My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? . . . All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him . . .”
For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet . . . they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Psalm 22:1–18
As a framework for this week’s devotion, you need to understand that I am a “show me the facts” guy and a “give me the history” guy. I struggle with poetry—with simile, hyperbole, anaphora, alliteration, and a bunch of other poetic literary devices.
Sometime in the Spring of 2000, as I was working my way from “front to back” in the Psalms, I got to Psalm 22, bee-bopped my way through it, got to the end, and had very little understanding of what I’d just read.
All I could see was that someone, presumably David (the author of Psalm 22), was in a pickle, felt like God had “put him to the curb,” cried out for help, and fully expected to be rescued because God had faithfully delivered his ancestors in the past (Psalm 22:4).
Then months later, I got toward the end of the Gospel According to Matthew—specifically, Jesus’ crucifixion in Chapter 27.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Matthew 27:46
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I read that somewhere on the left side of the Bible. I couldn’t remember where. I frantically flipped through the Old Testament, trying to find it, but couldn’t. Shocker, right? I searched for it on AltaVista. Raise your hand if you remember the search engine AltaVista.
The first search result sent me to Psalm 22. So, I reread it and started comparing it to the scene in Matthew 27. They “divided his garments among them by casting lots” (Matthew 27:35/Psalm 22:18). They were “wagging their heads” at Him (Matthew 27:39/Psalm 22:7). They “mocked him” (Matthew 27:41/Psalm 22:7). They screamed, “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now” (Matthew 27:43/Psalm 22:8). They crucified Jesus (Matthew 27:35), and in Psalm 22:16 David writes about pierced hands and feet.
The similarities were uncanny. Of course, David was, in context, writing about himself, but he was also writing prophetically. David wasn’t crucified, so Psalm 22, written about 1,000 years before Christ, must be pointing towards, or prophesying about, the events in Matthew 27. Frankly, I was stunned at what I was reading.
Not only was it written 40 generations before Jesus, but it was written 400+ years before crucifixion was even a form of capital punishment. So, David was describing something that wouldn’t exist for another four centuries. I can only imagine David writing about pierced feet and hands and then thinking, “Wait, what? What in the world is that all about?”
God is the most #dotconnectingest God ever. If the account of Jesus’ death in Matthew is true and accurate, and I believe it, without a doubt, is, then God is The Great Dot Connector.
I hope and pray that these devotions will nudge you to dig into God’s Word. As you read through them, pay special attention to the hundreds of dots that only God's magnificent mind could connect.
Father, only You! Only You could weave the glorious love story contained in the pages of Your Word. I thank You today for revealing the dots connecting King David to King Jesus and the redemption found in His finished work on the Cross. In His name, Amen.
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