Moving from despair to hope (Ps 22:21-31)

When we are miserable and the world looks bleak, moving from despair to hope seems impossible. It is what the disciples must have felt looking at Jesus dying on the cross. In our lives too, when God’s power seems to be overcome by evil what is there left to hope for? Yet the psalms repeatedly testify that a change in outlook is achievable – but how? In our reading, the switch is abrupt. One minute the psalmist cries ‘save me!’, the next he says, ‘you have answered me’ (Ps 22:21). In Hebrew, the latter verb is in the perfect indicating completed action. Circumstances may not have changed, but the psalmist is so sure of God’s deliverance that it is as if it had already happened. Jesus, who prayed this prayer, knew well not only its desperation but also its triumphant end. He, too, was strengthened to endure until He placed His life into God’s hands (Luke 23:46), an expression of confidence, not resignation (Ps 31:4-5). What then is the secret of moving from despair to hope?

First, v.21 states, ‘You have answered me’. Without God’s intervention and presence, there is no hope for us. When humanity sinned and lost the relationship with Him, only the Lord could deal with sin and make it possible for us to know Him again. As we remember the cross, we understand the high price He paid for our release. Likewise, we cannot pull ourselves out of misery by our bootstraps, so the answer to whatever we are facing has to come from the Lord. Scholars speculate that the abrupt change in the psalms is due to a priest bringing a word from the Lord to the worshipper. Who hasn’t known those moments when God spoke to us and the world suddenly looked a different place? Whether it was through prayer and Bible-reading, through a sermon, or someone encouraging us with a word from God, nothing can compare with the power of God speaking. No wonder the psalmist feels compelled to testify and exhorts others in the congregation to praise Him (Ps 22:22-23). He recognises the truth that when we cry to the Lord, He answers (Ps 22:24). The timing may not be ours, but our God does not ignore our suffering and pleas for help.

At this point, however, we may wonder, do we just sit around waiting for God’s intervention? What is the point of our faith when all depends on Him? The opening phrase in Ps 22:25 gives us insight. Rendered woodenly, the Hebrew says, ‘From with you [is] my praise’, which English versions translate as ‘from you comes my praise’ or ‘of you is my praise’, meaning that God is its source or topic. What the Lord has done leads to worship. However, the aspect of being with God is lost in these translations and it is this that gives rise to a changed perspective and to praise. Faith matters because it is as we seek the Lord in trust that we encounter Him and are able to hear His answer and know His presence (Ps 22:26). He initiates, speaks and acts but all this is perceived by faith.

As the psalmist’s mindset is transformed, he looks toward the nations coming to worship God and acknowledging His sovereignty (Ps 22:27-30). Reading the psalm in the light of Easter, we get a foretaste of this grand vision in Jesus’ resurrection and the spread of the gospel among the nations. Seeming defeat has turned into victory and God is vindicated and proved righteous (Ps 22:31), a legal term used in a court of law for someone who has fulfilled his obligations and did what was required of him. God is righteous because He stood by His commitments to His Son and all those who seek Him. Jesus’ fate shows that God does not necessarily save us from trouble but through it, even if that trouble is death itself. The Lord’s power to bring life out of death – spiritually, as well as physically – is our ultimate hope that will complete our final redemption. May we rejoice as we reflect on Easter and conclude with the psalm ‘He did it!’ (v.31).[1]

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[1] The Hebrew is punchy and only one word using the common verb ‘to do’.

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