This is a good Psalm for me this week. This week was busy, busy, busy. It seems like David's mind was maybe rambling a little here. He travels with extremes. His feelings were a bit up and down.
Do some of us do this sometimes? I know Duane Maust can feel a bit like David. I just hope we all end on a final note like David did.
I asked Paul Shelly to put this outline on the projector for the whole sermon today. This outline is from the Believers Commentary. I like the way it gives an overview of the Psalm. Look at the variation in his subject or form. Look at the swing in the pronouns that he used. Look at the different descriptive words that he is feeling.
| Verses | Form | Pronoun | Descriptive Word |
| 1-2 3-5 6-8 9-10 11 12-18 19-21 22-31 |
address-complaint affirmation complaint affirmation petition complaint petition vow to praise |
I-me you I-me you you-me I-me you-me I-you |
God-forsaken trustworthy mocked safety help! death-distress save me praise-dominion |
Look how David starts this Psalm. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" We all have had times when we have felt this, haven't we? Where are you, God? I feel alone.
One thing I would like to point out is that he is calling out to God. He is asking for God. Verse 4a: "O my God, I cry out for you, but you do not answer."
David was feeling quite human, wasn't he? We all can feel with him when we have some tough times. At times we just need to feel God closer. We need him to hold us.
Look at what Jesus said when he was on the cross.
Read Matthew 27:46
Jesus was faced with ultimate loneliness. He was carrying the sin of the world. I don't know what he was feeling. There were a lot of emotions there for everyone there that day. This is especially true for Jesus. God still loved Him through this difficult time but Jesus could not feel enough of his love at that moment. Jesus was needing to be held by God. He needed more of God at that moment. That is why he cried out these words today. "My God, My God!!"
Jesus' cry of forsakenness on the cross also invites believers to see Jesus as one who cries out and identifies with suffering humanity. His cry invites us to cry out to God.
Verse 4 says "We know you were there for our parents: they cried for your help and you gave it, they trusted and lived a good life."
Many of us have had good examples set before us. We saw our parents or maybe someone else asking God for our needs. What kind of example are we making for our children? Do our children see us asking God for our needs?
Then David talks about fear. He asked God to be near him.
Read verse 11
Then he talks about scary bulls and lions, dogs and evil people. We all have fears at times, don't we?
As I remember when I was about 10 years old I was playing in the hay-mow, like an attic above the barn, above the bull-pen. I happened to fall from the hay-mow down into the bull pen. There was a hole in the floor to throw the straw down and I didn't see it. I landed in the opposite corner from the bull. I was in the back corner of the pen. It was a big Holstein bull. It did not take me long to get out of that pen. The bull did not have a chance to catch me. I was scared and unhurt.
I am also scared of dogs. When I go to a job site and I hear a dog, I move slow and cautious and close to the pickup till I know the dog is a friend.
David had fears. We may not have bulls in our lives but we have other things that scare us plenty.
We all have some kind of fear if we are honest with ourselves. Maybe it is a fear of not having enough money. (for that child support, for that car payment, maybe for grocery) or maybe I just worry about bad weather. Or not feel accepted by my friends at school. Maybe I saw a bad wreck on the highway. Now I feel like all the cars or trucks are coming at me.
Read verse 19
We start to see a change in David's tone here. He is feeling closer to God. He is not focusing on his fears. He is feeling more of God. He is talking to God in a new way.
Are we able to feel God through our fear?
Read verses 27-28
God does dominate here. God does rule here. He does care about my fears.
The Layman's commentary says, "This psalm of anguish ends on a glad note. Like the psalmist and like Jesus, we too ask, "My God, why?" May we also share their faith in the Father."
This morning, are you able to look up to heaven and say to the Lord, "My God, My God?" Do you have a relationship with God? Is that someone you think of calling for help when you have fears?
Acts 2:21 tells us that, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Cry out to him and he will help you. God cares about every problem we get into.
"By the power of the Holy Spirit, in our singing, preaching, and through our offering, you have made yourself known to us today, O God. Help us to remember, God, What you have done for us in Jesus. Continue to speak to us. Turn our attention to Jesus. We go to our homes, the work of our hands, and the thoughts of our minds to be attentive to you, God. We declare again under the shadow of the cross, do what Jesus did."