Those Who Seek Him Will Praise the Lord (Psalm 22 Devotional)
“Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.” – Psalm 22:26
This is the great Psalm of the Cross. Written a millennium before the coming of the Christ, David prophetically proclaims the horrors of the cross in such vivid and striking foreshadowing. A thousand years after David breathed his last breath, Jesus would be breathing His last breaths in fulfillment of the words of this Psalm.
“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) These were words that Christ knew well, from a Psalm He was intimately acquainted with. He had read it countless times. But, perhaps, He could not grasp, until the very moment He hung on the cross between two thieves what it fully meant to be separated from the love of His Father - feeling the sting of the Father’s divine wrath poured on Him for the sins of the world. Yet even in the difficulty of his final moments, in speaking the words of Psalm 22:1, Jesus was not offering an admission of defeat, but a declaration of the ultimate victory He was about to accomplish through his death and resurrection.
“All that see me, sneer at me.” (Psalm 22:7) He knew that He would be taunted by His chosen people who taught from His Holy Book, the Torah. Those who called themselves ‘the people of the book’ and were entrusted with that life-giving law would be the very ones to prop him up in a mock trial and so pervert that holy law by killing the One who was the very fulfillment of that law.
“All my bones are out of joint.” (Psalm 22:17) He had seen crucifixion before. Rebels tortured, hanging naked, waiting for the last bit of strength to drain from them until their weight pulled their shoulder out of joint and the fight against suffocation was lost.
“A band of evil men has encircled me; they have pierced my hand and my feet.” (Psalm 22:16) His holy hands and feet were pierced with nails fashioned from the metal placed deep in the mountains by Him. He was hung on a rough piece of wood honed from a tree that He designed on a hill He created. He was tortured by callous soldiers He breathed life into. Those same soldiers would see Him gasp His last breaths.
“They divided my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing.” (Psalm 22:18) The soldiers stripped Him naked, and after beating Him ruthlessly and completing their diabolical duty, they gambled for what may have been the only real earthly possession He had. But they did not know that soon He would be clothed with the Righteous Robes of Heaven and crowned with a victor’s Crown of Glory.
“Future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn.” (Psalm 22:30-31) Jesus knew the blood dripping onto the dust of Palestine would be that Fount of Every Blessing that would pay the penalty for the sins of the world.
“He has done it.” (Psalm 22:31) Jesus knew how He would die. It was the His divine purpose. Yet, for all of us He still chose to hang on that cross.
He alone is worthy of our praise.
Questions for Thought
Have you ever had to face something you did not want to face but knew that you had to?
How do you think it was for Jesus growing up knowing this psalm?
How should we respond to what He knowingly did for us?
