Faith and trust

Trusting in the Cry: Faith from Psalm 22

When God seems silent, faith still has a voice—David proclaims God's faithfulness from the depth of anguish.

BibleVibe Editorial5 min read
Translation：ESV
Psalms 22:1-20
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For the leader; on ayyeleth ha-shaḥar. Meaning of Heb. uncertain. A psalm of David. My God, my God,why have You abandoned me;why so far from delivering meand from my anguished roaring? My God,I cry by day—You answer not;by night, and have no respite. But You are the Holy One,enthroned,the Praise of Israel. In You our ancestors trusted;they trusted, and You rescued them. To You they cried outand they escaped;in You they trustedand were not disappointed. But I am a worm, less than human; scorned by everyone, despised by people. All who see me mock me;they curl their lips, they shake their heads. “Let him commit himself to GOD;let [God] rescue him,let [God] save him,for [God] is pleased with him.” You drew me from the womb,made me secure at my mother’s breast. I became Your charge at birth;from my mother’s womb You have been my God. Do not be far from me,for trouble is near,and there is none to help. Many bulls surround me,mighty ones of Bashan encircle me. They open their mouths at melike tearing, roaring lions. My life ebbs away: all my bones are disjointed;my heart is like wax,melting within me; my vigor dries up like a shard;my tongue cleaves to my palate;You commit me to the dust of death. Dogs surround me;a pack of evil ones closes in on me,like lions [they maul] my hands and feet. I take the count of all my boneswhile they look on and gloat. They divide my clothes among themselves,casting lots for my garments. But You, O ETERNAL One, be not far off;my strength, hasten to my aid. Save my life from the sword,my precious life from the clutches of a dog. Deliver me from a lion’s mouth;from the horns of wild oxen rescue me. Then will I proclaim Your fame to my kin,praise You in the congregation. You who fear GOD, give praise!All you offspring of Jacob, show honor!Be in dread, all you offspring of Israel! For [God] did not scorn, and did not spurn,the plea of anyone lowly;[God] did not turn away from them;when they cried out, [God] listened. Because of You I offer praise in the great congregation;I pay my vows in the presence of God’s worshipers. Let the lowly eat and be satisfied;let all who seek GOD give praise.Always be of good cheer! Let all the ends of the earth pay heed and turn to GOD,and the peoples of all nations prostrate themselves before You; for sovereignty is GOD’s,who rules the nations. All those in full vigor shall eat and prostrate themselves;all those at death’s door, whose spirits flag,shall bend the knee in submission. Offspring shall serve [God];the Sovereign’s fame shall be proclaimed to the generation to come;they shall tell of the beneficence to people yet to be born,for [God] has acted.

Psalm 22 is raw lament and confident trust fused into one. The psalmist opens with the anguished cry 'My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?' and yet closes with the assurance that the Lord 'did not spurn the plea of anyone lowly.' Faith here is not the absence of agony but the refusal to stop addressing God as 'My God' even amid it.

📖 Psalms
🕰️ United Kingdom📍 Jerusalem
Narration

Setting and Background

Psalm 22 opens with the cryptic musical direction 'ayyeleth ha-shaḥar' (the morning star doe), and is attributed to David. It is composed for the worship leader, suggesting it was sung in the tabernacle or later temple liturgy of Israel. The superscription places it among David's psalms, and the vivid imagery of being surrounded by bulls of Bashan, dogs, and lions, with hands and feet pierced and garments divided by casting lots, has long been read as a Davidic lament that also foreshadows the greater Son of David. The era is the united monarchy, with David as worshipper-king, and the geographical setting is the land of Israel with Jerusalem as the worship center. The psalm travels from desperate abandonment (vv. 1–2) through remembered faithfulness of the fathers (vv. 3–5), into the sufferer's scorn and bodily anguish (vv. 6–18), and finally into urgent petition and public praise (vv. 19–21, leading into the doxology that concludes the psalm in verses 22–31). Josephus records that David was 'a lover of God and of the hymns of God' and that he composed psalms 'to be sung to God, both in the order of the music and in the melody of the singers,' confirming the liturgical and Davidic provenance that the superscription itself asserts (Josephus, Antiquities 7.12.3). Within Israel's covenant theology, the psalm embodies the dynamic of 'knowing God' not by abstract idea but by His acts of deliverance and, when necessary, His discipline—a knowing that passes through suffering into testimony.

Spacetime Canvas

Set in the Davidic period of united Israel's monarchy in Jerusalem, this reflection on Psalm 22 explores faith forged amidst the suffering and hope of a covenant kingdom under David's reign.

Meaning of the Text

Psalm 22 teaches that faith and trust are not the absence of forsakenness but the stubborn persistence of calling God 'my God' through it. Three movements shape its meaning. First, the psalmist anchors faith in God's character and history: 'You are the Holy One, enthroned, the Praise of Israel' (v. 3). In You our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and You rescued them (vv. 4–5). Faith is grounded in who God has revealed Himself to be, not in how the worshipper presently feels. Second, faith is refined in the furnace of suffering. The psalmist does not deny the worm, the scorn, the disjointed bones, the melting heart, the dogs, the lion's mouth. To trust God honestly is to name every wound while refusing to conclude that the wound is the final word. Third, faith moves from private cry to public testimony: 'Then will I proclaim Your fame to my kin, praise You in the congregation' (v. 22). The same lips that groaned by night are promised to sing by day. The psalm closes with a theology of the lowly: the Lord 'did not spurn the plea of anyone lowly... when they cried out, He listened' (vv. 24, 24). Faith is therefore not performance; it is the cry that God has promised to hear. To trust God is to stake one's whole weight on the truth of this promise, even when the answer is delayed. This knowing of God is not intellectual assent; it is the experiential knowledge that the Lord hears the humble, learned through the painful act of crying out and being carried.

Application for Today

1. Keep calling God 'my God.' When anguish makes God's presence feel distant, the very words 'My God' are an act of faith. Address Him, do not debate His existence. 2. Anchor faith in God's record, not in your feelings. Recall times—yours or your ancestors'—when God rescued the trusting. Use Scripture's testimony as the ground beneath your feet. 3. Be honest about the pain. Faith is not pretending you are not a worm, not scorned, not surrounded. Bring the disjointed bones and the melting heart to God; He can bear the truth. 4. Move from cry to congregation. Let the prayer that begins in the night end in praise among God's people. Share the testimony; the assembly of the righteous is meant to hear it. 5. Watch for the lowly. God 'did not spurn the plea of anyone lowly.' This is a promise for the broken, the mocked, the displaced—and a warning that the proud will not be heard. 6. Do not despise small, persistent prayers. The psalm that opens with 'why' closes with 'He listened.' Faith is often the courage to keep asking until the answer comes.

Reflection

Faith, in Psalm 22, is the sound a heart makes when it has been crushed but will not release the name of God. It is not optimism, not stoicism, not theological mastery. It is the cry 'My God, my God,' repeated across the long hours when heaven seems brass. The psalmist teaches us that to trust is to disagree—gently, reverently, persistently—with the silence of God. It is to hold in the same breath the confession that God is enthroned and the lament that He feels absent. The fathers trusted and were not put to shame; the psalmist suffers and is mocked; the congregation will yet praise. Faith stitches these three together. We are invited into that same stitching today: to bring our abandonment and our history with God into one prayer, and to believe that the One enthroned has not forgotten the cry of the lowly.

FAQ

If God seems silent, should a believer still pray?

Yes. The psalmist cries by day and finds no respite by night, yet still addresses God as 'My God, my God.' Faith is not ceasing to speak in the silence but continuing to cry out within it. God has promised that He 'did not spurn the plea of anyone lowly' (Psalm 22:24).

Is faith unrelated to feelings?

Faith does not deny feelings; it brings them to God. The psalmist confesses he is a worm, scorned, with disjointed bones and a melting heart, yet simultaneously declares God to be 'the Holy One, enthroned, the Praise of Israel.' Real faith holds broken feelings and God's faithfulness in the same prayer.

How does Psalm 22 help us trust God in suffering?

Psalm 22 teaches three things. First, trust is grounded in God's character and history—He rescued the ancestors who trusted Him (vv. 4–5). Second, trust permits us to honestly name our pain—being a worm, scorned, pierced, and surrounded (vv. 6–18). Third, trust moves us from private groaning to public praise: 'I will praise You in the great congregation' (v. 22, 25). So a suffering believer may lament honestly, wait expectantly, and still declare God's name.

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