Sometimes by the Mid-Day hour there are those days, in the midst of sorrowful, soul gutting times, that we feel we can’t make it through the day. Psalm 22 has the wisdom that says the opposite, that not only can we make it through, but we can make it through finishing well. Let’s take a look at it, so we can finish well too. Hope This Mid Day Manna Munch Nourishes Your Soul. Kimberly Mac, Author
It is obvious that whoever wrote Psalm 22 was in a close personal relationship with God. Most scholars believe David wrote it. He said: My God, and said it twice, this is someone who knows and trusts God. It also sounds like their soul is in agony, it is overwhelmed in negative emotion. Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt this? Why is it when we have that agony of soul that we always lead out with emotions? Do you believe emotions are fickle? Do you concur that emotions have no long term strength to them? For me, I see emotions as a “flesh out” and usually afterwards, I feel spent, exhausted in soul. Isn’t it unique that you have this human being, finite in all his ways, in a completely weakened state, and God chooses him right then, in that inferior human condition, to foretell prophetically in this psalm, the actual sufferings of Jesus. I believe we are the most God fragrant when we are broken and spilled out. How about you? Can you relate? I know I asked a lot of questions, but take some time, You and God to think on them. I call that Miraculous Musing.
God, my God! Why would you abandon me now? Why do you remain distant, refusing to answer my tearful cries in the day and my desperate cries for your help in the night? I can’t stop sobbing. Where are you, my God? Psalms 22:1-2
“For the Pure and Shining One ~ David’s song of anguishTo the tune of “The Deer at the Dawning of the Day” David is crying out to God as he is being tortured in his soul because of his many adversaries his suffering brought him to…The cry “My God” shows that the Forsaken One truly did have a relationship with God. He was a victim of the cruelty of men, but the cry and the complaint is to God – My God – and not to or against man. Second, the repetition of the plea shows the intensity of the agony. The composition of his psalms especially, in which he found himself wonderfully carried out by the spirit of prophecy far beyond his own thought and intention, 33 Prophecies From This Psalm Were Fulfilled When Jesus Was On The Cross.” Brian Simmons Commentary
Yet I know that you are most holy. You are God-Enthroned, the praise of Israel. Our fathers’ faith was in you— through the generations they trusted in you and you came through. Every time they cried out to you in their despair, you were faithful to deliver them; you didn’t disappoint them. Psalms 22:3-5
Transition To Truth
This was a transformational transition from emotions to truth. When we are led by truth, the foundation is strong, as truth, unlike emotions, stands the tests and trials of time. When you feel like your soul is overwhelmed and you are focusing on all the emotions that has brought forth into your life, the best transition from these kind of prevalent emotions is truth. Ask yourself these questions: What are emotions based on? What are some foundations of our emotions? What is truth based on? Why is truth a reliable foundation? This is what David does at this moment in this Psalm. He transitions to the foundation of truth. He speaks the truth He knows. Yet I know…Every time we cry out to Jesus, we speak His name in our anguish of soul, His peace is ushered in. The truth is there is power in the name of Jesus. Do you believe this? Jesus does not disappoint us. When our soul is chaotic the Shalom of Jesus disrupts the chaos with His peace. Setting our soul’s atmosphere in truth, kicks out the chaos and ushers in God’s peace. Listen Up To This 1 Minute Encouragement Video:
“God is near to those who He has made righteous. Nearness is the blessing— it is even better than a yes. Ask Him to draw you nearer today. It probably won’t happen in a dramatic way. It may just be a sense of peace when things are chaotic, or hope when things feel impossible, or strength to serve someone who annoys you. That may be what His nearness looks like today as His spirit empowers you to look like Christ. 🙏 Ask for His nearness, expect it, look for it— because He’s where the joy is.” Tara Leigh Cobble
But I am like a worm, crushed and bleeding crimson, treated as less than human. I’ve been despised and scorned by everyone! Mocked by their jeers, despised with their sneers, as all the people poke fun at me, spitting their insults, saying, “Is this the one who trusted in God? Now let’s see if Yahweh will come to your rescue! Let’s see how much he delights in him! Ps. 22:6-8
Flip-Flop-Focus
David has flipped back to a focus on the world, he is distracted by what people are saying, and takes his eyes off of Jesus and truth. The scorners and scoffers have captivated his focus. The enemy of our soul is so good at distracting us from the truth by putting the loud voice of the world in our ears, and causing us to stop hearing the still small voice of God, because we lose our focus. Yet I know… God’s wisdom always outlasts suffering and we need to get back to what we know to be true. Focus on the truth, don’t let ourselves be distracted by what other people think. Yet, even in the midst of this flip-flop from emotional outbursts to truth, God is still using David to speak prophetically about His Son’s death on the cross. God chooses the most unlikely people at the most unlikely times.
Overwhelmed Mind
When we are overwhelmed by our circumstances, which we can’t even begin to wrap our minds around, our soul emotions will be stirred up and when we speak, it will be words which are grossly exaggerated, with not much reality of truth as we see in verses 1-2 of Psalm 22. The truth is that God never abandons us, He is Omnipresent, always with us, and has been faithful to be so from the beginning of our time. If we have questions, God does not refuse to answer us, we always are answered: Yes, No, Wait. If we don’t take our circumstances to God, and we mull them over and over in our mind, this creates mind exhaustion. An exhausted mind is an open door for the enemy of our soul to sweep in His “D”evilish intents: D-iscouragement; D-isolutionment; D-espair; D-epression; The enemy of our soul will fill our mind with a mess of many of His “D” words. I am sure you can think of so many more of the “D” words you have let in your soul once or twice before. Close the door, guard your heart diligently from “D” Words.
Lord, you delivered me safely from my mother’s womb. You are the one who cared for me ever since I was a baby. Since the day I was born, I’ve been placed in your custody. You’ve cradled me throughout my days, and you’ve always been my God. So don’t leave me now, for trouble is all around me, and there’s no one to help me. Psalms 22:9-11
Not The Fixer. Not The Savior. Not The Deliverer
David begins to remember God’s Faithfulness to him. This is such a good flip-flop from eyes on the scoffers who are saying God is not going to help you, to the focus of the reality of truth, that God has helped Him. As the Psalm 34 says: Many are the trials of the righteous, but God delivers them out of them all. David recognizes Who is his present helper. He is not the Fixer, God is. He is not the Savior, God is. He is not the Deliverer, God is. David recalls this truth. This is a great example for us when we get those thoughts, those evil scoffing thoughts: God is not going to get you out of this one? You are going down. Why do you even think God will help you? There are so many negative thoughts that stir up in our soul when we are immersed in suffering and we can’t see God’s hand in play in our desperate time. We can’t entertain negative thoughts, or we will open the door for the “D” brigade to enter in our soul. If the “D” brigade enters our soul, they will focus us on self denigration. The devil brigade never has anything good to say, nothing that adds value, but all things that devalue us.
“In a truly grace-filled man, his trust in God is known. This trust demonstrated by believing men is not understood by the world. This true faith will almost certainly be mocked at some time or another. The time shall come when the man of faith who has trusted in God shall be abundantly justified.” Brian Simmons Commentary
Flip-Flop Back To Self-Focus
I’m surrounded by many violent foes like bulls; forces of evil encircle me like the strong bulls of Bashan. Like ravenous, roaring lions tearing their prey, they pour curses from their mouths. Now I’m completely exhausted. Every joint of my body has been pulled apart. My courage has melted away. I’m so thirsty and parched. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. And now you lay me in the dust of death. They have pierced my hands and my feet. Like a pack of wild dogs they tear at me, swirling around me with their hatred. A band of evil men surrounds me. I can count all my bones. Look at how they gloat over me and stare! With a toss of the dice they divide my clothes among themselves, gambling for my garments! Psalms 22:12-18
“The Father regarded God the son as if he were a sinner, he felt in soul and body the horror of God’s displeasure against the sin He had taken the burden of on Himself. Jesus had never known separation or alienation from God His Father. At this moment He experienced what He had not yet ever experienced. There was a significant sense in which Jesus rightly felt forsaken by God the Father on the cross.” Brian Simmons Commentary
Soul Exhaustion
Flipping back to a self-focus completely exhausts the soul. Emotions will then rise up in grossly exaggerated, D-ceptive ways, and completely weaken and D-estroy the peace of our soul with D-espair. Have you ever been there and felt the utter despair of emotions wreaking havoc with your mind and D-isturbing your soul and spirit? It is the worst position our human condition can be in, it is a very strong attack of the enemy, the D-eteriorating of our soul. Yet still, this Psalm was a powerful prophecy spoken by David, the very one who was soul crushed. Think On This. God was using a completely broken, emptied out man to prophesy of His Son’s death centuries before crucifixion was even in the thoughts of the Romans. Yet even in our complete brokenness, God can powerfully use us. So let the scoffers scoff. Our God will deliver us, and He will do it in ways we can’t even begin to wrap our mind around. We can take our soul agony to Jesus, He understands, and He is the only one Who can take our agony and translate it into beautiful agony. Listen Up to this 1 Minute Encouragement Video
“This is a kind of gem among the Psalms, and is peculiarly excellent and remarkable. It contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of Christ, (A Prophetic Portrait Of The Cross) when agonizing in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine wrath and death which surpass all human thought and comprehension.” (Martin Luther, cited in Charles Spurgeon)
Yahweh , please don’t stay far away. My strength, come quickly to my rescue. Give me back my life. Save me from this violent death. Save my precious one and only from the power of these dogs! Save me from all the power of the enemy, from this roaring lion raging against me and the power of his dark horde. I will declare your name before all my brothers and praise you in the midst of the congregation. Those who fear Yahweh , praise him! Let all the seed of Jacob glorify him with your praises. Stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised my cries of deep despair. He’s my first responder to my sufferings, and when I was in pain, he was there all the time and heard the cries of the afflicted. You’re the reason for my praise; it comes from you and goes to you. I will keep my promise to praise you before all who fear you among the congregation of your people. Psalms 22:19-25
“Faith finds weapons everywhere. He who wills to believe shall never lack reasons for believing.” (Spurgeon)
From Desperation To Testimony Power
The power of the testimony is real. David begins to pray and praise God for the miracles of his past. He asks God for what He wants by faith, in his sacrifice of praise, acknowledging Who God as a miracle working God. When we find ourself in this kind of D-esperation, we remember Who God is, and we praise Him with our testimony. We send Judah first into the battle. God is our strength, God is our rescuer. God is the only one who can take or give life. God is our Fixer. God is our Savior. God is our power against our enemy. God is our Solution. We yield to God, and never let the enemy steal the power of our testimony. Begin to testify. A testimony is powerful because the word “testimony” in Hebrew is ‘Aydooth” which means ‘do it again’! When God has done a miracle in our lives, and we testify about it, that same miraculous power, will do it again. That same power that raised Christ from the dead, dwells with us. Do It Again Lord God!
Soul Saturated With “D” Words?
When you find yourself surrounded with the mess of “D” Words in your soul, it makes your soul attitudes “D-ark”. Turn on the LIGHT, the Light of Truth. Remember and testify of God’s faithfulness. Resist the enemy with truth, and the Word of your testimony, and praise and the enemy will flee with all his “D” words scampering behind him out of your soul! Remind yourself of the truth of the faithfulness of God, the truth that God is trustworthy. David’s testimony powerfully shut the door on the “D” words, did not allow the “D”word D-oubt to permeate his soul, because He knew God was holy, He knew God was great, His testimony over the years had the power of Jesus’ righteousness in it. Nothing can change the power of the work of the cross of Jesus Christ, which made us righteous. Praise God!
“It matters not what I endure. Storms may howl upon me; men despise; devils tempt; circumstances overpower; and God himself forsake me, still God is holy; there is no unrighteousness in Him.” Charles Spurgeon
Let all the poor and broken eat until satisfied. Bring Yahweh praise and you will find him. May your hearts overflow with life forever! From the four corners of the earth, the peoples of the world will remember and return to Yahweh . Every nation will come and worship him. For Yahweh is King of all, who takes charge of all the nations. The wealthy of this world will feast in fellowship with him right alongside the humble of heart, bowing down to the dust, forsaking their own souls. They will all come and worship this worthy King! His spiritual seed shall serve him. Future generations will hear from us about the wonders of the Victorious Lord. His generation yet to be born will glorify him. And they will all declare, “It is finished! Psalms 22:26-31
“He used purposefully used the words “bride” and “finished” because salvation was finished on the cross, and Jesus continues to work on us to accomplish all that his cross and resurrection have purchased for us, his bride. His cross fulfilled and finishes the prophecies of the Messiah first coming to the earth. There was nothing written that was not fulfilled, and now offered to his bride. He finished the work of salvation on the cross, and today he continues to work through his church to extend God‘s kingdom realm on the earth and glorify. The father through us.” Brian Simmons Commentary
I Will Declare Your Name
Have you ever cried out to God multiple times and felt utterly unheard. Why does God not rescue us when we cry out? Why did God not rescue Jesus? Now you know why. Sorrow, hurt, pain, affliction these are things God does not despise, and He purposefully uses with a good endgame in mind for the lives of His people. In the midst of all the chaos of painful situations, the purposes of God are in play for our good and His glory, they are never not in play. God is with us. God is for us. We are kept by God. We will see a breakthrough when He is ready to bring forth and until then we are equipped by God for each day. His endgame in perfect harmony with the Sovereign timing of God. It happened for David, it happened for Jesus, it will happen for us. Yet, I will declare His Name. This kind of testimony and proclamation is vital to the mission of God in the world. Yet I Know…
Thank you for stopping into The Bridegroom’s Cafe for a Mid-Day Manna Munch. We hope your soul was nourished and strengthened in that way only The Bridegroom Jesus’ Voice can. Please make sure you share this with someone on your social medial outreach. Thanks! AND Yes, give us a subscription on this website. It really helps us. Also, our Rumble Channel, make sure you subscribe today so you don’t miss one of our 1 Minute Encouragement Videos: https://rumble.com/c/KimberlyMac The Think On It Table is for those Mid day or late evening manna munches. Hope you enjoyed it. Kimberly Mac, Author