Meditation 277
Psalm 22:25- 31
The writer Anne Lamont has this to say about hope. “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” We may like to think of hope in different terms than that. Hope is a light that calls you forward, hope it the sunrise, it is the promise of something better to come. It can be all those things, but sometimes hope is that refusal to give up in the midst of darkness as you wait for the faint light of dawn.
The reading for this Sunday has us look at the second half of Psalm 22. The first half is the struggle of the psalmist as he gives a prayer for deliverance from the tragedy of his life. We have all been there, whether we are worried for a loved one, or grieving a loss, or questioning the unfairness of the way life unfolds, there are times that we rail out. When we cry to the Lord, we are not left in the darkness of despair forever. It seems that people need to recognize what they are leaving behind before they reach out and take hold of hope. Beginning in verse 25 of this psalm we have the description of the deliverance from hopelessness.
We read of the congregation praising God. Not only the congregation of God’s people praise God, but all the ends of the earth shall worship before him as dominion belongs to the Lord. The psalmist does not stop there, future generations will be told about the Lord and proclaim his deliverance. While the psalmist began this psalm by crying out that the Lord had forsaken him, he has worked through this despair, and he is full of hope and praise as he promises that the future generations will also proclaim that the Lord has done great things.
How would it be for us, if when we are full of despair that we read this whole psalm? If we began with the words that describe the believer feeling abandoned and then read the reminders of what the Lord has done and end with praise for all that the Lord has done, is doing and will do. We may be able to identify with phrases such as “my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast” as we remember the disappointments of life. But the psalmist does not stay here; he goes on to say “but you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help come quickly to my aid!” This place of turning to the Lord is as real as the place of floundering in despair. The Lord is faithful and will hear the cries of the people and will bring about deliverance to those who cry out.
The chapter divisions in the book of psalms are artificial, and are impose for ease of being able to identify particular passages. In reality the conclusion that is drawn at the end of Psalm 22, that we will “proclaim [the Lord’s] deliverance” is the lead in to Psalm 23. Psalm 23 describes the way the Lord cares for the people as a shepherd cares for the sheep. On days that the words of despair of the psalmist resonate with you, take time to read all of Psalm 22, and even Psalm 23, to bring yourself into the presence of the Lord who is greater than our woes.