Psalm 22
February 28, 2021
Heavenly Father, we stand in awe at the realities we see in this psalm. We stand in awe at the depths of King David’s agony as enemies drew ever closer to destroy him. We stand in awe at the heights of praise in which he suddenly bursts forth. We stand in awe at the worldwide scope of the answers to his cries. And we stand in awe at how King David’s greater Son, Jesus the Messiah, followed in David’s royal footsteps and fulfilled this psalm, revealing its deeper depths and greater heights.
We praise you, Lord Jesus, for the agonies you experienced, especially on the cross, as you willingly walked your appointed pathway all the way to death. Thank you for submitting to your Father’s will, setting aside all hopes or cries for deliverance on this side of death, patiently enduring unto a deliverance on the other side of death. We reflect on your stretched out bones, your pierced hands and feet, the taunting of your enemies, the extremity of your execution. And in that climactic hour of agony, you had the opening words of this psalm on your lips. We praise you for your faith, your faithfulness, your love, your embracing of your kingly deliverance of your people by being the sacrificial lamb of God who takes away our sins.
And we praise you, Lord Jesus, for the astonishing victory that you achieved through your death. We praise you, Father, for delivering your anointed king in a way that fulfills this psalm stunningly, revealing the full dimension of its good news and the scope of its accomplishment. You raised Jesus from the dead, securing the victory here prophesied and initiating the thankful worship here predicted on a worldwide scale. We praise you for placing us in union with Christ, giving us victory over our enemies of sin, Satan, the world, and death.
We ask, Lord, that you would hasten the fulfillment of this psalm’s prediction that all the peoples of the world will worship you. May the gospel run speedily to the yet unreached people groups of this world—Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, tribal, and secular. Send forth laborers into the harvest field. May we all lift up our eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Whether far away or nearby in our own spheres of influence, may those who do not yet know of the great victory portrayed in this psalm soon come to faith in the victorious king.
And in keeping with the prediction of this psalm that many generations to come would learn of your King and your deliverance, we pray for the younger generation of our own church. May they hear clearly and compellingly the good news about Jesus. May they believe in him and reflect him clearly and faithfully to their own generation, no matter how tumultuous the times may be in which they are growing up.
As we ponder the depths of your sufferings, Lord Jesus, and the heights and scope of your victory, we must admit that our own outlook on life is often very narrow and self-centered and self-pitying. We confess that we resist and complain about the adversities that you send to our lives. We confess that we lose sight of the scope of your mission as we fixate on trying to keep our own individual worlds manageable and free of hardship. Forgive us for taking our eyes off you and your call to follow you.
Yet you know, Lord, the real and painful difficulties that we face individually and as a church. Even this morning some of our hearts may be melting like wax. Speak afresh to us the great cry of hope in this psalm: “May your hearts live forever!” May we seek you and praise you right in the midst of the circumstances in which you have placed us.
We continue to call on you about the pandemic. For the sick, the medical providers, the bereaved, the unemployed, children, parents, teachers, government leaders we pray. Do all that you want to do. May your mercy come to us. May we have wisdom to represent Jesus Christ brightly and helpfully in these days.
Continue to strengthen and guide our pastoral search team as they and the elders prepare to consider prospective pastoral candidates for our church. And guide our congregation in our meeting today after our service.
May today’s psalm be powerfully influential, through your Holy Spirit, in the way we look at life and live our lives.
Through Jesus Christ we pray. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”