A few days ago, I was talking to a friend who has been suffering from cancer and a difficult marriage. Who could blame her for her questions? It sure made me search my heart and the Scriptures. What would I do in her place? What does God tell us to do when we’re suffering?

When we’re in the middle of grief, pain, and loss, we should cry out to God. But sometimes nothing changes. Let’s take a look at Psalm 22 where we can see how a righteous person deals with suffering. First of all, there’s raw honesty about his feelings – disappointment in God’s lack of response to his suffering.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
 Why are you so far from saving me,
 so far from my cries of anguish?  My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer; by night, but I find no rest.” Psalm 22:1-2

Despite his feelings and his unanswered questions, he holds onto the facts about God.  God is still on the throne of the universe. He still deserves our praise even when we don’t feel that he even hears us. He alone is the only being who has always been pure and good. We honor him as God by praising him, even when we don’t understand why he is allowing bad things.
“Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
 you are the one Israel praises.” Psalm 22:3

We look behind and remember what he has already done in the past. He faithfully helped those who trusted him. (We know what he has done by reading the Bible.)
“In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.  To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.” Psalm 22:4

Sometimes we have no comfort from those around us. Others don’t feel our pain. They look down on our ‘weakness’. They may even suggest that God doesn’t care.
“But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.” Psalm 22:6-8

Yet God cares, even when others don’t. He has been involved in our lives since we took our first breath. He allowed us to be born and survive to this day. He allowed us to hear about him and is giving us the opportunity to trust him.
“Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” Psalm 22:9-10

When we are desperate, when we are alone, the wisest thing to do is to cry out to God.
“Do not be far from me, for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.” Psalm 22:11

When we feel surrounded by opponents. When we are experiencing physical pain, or are even facing death. When our physical strength and emotional courage have failed us. When we are abused, stared at, and bereft of even basic human dignity.
“Many bulls surround me;
Roaring lions … open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up …,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.” Psalm 22:12-18

But God. God is our strength. He is our help, our deliverance, our rescue, our salvation.
“But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
 You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword,
 my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
 save me from the horns of the wild oxen.” Psalm 22:19-21

When we choose to praise him in spite of our circumstances, we are expressing our respect for him as God. We are revering him.
“I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
 Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!” Psalm 22:22-23

In the dark, we may not feel that God is listening or answering our prayers. But God doesn’t shrug off the suffering of those who love him. He doesn’t ignore our pain.
“For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” Psalm 22:24

We will come through our suffering and be able to tell others of the faithfulness of God. (Yes, even if we die, we’ll express thanks to God to those who have already gone before us to Heaven.)
“From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.” Psalm 22:25

Both those who have a difficult life and those who have a good life, both the living and the dead, both those who live now and those who will come after, both those who are of Israel and those who are from the ends of the earth, will seek the Lord. And finding him, they will praise him. Those who turn to him will bow down in reverence to the Ruler of the nations. They will gladly serve him and tell others about him. They will say that God has turned suffering to feasting, death to life because he always does right.

“The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—may your hearts live forever!
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,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
 and he rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
 declaring to a people yet unborn:
 He has done it!” Psalm 22:26-31

Some of you who have read the New Testament will find the words of this psalm familiar. Jesus quoted from this lament/prophecy of David while he suffered on the cross. In fact, this psalm prophesies many details of his crucifixion. This psalm is quoted in the New Testament more than any other psalm. I wonder if it’s because every one of us has suffered. We have all felt unheard by God and rejected by another human. Yet this psalm isn’t only a song of lament. It is a hymn of victory. Because Jesus suffered for us, we join him in his victory over death and judgment. We’ll join in the throng praising him and bowing before him.

God “has not scorned the suffering of the afflicted One; he has not hidden his face, but has listened to his cry for help…All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations…He has done it!”

Challenge question: How many prophecies in this psalm were fulfilled during Jesus’ crucifixion?