by There are seasons when the presence of God feels more like a conviction I hold than a comfort I can sense. I continue believing that He is faithful, yet prayer feels unanswered. I know the promises of Scripture, but the silence around me seems louder than the truths I am trying to remember. Psalm 22 gives me language for those painful moments because it begins with the anguished question, My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
David does not soften his pain or hide it behind polished religious words. He feels abandoned, unheard, humiliated, and surrounded by enemies. His body is exhausted, his strength is disappearing, and the people around him mock the faith he has placed in God. The opening half of the psalm is one of the most emotionally honest prayers in Scripture.
Yet David never stops addressing the Lord as “my God.” His feelings tell him that God is far away, but his prayer reveals that faith is still reaching toward Him. Lament becomes the language of a wounded relationship that refuses to let go. David does not understand the silence, but he continues to speak to the One he fears has grown distant.
Psalm 22 also carries us beyond David’s personal suffering. Jesus spoke its opening words from the cross, and several details of the psalm find a striking fulfillment in His crucifixion. He was mocked, surrounded, stripped, pierced, and treated as though God had abandoned Him. Christ entered the deepest darkness of human sin and suffering so that those who trust Him would never face final separation from God.
The psalm does not end in abandonment. It moves from anguish to remembrance, from desperate petition to praise, and from personal suffering to a vision of the nations worshiping the Lord. Psalm 22 teaches me that suffering can be brought honestly before God, that silence does not mean He has surrendered His purposes, and that lament may eventually become testimony.
Read Psalm 22:1-31 (ESV)
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?”
Psalm 22:1 (ESV)
When I feel abandoned, unheard, or overwhelmed by suffering, I can bring my anguish honestly to God, remember His past faithfulness, look to Christ, and trust that lament will not have the final word.
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Big Idea 1: Faith Can Cry Out When God Feels Far Away
David begins with a question that rises from deep pain. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He has cried by day and by night, yet no answer has brought relief. The silence is not merely inconvenient. It feels personal.
I understand why prayers like this can make believers uncomfortable. We may fear that speaking honestly about disappointment dishonors God or reveals weak faith. As a result, we sometimes hide our pain beneath familiar phrases and try to sound more confident than we actually feel.
Psalm 22 shows me another way. David brings the ache directly into his relationship with God. He does not speak about the Lord from a distance. Even as he asks why God seems absent, he continues, “My God.”
That repeated phrase matters. Faith is not always expressed through emotional certainty. Sometimes faith sounds like a person refusing to stop praying when prayer feels unanswered.
The Difference Between Abandonment and the Feeling of Abandonment
David feels forsaken, but the whole psalm will eventually show that God has not abandoned him. His emotional experience is real, though it does not reveal the entire reality.
I need that distinction because painful feelings can become powerful interpreters. When God seems silent, my mind begins constructing explanations. Perhaps He has forgotten me. Maybe my prayers do not matter. I may assume that the absence of an immediate answer proves the absence of divine care.
Those conclusions feel convincing when suffering continues, but feelings cannot see the whole story. Scripture gives me permission to name them without requiring me to treat them as final truth.
Lament allows both honesty and faith to remain in the same prayer. I can say, “Lord, You feel far away,” while also continuing to call Him my God. The pain does not have to be denied, and the relationship does not have to be abandoned.
When I cannot feel God’s nearness, I can still turn my face toward Him. Even the question My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? becomes an act of faith when it is prayed to the Lord rather than used as a reason to walk away.
Big Idea 2: Remembering God’s Faithfulness Helps Me Pray Through Silence
After expressing his anguish, David remembers the history of God’s people. He says that the Lord is holy and enthroned on the praises of Israel. Previous generations trusted God, cried to Him, and were delivered.
The remembrance does not immediately erase David’s pain. In fact, it may sharpen the tension. God answered them, so why does the answer feel delayed now? Yet memory gives David something solid to hold while present experience remains confusing.
I need the same discipline. Suffering narrows my attention until the current problem seems to fill the entire horizon. Past grace fades, answered prayers become difficult to recall, and the future feels as though it will be defined by this one painful chapter.
Remembering pushes back against that distortion.
Borrowing Strength From Yesterday’s Grace
When I recount God’s faithfulness, I am not trying to manipulate myself into a better mood. I am placing present pain inside a larger story.
The Lord has heard prayers before. He has carried me through seasons I did not know how to navigate. Provision came through people and opportunities I could not have arranged. Strength appeared when my own resources were exhausted.
Biblical history also gives me memories larger than my personal experience. God delivered Israel, sustained the prophets, remained faithful to imperfect people, and fulfilled His promises through Christ. The testimony of Scripture becomes a storehouse of hope when my own memory feels weak.
There are times when I cannot yet see what God is doing in the present. During those seasons, I can lean on what He has already revealed about His character. The Lord has not become less faithful because I do not understand His timing.
Remembering does not answer every question, but it keeps silence from rewriting everything I know about God.
Big Idea 3: Suffering Often Attacks Both My Body and My Identity
David describes the physical and emotional effects of his suffering in vivid terms. He feels as if he has been poured out like water; his bones are out of joint; his heart melts like wax; and his strength dries up. The pain is not confined to one area of life. It reaches his body, emotions, thoughts, and sense of safety.
At the same time, people mock him. They ridicule his trust in the Lord and question whether God will rescue someone who claims to belong to Him. Their words target more than David’s circumstances. They attack his identity and faith.
I have learned that prolonged pressure often works in similar ways. Emotional burdens affect sleep, energy, focus, and physical strength. Words spoken by others can become internal voices that question my worth, competence, calling, or relationship with God.
Suffering rarely stays in one compartment.
When Pain Begins Telling Me Who I Am
A difficult season may start with something that happened to me, but eventually the pain begins trying to define me. Failure says I am a failure. Rejection tells me I am unwanted. Delay suggests I have been forgotten. Criticism becomes a voice insisting that I am who someone else says I am.
Psalm 22 helps me separate my identity from the accusations surrounding me. David is mocked, but the mockery does not possess final authority. His enemies interpret his suffering as proof that God will not help him. The rest of the psalm will expose how incomplete their conclusion is.
I need to be careful about allowing present pain to become the narrator of my life. Suffering tells part of the story, but it does not know the ending.
My identity is secured more deeply than my circumstances. Through Christ, I am loved, received, forgiven, and held by God. Those truths may need to be repeated slowly during seasons when emotions cannot easily feel them.
When pressure affects both body and soul, I should not minimize its impact. Rest, wise support, prayer, medical care, counseling, or practical help may all become part of God’s provision. Faith does not require me to pretend the pain is spiritual only.
The Lord cares for the whole person, and I can bring the full weight of suffering into His presence.
Big Idea 4: Psalm 22 Leads Me to the Cross of Jesus
The words of Psalm 22 become even more significant when I see how they point toward Christ. Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” while hanging on the cross. The Gospel accounts also describe mockers challenging Him to trust God for deliverance, soldiers dividing His garments, and physical suffering that reflects the imagery David used.
Jesus did not quote the opening line by accident. He was identifying Himself with this psalm of righteous suffering and revealing that its deepest fulfillment was taking place at Calvary.
The cross tells me that God is not distant from human anguish. In Christ, He entered it.
Jesus Entered the Darkness I Could Never Fully Understand
Christ experienced rejection, betrayal, public shame, physical torment, and the judgment of sin. He carried what I could not carry and endured the cross so that reconciliation with God could become possible.
The cry of abandonment must be understood within that saving work. Jesus, the sinless Son, bore the judgment sinners deserved. He entered the darkness of the cross so that those united with Him would never face final abandonment.
This does not mean believers will always feel God’s presence clearly. Psalm 22 itself proves that faithful people may experience seasons of painful silence. The gospel gives me something stronger than my emotional experience. Because Christ was forsaken under judgment, I can trust that nothing will separate me from the love of God in Him.
The cross also changes the way I view suffering. It does not make pain good, but it proves that God can accomplish redemptive purposes through circumstances that appear completely defeated.
Those watching Jesus believed the story had ended in humiliation. Resurrection revealed that God was accomplishing salvation through what looked like failure.
When I cannot understand what God is doing, I look to the cross. There I see that divine silence is not the same as divine inactivity. God may be working at a level I cannot yet perceive.
Big Idea 5: Honest Lament Should Move Toward Specific Prayer
David does not remain only in description. He turns his anguish into a petition: “But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!”
This movement is important. Lament names what is wrong, but it also asks God to act. David requests nearness, rescue, and protection from enemies who threaten to destroy him.
I sometimes become trapped in rehearsing the problem. My prayers circle the pain repeatedly without clearly asking the Lord for what I need. Honest expression matters, but petition gives suffering direction.
Asking God for What I Need
Specific prayer requires vulnerability. I must admit where I feel afraid, what outcome I desire, and where my strength has reached its limit.
I can ask for healing, provision, wisdom, deliverance, reconciliation, justice, endurance, or peace. The request may include practical details because God cares about the real circumstances of life.
Specificity does not mean I control the answer. I bring the desire openly while still surrendering the timing and outcome to God’s wisdom.
David asks the Lord to come quickly. Scripture does not shame him for wanting relief. Patience is not the same as pretending delay is easy. I can pray urgently while continuing to trust.
There are also moments when my greatest need is not immediate escape but the strength to endure faithfully. God may answer by changing the circumstances, sustaining me within them, or guiding me toward action I need to take.
Lament becomes spiritually fruitful when it moves me beyond silent despair and toward active dependence. I am not merely describing darkness. I am calling upon the God who can meet me within it.
Big Idea 6: Praise Can Begin Before I Understand the Whole Story
A dramatic change occurs in verse 22. David moves from desperate petition to public praise: “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
The psalm does not explain every detail of what happened between the prayer and the praise. Something has changed, whether in the circumstances, David’s confidence, or both. He now sees that the Lord has not despised or ignored the affliction of the suffering person.
This declaration directly answers the fear expressed at the beginning. God seemed distant, but He had not turned away. The cry was heard.
Turning Rescue Into Testimony
David does not intend to keep the answer private. He will tell others what God has done and invite the congregation to worship.
Testimony gives suffering a new purpose. The pain itself may not be something I would choose, but God’s faithfulness within it can strengthen others.
A truthful testimony does not need to pretend that the experience was easy. I can speak about unanswered questions, nights of fear, moments of weakness, and the long process of healing. Honesty gives credibility to praise because it shows that worship grew in real soil.
Sometimes praise begins before every circumstance has been resolved. Faith begins to recognize that God has heard, that His presence remains, and that suffering will not own the final chapter.
I may not yet be ready to tell the whole story publicly. Some wounds require privacy and time. Still, I can begin by thanking God for one piece of evidence of grace, one person He sent, one promise that sustained me, or one moment when strength appeared.
Praise does not erase lament. It reveals that lament is moving somewhere.
Big Idea 7: God Can Use Personal Deliverance to Reach Beyond Me
The final portion of Psalm 22 expands far beyond David’s individual experience. The poor will eat and be satisfied, the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and future generations will hear about His righteousness.
A psalm that began with one suffering person ends with the nations worshiping God.
This movement shows me that the Lord’s work in my life may have purposes larger than my immediate relief. Personal deliverance can become public witness. The comfort I receive may eventually help me sit beside someone experiencing similar pain.
My Story Can Serve Future Faith
I naturally want God to answer prayer because I want the suffering to stop. That desire is understandable. Psalm 22 invites me to see that His work may also shape the faith of people I have not yet met.
A lesson learned through grief may strengthen someone years later. The testimony of God’s provision can encourage a person facing uncertainty. Wisdom formed in conflict may help me lead with greater compassion.
The final verse says that people will proclaim God’s righteousness to a generation not yet born, declaring that He has done it.
For Christians, those words resonate with the finished work of Christ. The suffering Savior accomplished redemption, and the message continues to move through generations and nations.
My personal story will never carry the saving significance of the cross, but it can still point toward the same faithful God. I can speak honestly about how He met me, sustained me, corrected me, and carried me.
Pain often makes my world feel smaller. God can take what feels isolating and use it to connect me more deeply with others.
Conclusion
Psalm 22 gives me permission to pray from the place where God feels distant. The words My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? do not represent the end of faith. They show faith refusing to stop speaking even when the answer feels delayed.
David brings his anguish, physical weakness, public humiliation, and urgent need directly before the Lord. He remembers God’s faithfulness, asks specifically for help, and eventually moves toward praise. The psalm begins with one person feeling abandoned and ends with generations declaring God’s righteousness.
Most importantly, Psalm 22 leads me to Jesus. He entered the suffering described in this psalm and carried the judgment of sin on the cross. Because Christ endured abandonment under judgment, I can trust that I will never face final separation from God.
There may still be seasons when His presence feels hidden. Prayer may remain difficult, and answers may come more slowly than I desire. The cross assures me that silence does not mean God has stopped loving me or abandoned His purposes.
When I cannot sense His nearness, I will continue calling Him my God. I will tell Him the truth about my pain, remember what He has done, and ask Him to come near.
Lament does not have to be the final language of my story. Through God’s faithfulness, sorrow can become testimony, and testimony can become praise.
Prayer
My God, when You feel far away, help me continue turning toward You. Receive the honest questions, groaning, and fear that I struggle to express. Remind me that my feelings do not reveal the whole story and that Your faithfulness has not changed. Thank You for Jesus, who entered suffering, carried my sin, and endured the cross so that I would never face final abandonment. Come near to me in the places where I feel weak, mocked, afraid, or alone. Give me the courage to ask specifically for what I need, and the patience to trust Your wisdom. In time, turn my lament into testimony and my testimony into praise. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Call to Action
Read Psalm 22 slowly and identify the words that most closely describe your present emotions. Bring those words honestly before God without trying to improve or soften them.
Then write down one piece of evidence of His past faithfulness. Let that memory become an anchor while you continue waiting for present help.
Return to the opening words of Psalm 22 when God feels distant, but do not stop there. Continue reading until you reach the praise and hope at the end of the psalm.
Share this reflection with someone who needs permission to lament honestly while continuing to trust God.
Verified Internal Links From chadbrodrick.com
- How Long, O Lord? | Psalm 13
- When Heaven Is Silent: Trusting God Between the Resurrection and the Outpouring
- God Is With You: Holding On to His Presence in Hard Times
- Pressed but Not Crushed: Strength for the Struggle
- Triumph in Suffering
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Blessings,
Chad
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Today I find myself in the Valley of depression and distant from God. I don’t know how long I will be here. Will it be a day, a week, a month or a year? Only God knows. But I do know He is faithful to get me out and I will feel His presence once again as He has been faithful in the past. I like a song by Kim Walker-Smith called, “Walk With Me,” today, I say, carry me! I will continue to offer a sacrifice of praise to God and worship Him for this is how we fight our battles!!!
Thank you Chad for your posts, I can’t express enough how much they speak to me. I am so grateful for the ministry God has given you. It is so needed and impactful. May God bless you greatly!
Praying that God will wrap His loving arms around you and let you know how close He is to you! I am grateful for the privilege of walking this journey of life with you and the opportunity to speak into your life what the Holy Spirit inspires. God has blessed me!
I must add the depth of your writing is so profound and beautiful, it must be by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, thankyou for being accessible for God’s purposes!
I am humbled by your encouragement. Thank you so much!
It is in times of depression that I seek God more diligently and pray more fervently. It is a time when He reveals deeper truths to me and the times where I grow the most. Praise the Lord!
Walk With Me (feat. Kim Walker-Smith)