How does Psalm 22:2 connect to Jesus' experience on the cross? Psalm 22:2 in Focus • “O my God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.” (Psalm 22:2) • David voices unbroken, anguished prayer—daylight and night-watch hours alike—yet perceives only silence from heaven. • The verse paints two vivid layers: – Day: continual pleading with no reply. – Night: sleepless wrestling with the same silence. Echoed at Calvary • Jesus quotes the opening of this psalm on the cross—“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). Verse 1 begins the psalm; verse 2 develops its mood. • From noon to 3 p.m. “darkness fell over all the land” (Matthew 27:45)—turning day into night, aligning with David’s “by day… by night” despair. • During those hours, no audible answer from the Father reaches Him; instead, silence marks the moment when “the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). • Hebrews 5:7 notes that Jesus “offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears… and He was heard,” yet at Calvary the hearing did not mean immediate relief—it meant the Father’s will carried through the cross. Shared Suffering and Silence • David’s prophetic lament becomes Jesus’ lived reality. • Both experience: – Persistent petition. – Perceived divine silence. – Physical and emotional exhaustion. • The connection shows Messiah fully entering human anguish; He feels abandonment so we never have to be forsaken (2 Corinthians 5:21). Fulfillment, Not Failure • The apparent silence fulfills Scripture rather than contradicting it. • Psalm 22 moves from despair to victory (“He has done it!” v. 31), mirrored in Christ’s “It is finished!” (John 19:30). • The Father’s temporary silence makes possible the loud declaration of salvation. Living Truths Today • Silence in suffering does not equal God’s absence; it often signals His redemptive purpose at work. • Christ’s identification with Psalm 22 assures believers that their cries are heard through Him (Romans 8:34). • As Psalm 22 ends in praise, so every cross-bearing moment for followers of Jesus will end in resurrection life and declared triumph. |
    |