Sometimes it is easy to feel as if God is far from us, as if he does not hear us when we call him. It is easy to see the suffering around us and wonder where God is. Some days it feels like our prayers are not being heard.
I don’t think it’s a lack of faith that causes this. Yes, we often drift away from God, especially when we don’t make an effort to invest in our relationship with Him. But sometimes we can find ourselves in situations where it becomes difficult. We feel stuck; we feel like our prayers are bouncing off the roof and despair is not far away.
In such times, Psalm 22 may be a comfort. The psalmist offers three helpful pieces of advice for those of us who cry out the same words he did in the first two verses:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? How far are you from saving me from the words of my groaning? My God, I cry during the day, but you do not answer, and at night, but I do not find rest.”
1. Remember what God has done.
First, he encourages us to remember what God has done, as written in the Bible and throughout history (v4-8).
“Our ancestors trusted in you,” says Jehovah in verse 4, “they trusted in you and you delivered them.”
God has shown us that he cares for us, that he is powerful and knows everything, that he hears his people when they cry to him. Start with Adam and trace to all the characters of the Bible who trusted in God, even in the worst situations, and found salvation in Him.
He is faithful to His promises. He does not change; He is the same God today, yesterday, and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8).
So we can find encouragement in the fact that we worship the same God who freed the shepherd boy from the five-stone giant, the same God who rained bread in the desert and blinded the entire army.
He has shown His power and love in the past, and He will do so again.
2. Remember what God has done for you.
Next, the psalmist tells us to remember what God has done for each of us in our lives (v9-21).
Verse 9 says: “Yet it was you who took me out of the womb and made me trust you while I was still in my mother’s womb.”
Since our birth, God has been faithful to us in our lives in a personal way that surpasses empty promises or impersonal power.
It is God’s will that we were formed; it is his will that we live. He created each of us for a reason, and He has a purpose for our lives. Therefore, we can, each of us, approach him in prayer and ask him: “Do not be far from me” (v19).
3. Remember that there is meaning in our suffering.
Finally, we are reminded that there is a purpose to our suffering, even if we cannot see it (v22-31).
“I will proclaim your name to my brothers; I will praise you in the midst of the congregation” (v22).
Verse 24 promises us that God hears us when we cry to him, and the rest of the psalm reminds us that God is glorified in our afflictions. This inheritance helps to encourage our fellow believers.
I had an airport accident recently trying to get a flight home because of the coronavirus, and the whole time my mind was repeating: “To the glory of God, the glory of God, the glory of God.”
And He brought a hundredfold, and I knew at last as I had seen at first that this obstacle was also for His glory, a reminder to me, perhaps, to remember what I had learned in my loneliness abroad before I returned to my comfortable home.
When obstacles and suffering occur over a long period of time, it can be hard to believe that any good will come in the end. But even though we are weak, God is strong, and he says to us:
My grace is sufficient, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9
So we can boast about our weaknesses because they serve to illuminate God’s power. We find comfort in our troubles because we know that He holds us and will be faithful to the end.
James 1:2-3 tells us that suffering and trials will result in the testing of our faith, and this, shows resilience. When we have gone through trials and seen again and again that God is faithful and powerful and active and just, our faith is strengthened. And this strength, this holding on to faith, will be an encouragement to those around us.
There is a purpose to our suffering. We are not alone.
Even if the sun is cloudy and you cannot see it, it is still shining.
