, but says that believers will scarcely care to think of his sufferings; they will rather fasten their gaze on those of their Lord. That is true, in a very touching sense. At the same time, we shall lose much of the comfort the psalm is adapted to afford, if we do not look very distinctly at the sufferings of David, in order to see, with equal distinctness, how completely our Lord shared his "brethren's" sorrows, darkness, and groans, when he took up their burdens and made them his own. Let us therefore deal with this psalm in a twofold outline - first, as it applies to the writer; and then as it it taken up by the Lord Jesus, and made his own (with such exceptions as that named in the first footnote below). I. ISRAEL'S KING PASSES THROUGH DEEPEST DARKNESS TO THE LIGHT. Here let us answer by anticipation a remark with which we have frequently met, to the effect that we cannot fasten on any incident in the career of David which would lead to such extreme anguish as that indicated here. Who that has any knowledge of the horrors to which sensitive souls are liable, could raise any difficulty over this? Far more depends on subjective condition than on outward incident. Why, the saints of God now do pass through times of indescribable anguish, of which no outward incident affords even a glimmer of explanation. "The heart knoweth its own bitterness." Let the outer occasion have been whatsoever it may, here at any rate is: 1. A saint in terrible darkness. In the midst of his woe, he remembers his transgressions, and it may have been, as is so often the case, that the writer attributes his anguish to his numberless transgressions (ver. 1, LXX.). The details of his intensity of sorrow are manifold. (1) Prayer rises from his heart day and night without relief (ver. 2). (2) He is despised (vers. 6-8). His enemies laugh and mock. (3) His foes, wild, fierce, ravenous, plot his ruin (vers. 12, 13). (4) His strength is spent with sorrow (ver. 15). (5) There are eager anticipations of his speedily being removed out of the way (ver. 18). (6) And, worst of all, it seems as if God, his own God, whom he had trusted from childhood (vers. 9,10), had now forsaken him, and given him up to his foes. How many suffering saints may find solace in this psalm, as they see how God's people have suffered before them? Surely few could have a heavier weight of woe than the writer of this plaintive wail 2 The woe is freely told to God There may be the stinging memory of bygone sin piercing the soul, still the psalmist cleaves to his God. (1) The heart still craves for God; even in the dark; yea, the more because of the darkness. (2) Hence the abandonment is not actual. However dense the gloom may be, when the soul can cry, "My God," we may be sure the cry is not unreciprocated. (3) Such a cry will surely be heard. Past deliverances assure us of this. Yea, even ere the wail in the dark is over, the light begins to dawn. "One Sunday morning," said Mr. Spurgeon, in an address at Mildmay Hall, June 26, 1890, reported in the Christian of July 4, "I preached from the text, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' I could not tell why I should be made to preach it. I felt while preaching as if I were myself forsaken. On the sabbath evening, there came into the vestry a man of about sixty, whose eyes were bright with a strange lustre. He took my hand, and held it, and cried. He said to me, 'Nobody ever preached my experience before. I have now been for years left, deserted, in a horrible gloom of great darkness; but this morning I learned that I was not the only man in the darkness, and I believe I shall get out!' I said, ' Yes; I have got out; but now I know why I was put in.' That man was brought back from the depths of despair, and restored to joy and peace. There was a child of God, dying in darkness. He said to the minister who spoke with him, 'Oh, sir, though I have trusted Christ for years, I have lost him now. What can become of. a man who dies feeling that God has deserted him?' The minister replied, ' What did become of that Man who died saying," My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Is he not on the highest throne of glory even now? 'The man's mind changed in a moment, and he began to say, ' Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit;' and he died in peace. 3. The light dawns at last. The everlasting covenant" does not fail; it has been "ordered in all things," and remains sure and steadfast; and oftentimes, even while the saint is on his knees, he will scarce have ended his groaning 'ere his sigh is turned to a song (cf. Psalm 27:12-14). Hence the last ten verses of the psalm are as joyous as the others are sad. "The darkest hour is before the dawn," and the brightness of morning shall chase away the gloom of night. So it is here. (1) The saint who takes his groans to God alone, shall yet sing his praises in the assemblies of the saints. Having told the rest to his God, he will "give others the sunshine." (2) The rehearsal of this story shall be the joy of other hearts in day to come (vers. 25-27). (3) The outcome of all will be that God will vindicate his own honour, and that the generation yet unborn will praise him and declare his righteousness. II. WORDS OF A SUFFERING SAINT ARE APPROPRIATED BY A SUFFERING SAVIOUR. The Lord Jesus Christ, in all things "made like unto his brethren," takes up words from this psalm into his own lips. If we were dealing only with the Messianic aspect of the psalm, we should open it up in the following order: (1) The Saviour's suffering. (2) The Saviour's inquiry: "Why?" (3) The Saviour's joy. Since, however, we are seeking to expound the psalm in both its aspects, we rather indicate four lines of thought, the pursuing of which will throw light on the wonder of the appropriation of the words of a suffering saint by a suffering Saviour; while some look at the fierce cry with which this psalm beans as intended to set forth the woes of the coming Messiah, that cry seems to us far more touching when we find that our dear Redeemer uses the words of an ancient sufferer as his own! Observe: 1. There is no depth of sorrow through which the saint can pass, but Jesus understands it all. How many causes of woe are enumerated here! But in all points Jesus felt the same. The writer endured (1) the cutting remarks of many; (2) weakness; (3) reproach and scorn; (4) the plotting of foes; (5) the treachery of friends; and, worst of all, (6) the sense of separation form God. Every one of these forms of hardship and ill pressed sorely on Jesus; and though we may meditate continuously and with ever-deepening wonder on each of them, yet all the rest fade away into insignificance compared with the anguish that arose from the hiding of the Father's face. Every trouble can be borne when the Father is seen to smile; but when his face is hidden in a total eclipse, what darkness can be so dreadful as that? There was, as it were, a hiding of the face from him (Isaiah 53:3). Let those saints of God who have to pass through seasons of prolonged mental anguish remember that, however severe the conflict may be, the Saviour has passed through one still more terrible than theirs. 2. If even the saint asks "why?" even so did the Saviour. The "why?" however, applies only to the opening words - to the hiding of God's face. There may be mystery therein, even when (as in the case of every saint) there are transgressions to be bemoaned. But our Saviour has an unfathomable woe, "yet without sin. The why?" then, imperatively requires an answer. In the tire, at the faggot, and at the stake, martyrs have sung for joy. Why is it that at the moment of direst need the sinless Sufferer should have felt aught so dreadful as abandonment by God? Not that the abandonment was real. The Father never loved the Son more than when he hung bleeding on the cross. But our Saviour endured the sense of it. Why was this? He did not deserve it. But he had laden himself with our burden. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all." Nor do we know that we can put the pith and essence of the atonement in fewer words than these: (1) sin separates from God; (2) Jesus bore our sin; therefore (3) Jesus endured the sense of separation. We can understand that, coming as Man into the midst of a sinful race, all the suffering which a holy nature must endure in conflict with sinful men would be his. But the sense of desertion by God while doing his Father's will can only be accounted for by the amazing fact that "he sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins." 3. In passing through his manifold experience of sorrow, the Saviour learned to suffer with the saint, and was being made perfect as the Captain of salvation. (Hebrews 2:10; Hebrews 5:2, 7, 8, 9.) Our Saviour was (1) to lead many sons unto glory; (2) to be One who could sympathize, soothe, and succour in every case of woe (Hebrews 2:18); (3) to be One who by his sympathetic power could inspire his hosts; and (4) to teach them that, as they were destined to follow him in his heavenly glory, they must not be surprised if they have first to follow him in the pathway of woe. "The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord." Objection: "But how can the sympathy of Jesus with me be perfect? He was without sin, and I am not. So the parallel fails." Good people who urge this objection forget that it is the presence of sin in each of us which makes our sympathy with each other so imperfect. Because Jesus was without sin, he can draw the line exactly between defects that are due to infirmity and such as are traceable to sin. The second he forgives; the first be pities. Is not this the very perfection of sympathy? III. THE WORDS OF THE SAINT EMERGING FROM HIS GLOOM ARE APPROPRIATE TO THE SAVIOUR IN HIS EXALTATION AND TRIUMPH. With the Saviour, as with the psalmist, the darkest night was the prelude to the brightness of day. The brightness which marks the last ten verses of the psalm is a declaration that the kingdom of David shall be established for ever and ever, and that, though David may have to pass through fire and flood, his kingdom shall abide through age after age; and thus we find the phraseology of these verses applied to the after-career of David's Son and David's Lord in Hebrews 2:11, 12. Whence five points invite attention. The Holy Ghost, inditing the psalmist's words so that they forecast the issue of Messiah's sufferings as well as his own, shows us our Saviour (1) emerging from the conflict; (2) joining with his people in songs of rejoicing; (3) declaring the Father's Name to his "brethren;" (4) gathering home the severed tribes of mankind; (5) bringing in the victorious kingdom (vers. 21-31). It is not, it is not for nought that the Messiah endured all his woe (Isaiah 53:11; Hebrews 12:1, 2; Philippians 2:11). It behoved him to suffer, and then "to enter into his glory." And as with the Master, so with the servant. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." He hath said, "Where I am, there shall also my servant be." Following him in sharing his cross, we shall follow him in sharing his crown. - C.
He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver him. David experienced "cruel mockings." The flesh may not be cut, but the heart may be torn. But text tells of the Lord Jesus. David knew reproach but in small measure compared with Him. It is the common heritage of the godly. But —I. THEIR TRUST IN GOD IS KNOWN. Hence we learn — 1. Our trust in God should be apparent, manifest, public. That in Christ which revealed it was His wonderful calmness. We ought distinctly to avow our trust, life man has a right to be a secret believer. 2. Our general conduct should reveal our faith. If I trust the Lord about my soul I must trust Him about my body, wife, children, and all my affairs. 3. This trust should come out most distinctly in times of trouble. For then it is our adversaries are most likely to notice it. In bereavements, business troubles. Let the possession of godliness tell its own tale, the spikenard its own fragrance. II. THE WORLD DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THIS TRUST. Our Lord's enemies restricted His trust to the point of His being delivered. But — 1. Our faith is not confined to merely receiving from God. We must not live and wait upon God merely with a cupboard love. 2. Nor to what men call deliverance. Our Lord trusted still, though the cup did not pass from Him. The blind world cannot understand this. They say, like their father, "Doth Job serve God for nought?" And — 3. Our faith is not tied to time. Christ's enemies thought that if the Lord did not deliver Him then, His trust would be proved a folly. But it is not so. We may not be delivered from our distresses tonight, nor tomorrow, nor next month; it may be for years. We do not tie God down to conditions, but we trust Him all the same. 4. Nor will it judge at all by present circumstances. How wrongly the world judged of Christ when it judged of Him by His sorrows. III. THIS TRUE FAITH WILL, IN ALL PROBABILITY, BE MOCKED AT SOME TIME OR OTHER. 1. Some men scoff at faith itself. It is an honour to have one's name written up on such an Arch of Triumph as that of Hebrews 11. But many think it no honour at all. They hold faith to be a folly of weak minds. 2. Others, at the very idea of Divine interposition. "Look," they say, "he fancies that God will deliver him; as if the Creator had not something else to do besides looking after him, poor miserable that he is!" They believe in laws, they say, irreversible, immutable laws, that grind in like the great cogs of a machine which, when once they are set in motion, tear everything to pieces that comes in their way. 3. And some mock at all kinds of faith in the Divine love. How the world rages against electing love! The heathen could not make out a certain brave saint because he called himself Theophorus, or "God bearer"; but he stuck to it that he was so, though they hated him all the more. 4. Some find amusement in the trials involved in the life of faith. Their cry, "Let Him deliver him," implies that their victim was in serious difficulty, but that was only sport to them. Such mocking is a part of the covenanted heritage. IV. THE TIME SHALL COME WHEN OUR TRUST SHALL BE ABUNDANTLY JUSTIFIED. 1. It is no small thing to have the ungodly bearing witness. "He trusted in God." It helps one to believe that he is really God's child. 2. Another justification will come when God shall deliver His people. That day will come. Dives sees Lazarus in Abraham's bosom: what a sight for him. At the last great day ungodly men will witness for the saints. They will have to own, "They did trust, for we mocked them for it." But whether men mock or praise, we trust in God. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) People David, Jacob, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Cause, Commit, Committed, Delight, Delighted, Delighteth, Delights, Deliver, Faith, Rescue, Roll, Saviour, Seeing, Thyself, Trusted, TrustsOutline 1. David complains in great discouragement9. He prays in great distress 23. He praises God Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 22:8 5830 delight 2570 Christ, suffering 5831 depression 5281 crucifixion Library Feasting on the Sacrifice'The meek shall eat and be satisfied.'--PSALM xxii. 26. 'The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering for thanksgiving shall be offered in the day of his oblation.' Such was the law for Israel. And the custom of sacrificial feasts, which it embodies, was common to many lands. To such a custom my text alludes; for the Psalmist has just been speaking of 'paying his vows' (that is, sacrifices which he had vowed in the time of his trouble), and to partake of these he invites the meek. The sacrificial … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture On Turning the First Page of the Review which Follows... Messiah Derided Upon the Cross My Brethren. His Future Work His Head is as the Most Fine Gold, his Locks as the Clusters of the Palm, Black as a Raven. Note B. On the Word for Holiness. The Crucifixion. Brokenness The Death of Jesus Letter Xlv (Circa A. D. 1140) to the Canons of Lyons, on the Conception of S. Mary. Trials of the Christian How is Christ, as the Life, to be Applied by a Soul that Misseth God's Favour and Countenance. Bunsen's Biblical Researches. Judas' Betrayal and Peter's Denial Foretold. The Johannine Writings The Necessity of Actual Grace How to Make Use of Christ as the Truth, that we May Get Our Case and Condition Cleared up to Us. Interpretation of Prophecy. Of his Cross what Shall I Speak, what Say? this Extremest Kind of Death... Messiah Suffering and Wounded for Us Growth in Grace Covenanting Sanctioned by the Divine Example. Links Psalm 22:8 NIVPsalm 22:8 NLT Psalm 22:8 ESV Psalm 22:8 NASB Psalm 22:8 KJV Psalm 22:8 Bible Apps Psalm 22:8 Parallel Psalm 22:8 Biblia Paralela Psalm 22:8 Chinese Bible Psalm 22:8 French Bible Psalm 22:8 German Bible Psalm 22:8 Commentaries Bible Hub |