Benjamin David Stanaland Sr. Psalms 22-King Davids Lament
Sunday 11 December 2011
For those who have ever wondered how, why or what inspired King David to write the reassuring, wonderfully uplifting Psalms 23, the answer, it took a lifetime of experiences.
In our search of the scriptures, we need only use Psalm 22: as the basis for our launching point of our questions to be answered. We will begin, yes this Psalm is also a prophecy of the final events surrounding the crucifixion of Christ Jesus and the exact words of lament to God by our Heavenly Master at a moment that anyone with any measure of empathy would agree was the lowest possible state that anyone could experience.
Do we need to wonder whether there are deeper more painful experience(s) that prods people to, do, act-out or speak in a certain manner, well yes, anyone could say without doubt. Once we start removing the dust and rocks that have accumulated over time, usually we find one or even dozens of events that changed the course of a persons life, things that are resurrected by only a look, a word or gesture, the mind can be a spiderweb of carcases, shaken with every wind.
Here in Psalms 22, we get a very real view of what a life time of terrible events can do to the mind of anyone, King David was no exception, being involved in one form of battle or another from a very young age. King David was acquainted with the loss by murder of friends, loved ones, at one point even his throne was rudely snatch away by his own son, his kingdom was captured, his own servants were either murdered or turned against him. Then the final crushing blow, news was spread to the public of the brutal public rape of his wife, that not one member of his family was left untouched by this vileness, a wound that would fester like a boil upon Davids' heart and mind for the rest of his days.
Psalms 22 is loaded with all of the snickering, down the nose treatments, rumor mongering and back stabbing that still exists today, and yet, no one seems to get it, you can murder someone only once, but you can beat them every day with hateful words for a life time. Until such things are surrendered to the Throne of Grace, we will all walk this low ground of sin and sorrow cutting away at the hearts of the emotionally broken.
Read the 22 second Psalm and imagine you are physically sick, the pains of the ages are upon your body, for all of your best efforts you are requited with seemingly everyone under you leadership talking behind your back, falling silent when you enter the room, best friends plot to take your
place, even children in the streets are heckling outside the window where you lay in your sick-bed.
Then in Psalms 22:1 - 2 King David is finally broken, he can no-longer hold back the heaviness of a potential flood of tears, and he begins to wail, " :1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? [Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34] :2 O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent." Nothing on this earth can relieve his pain, Davids' psyche has sank into a deep dark and unholy place, a place where never the lights enter and the psalms and comforting prayers of priests are nothing more than vain preponderances.
In verse :17 king David is no longer worried by the thoughts of death, he muses at his physical condition, ":17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me." The physicians have all gone out now and the sepulcher is made ready" Verse :19 King David has left off all the possibilities of any form of recovery and then once again turns to the only one that has ever heard him and says, ":19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me."
Be here now, I need you to be by my side Father, death is coming, I just want to feel your presence, see your face and be comforted one more time before I die. ":19 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog." These are words that would break the heart of any father, "Dad I am dying now, come hold my hand, speak to me, please, let me see the reassurance in your eyes.
God is over run with compassion and love for all of his children in their times of need, King Davids circumstances are no different. God will no longer bare to see this little firebrand of a servant suffer and sends His Holy Spirit into the heart and soul of King David.
Now in verse :22, Davids head is clearer now, :22 "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." Hope is now returning and David is feeling alive with encouragement. Then verse 23:, reassurance is nursing king David back to heath. 23 How appropriate the number is for this verse, in verse ":23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel." David is back! He is not the appointed one for this type of death because he is Gods servant, not Gods' only begotten Son.
Jesus Christ will be the one, many years down the way Jesus would utter answers, solutions, forgiveness for all of King Davids' worries. Even until just before He finally lays down His life, Jesus recalls for our benefit the words of King David spoken so many years ago. Why, because like King David, Jesus is now, not only physically broken by all of the beatings and gouges, now Jesus is emotionally broken, feeling for the first time in eternity separation from His Father at the darkest point before his death.
Jesus' Father, now has to turn aside for the moment while His only begotten son is slipping away. After all of Jesus' suffering it has come down to this very moment, but unlike when King David cried out for relief, God can not come to the aid of His Son, rescue Him as He was crying aloud for even the recognition He so desperately pleads, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Surely God hears Jesus' groaning in agony but if God even looks upon His Son at this terrible moment, all will be lost, in that very moment the earth will not be just shaken, it and all of its' inhabitance will be instantly consumed for all eternity.
This is the moment that some believe Satan was on the edge of his world, lurking and waiting, will it happen according to prophecy? Or will the part of the Son of God that is now being tortured in every way break that covenant? It is now and only now, that the words of Isaiah in Chapter 52:1 - 7 have any real meaning to Gods' humble poor, " :1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. :2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. :3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. :4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. :5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. :6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. :7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! [Rom 10:15]
There my dearest friends is why King David wrote Psalms 23. Now go to the Word of God and see if these things be true or vain babbling, and remember that sword that forever cuts is in your mouth. Will you use it for good or evil, there is no need for apologies, that is the one thing that no one
ever seems to get, only obedience is required AND it is unfortunate that even children of God forget that, not only will the worldly never be apologetic, it is not the children, but God they owe. . .
So long as we live and have to face life in such a manner, before the emotional human courts of, "Just-right behaviors." there will be no peace.
(BDSS) at the best, the Plagiarist of His Word.
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