Psalm 22:1 – My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” A thousand years before Golgotha, David penned these words of desolate abandonment. Yet David himself never experienced what these words describe—complete separation from God’s helping presence. This psalm bursts the boundaries of David’s personal experience to articulate the cry of One greater than David, spoken from a cross in darkness, bearing the full weight of divine wrath against sin. In Psalm 22, we hear Jesus speaking a millennium before His birth.
David’s Cry of Distress
Psalm 22 opens with one of Scripture’s most anguished questions. The psalmist feels utterly abandoned by the God he has trusted. Day and night he cries out, receiving no answer. He describes himself as “a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people” (v. 6). Enemies surround him, mocking his faith: “He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him” (v. 8).
The physical descriptions intensify the horror. “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” (v. 14). His strength is dried up; his tongue cleaves to his jaws. He is brought to the dust of death. Dogs surround him; the assembly of the wicked enclose him. “They pierced my hands and my feet” (v. 16). His enemies stare at him, dividing his garments and casting lots for his clothing.
Traditional interpretation views this as David’s poetic description of persecution, perhaps during his flight from Saul or Absalom. Hyperbole serves to convey emotional intensity. The language of piercing, the dividing of garments, the encircling enemies—all express David’s sense of desperate isolation through vivid imagery.
The psalm shifts dramatically at verse 21, turning from lament to praise. God has heard; deliverance comes. The sufferer will declare God’s name among the congregation. From individual praise, the perspective expands to all nations worshipping the LORD. The psalm ends in triumphant confidence that generations yet unborn will be told what God has done.
Beyond David’s Experience
Several features of Psalm 22 exceed anything David personally experienced. He was never literally forsaken by God. He never had his hands and feet pierced. No record exists of his garments being divided by lot. The specific physical descriptions do not match any known event in David’s life.
The phrase “they pierced my hands and my feet” particularly demands explanation. This method of execution—crucifixion—did not exist in David’s time. The Persians invented it; the Romans perfected it. David could not have described from personal experience a torture method that would not be invented for centuries. Either the psalm speaks prophetically of another’s suffering, or it contains inexplicable anachronism.
The transition from utter abandonment to universal worship also seems disproportionate to any deliverance David received. He was saved from Saul and Absalom, certainly, but these deliverances did not result in all nations worshipping the LORD. The scale of the conclusion demands a cause proportionate to it—something greater than David’s personal rescue.
The mockery recorded in verse 8 is particularly striking: “He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him.” This exact taunt was hurled at Jesus on the cross. Matthew records that the chief priests, scribes, and elders said, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him” (Matthew 27:43). The precision of correspondence goes beyond coincidence.
Christ’s Own Words
At the ninth hour on Calvary, Jesus cried out with a loud voice: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The Son of God, hanging between heaven and earth, quoted Psalm 22:1. In that moment, prophecy became history. The words David wrote but could not fully understand became the actual experience of David’s greater Son.
Jesus was genuinely forsaken in those hours of darkness. He who had eternally dwelt in the Father’s bosom was abandoned, not in His imagination but in His experience. The Father turned His face away from the Son as the sin of the world was imputed to Him. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Holy One became a curse. The beloved Son was treated as sin.
Every detail of the psalm found its counterpart at Calvary. His bones out of joint from the stretching of crucifixion. His thirst so intense His tongue cleaved to His jaws—”I thirst” (John 19:28). Surrounded by the “bulls of Bashan” and “dogs” of Gentile soldiers and Jewish mockers. His hands and feet literally pierced by iron spikes. His garments divided, with lots cast for His seamless robe (John 19:23-24). The soldiers looked upon Him, staring at His suffering (v. 17).
From Dereliction to Dominion
The psalm’s dramatic turn from suffering to praise mirrors the movement from cross to resurrection. Jesus endured the forsakenness; God answered from the horns of the unicorns (v. 21). The cry of abandonment gave way to the declaration of victory. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee” (v. 22). Hebrews quotes this verse as Christ’s own words: “Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee” (Hebrews 2:12).
The universal worship predicted in Psalm 22:27-28 flows from Christ’s finished work: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the LORD’s: and he is the governor among the nations.” From the cross—that place of ultimate shame and apparent defeat—comes the conquest of all nations for God. The suffering servant becomes the sovereign King.
Even the statement “It is finished” may echo in the psalm’s final phrase. “He hath done this” (v. 31) could be rendered “It is finished.” The work accomplished in those dark hours, the full payment for sin, the complete satisfaction of divine justice—finished. The cry of dereliction became the shout of victory.
Generations yet unborn are told what God has done (v. 30-31). We who live two thousand years after Calvary are those future generations, hearing the declaration that God has accomplished salvation through the sufferings of His Son. The gospel we preach was prefigured in the psalm and accomplished on the cross.
Into the Forsakenness
Christ’s cry from the cross—”My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”—confronts every hearer with the cost of redemption. This was not acting. This was not hyperbole. The eternal Son experienced something He had never known: separation from the Father. The fellowship enjoyed from everlasting was ruptured so that fellowship between God and sinners could be restored.
What our sin deserved, Christ endured. The forsakenness we should have felt forever, He felt fully in those hours. Divine abandonment is the essence of hell—existing outside God’s favorable presence forever. Jesus tasted that hell, drained that cup, exhausted that wrath, so that all who trust in Him will never be forsaken.
“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5) is a promise secured by the One who was left and forsaken in our place. Because He was abandoned, we will never be. Because He cried out without answer, we are heard when we call. Because He experienced the ultimate darkness, we walk in light. His dereliction purchased our acceptance.
Psalm 22 invites you into the mystery of the cross. Hear the cry. See the sufferer. Understand that this was for you. The hands pierced were pierced for your transgressions. The garments divided clothe you now in righteousness. The One forsaken welcomes you into eternal fellowship with God. Do not look away from this suffering—it is your salvation. Do not minimize this forsakenness—it is your hope. The Christ of Psalm 22 died that you might live. Trust Him and join the congregation that sings His praise forever.