PSALM 22 THE SILENT ANSWERER

Written by , Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia
 
¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.
⁴ In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
⁸ “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast.

¹⁹ But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

²² I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.

³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn—for he has done it.

There are people who keep things to themselves and then there are people who “verbally process” just about everything. The latter say exactly what is on their minds as they deal with a question or problem. It is as if they are holding a little debate with themselves in our presence. Yet for the observer it is not usually all that easy to separate the arguments. Perhaps it would be more accurate to describe their process as a conflicted soliloquy. Somehow, just being able speak through the problem allows such folks to “hear” the answer.

The Psalmist works through his feeling of divine abandonment in a manner that could be termed “verbal processing.” He calls out to God who does not seem to be answering him, if present at all. Then he proclaims who God is and acknowledges how God has revealed his nature through his past actions. He cannot keep himself from praising God when he thinks of his loving kindness. This naturally leads him to the desire to proclaim God’s goodness to his brothers and sisters and even to the whole world, now and in the future. In the end he has gone from doubting his presence to proclaiming the greatness and assurance of God’s presence.

Too often our prayers are requests that we place before the Lord and then sit back and wait passively for the answer. When we do not hear, we are too quick to decide that God is not answering, will not answer or that we are asking wrongly. We need to take lead from the Psalmist and allow God to help us work through our problem with his guidance so that we can find the answer. And like the Psalmist, we will find that the answer IS God.

Lord, help me not to give up on my problems too soon. May I wrestle with them until I find you. Amen.