Psalm 22: Lament, Lamb, and the Finished Work

Apr 27, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: My God, My Raw Cry

David’s cracked voice echoes across centuries: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” He stares at the stars, fists clenched, throat raw from unanswered cries. Soldiers mock him, friends vanish, and heaven stays silent. Yet he still says “my God”—claiming relationship even in abandonment. Jesus will later shout these words on the cross, binding every human cry to divine ears. [51:47]

Lament isn’t faithlessness—it’s faith pressing into the dark. David shows us how to grip God’s character when His presence feels absent. Jesus proves God hears even when He seems distant. Both teach us to voice our pain without sanitizing it.

When life fractures, we often edit our prayers to sound pious. But God invites raw honesty. Today, name one frustration or grief you’ve been afraid to bring to Him. Write it plainly, then pray David’s words. Where have you substituted polite words for the groanings of your soul?

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” (Psalm 22:1, NIV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to help you voice your deepest ache without shame.

Challenge: Write “My God, my God” on a scrap of paper. Keep it in your pocket as a reminder to pray honestly today.

Day 2: Tunes for Unborn Generations

David’s lament twists suddenly: “Future generations will hear… He has done it!” The same mouth that howled “why?” now declares victory. This psalm became Israel’s ritual—sung at Purim to remember God’s hidden rescue. Jesus made it His anthem, proving despair births hope. [01:01:41]

Rituals root us in truths bigger than our fleeting feelings. Singing Psalm 22, the early church rehearsed God’s faithfulness through persecution. When we repeat Scripture’s prayers, we join a chain of witnesses stretching back to David and forward to saints yet unborn.

You inherit prayers older than your grandparents. Today, borrow David’s words when your own fail. Pray Psalm 22:1 aloud, then read verses 27-28. Which feels truer today—the lament or the praise? How can holding both honor God?

“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 22:30-31, NIV)

Prayer: Thank God for the saints who prayed these words before you. Ask Him to make you a link in the chain.

Challenge: Write out Psalm 22:31. Tape it where you’ll see it at mealtime.

Day 3: The Lamb Who Kept Breathing

Roman whips strip Jesus’ back. Nails pierce His wrists. Yet His loudest pain isn’t physical: “My God, why…?” He inhales Psalm 22, making our forsakenness His own. But He doesn’t stop at verse 1—He prays the whole psalm, ending with “He has done it!” [01:00:44]

Jesus didn’t just die with our grief—He outlived it. The Father never turned away; the Son’s sacrifice was accepted. The torn temple curtain proves access bought. When we feel abandoned, Jesus whispers, “I’ve carried this. Now walk My finished work.”

You’ll face moments that feel like dead ends. Speak Psalm 22:1 to Jesus, then let Him lead you to verse 31. What situation needs you to trust “He has done it” more than “why?”

“Later, knowing that everything had now been finished… Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty’… ‘It is finished.’” (John 19:28-30, NIV)

Prayer: Confess one area where you’ve doubted God’s acceptance. Thank Jesus for finishing that struggle.

Challenge: Drink a glass of water today. As you do, whisper: “Jesus finished my thirst.”

Day 4: Rituals for the Unsteady

A soldier plays Taps at dusk. A widow hums Amazing Grace. These tunes steady us when words fail. Psalm 22 was set to “Doe of the Dawn”—a melody signaling both night’s end and communal lament. Jesus used it to turn isolation into shared hope. [49:09]

Rituals aren’t empty repetition—they’re rails for wobbly hearts. The early church prayed the Psalms daily, letting Scripture reshape their instincts. When disoriented, prescribed words can anchor you to truth deeper than your mood.

What habit—Scripture reading, hymn-singing, Communion—have you neglected because it felt routine? Reengage it today not as duty, but as a lifeline. How might consistency heal what spontaneity cannot?

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.” (Colossians 3:16, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to make one spiritual habit feel fresh again.

Challenge: Text a friend one line from a hymn or psalm that steadied you this week.

Day 5: Your Name in the Creed

Centuries after David, a crucified Jew gasps “It is finished”—echoing Psalm 22’s end. Centuries later, you stand reciting the Apostles’ Creed, declaring His victory. The creed, like Psalm 22, binds your story to a lineage of witnesses. [01:22:39]

The Creed isn’t a dry checklist—it’s a battle hymn. Early Christians died rather than stop confessing “He suffered under Pontius Pilate.” Each line anchors you to historical events that guarantee your future. When you say “I believe,” you join David, Jesus, and martyrs in the anthem.

Recite the Creed aloud today. Which line resonates most? Which feels hardest? How does placing your doubt within this ancient confession change its weight?

“They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!” (Psalm 22:31, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for including your story in His global, timeless Church.

Challenge: Teach the Apostles’ Creed to someone else today—a child, friend, or via text.

Sermon Summary

Rituals anchor human life amid uncertainty. Familiar tunes and repeated prayers carry memory, shape identity, and steady hearts when life moves through liminal spaces between what was and what will be. Repeated worship practices do not merely reflect belief; they form and transmit meaning across generations, teaching truth and correcting course when confusion threatens. The Psalms function as the inspired songbook and prayerbook that places God’s words on human lips, offering language for joy, lament, confession, and praise. Spirit-filled repetition lets those ancient prayers become contemporary guides that educate affections and reshape action.

Psalm 22 exemplifies how a single song can hold both raw despair and triumphant trust. The psalm begins with the gut-level cry of abandonment and moves toward a confident proclamation of God’s saving work. That movement models how honest lament opens space for God to reveal acceptance and deliverance. The psalm served both private grief and communal memory, later becoming associated with Jewish festival life and then read messianically in light of the crucifixion.

The cry My God, my God, why have you forsaken me functions as both human candor and divine accommodation: it gives words to the soul’s deepest groan while also being taken up by the incarnate one who bore communal suffering. The cross does not represent final rejection but a sacrifice that the Father receives. The narrative moves to the shout it is finished and to the tearing of the temple curtain, portraying a once-for-all acceptance that opens direct access to God. Liturgical practices like regular communion embody that reality; repeating the meal invites fresh professions of trust and communal reception into the Father’s embrace.

The Psalms call for unashamed honesty before God, a willingness to voice doubt and grief, and a commitment to the repeatable practices that teach the heart to hope. Those practices create a shared vocabulary for the people of God, enabling confession, consolation, and the remembrance of covenant faithfulness. Reengaging the Psalter as a daily spiritual diet forms resilience, shapes worship, and roots present sorrow in the story of God’s saving work.

Key Takeaways

1. Rituals create stability in chaos Repeated, structured practices do more than mark moments; they form identity and steady the soul during liminal seasons. Rituals hand down memory, teach convictions, and make abstract truth feel tangible when life feels unmoored. Regular rites translate fleeting feelings into durable hope by connecting present experience with communal memory. [32:44]
2. Psalms form our worship language The Psalms put God’s words on human lips so believers can speak honestly and rightly to God. Singing and praying these texts trains affections, corrects wandering hearts, and supplies theological depth in moments of praise and pain. Consistent use of the Psalter prevents prayer from becoming merely spontaneous emotion and instead builds spiritual literacy. [40:39]
3. Psalm 22 moves lament to praise A single psalm can hold raw despair and ultimate trust without contradiction, modeling a path through grief toward proclamation. Honesty before God clears the way for worship that culminates in praise and testimony. Learning that arc allows sorrow to become participation in God’s redemptive story rather than private despair. [47:39]
4. Jesus carried forsakenness and acceptance The incarnate one voiced communal abandonment so the community could know relational reception by the Father. The cry of dereliction belongs to humanity’s pain, yet the narrative culminates in a pleasing, accepted sacrifice and the tearing of the curtain. That reality grounds confidence that believers are received, not rejected, when approaching God. [63:41]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[28:55] - Name the occasion game
[29:21] - Recognizing familiar tunes
[32:23] - Rituals as stability in liminal times
[33:08] - The idea of liminal spaces
[35:55] - Songs that sustained during COVID
[40:39] - Psalms teach and admonish
[44:58] - Bonhoeffer on daily Psalter practice
[47:39] - Introducing Psalm 22
[51:47] - David’s honest lament
[56:11] - Communal and Christological readings
[61:18] - From lament to it is finished
[69:30] - Communion invitation
[83:50] - Benediction and sending

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Psalm 22:1-2, 22-24 (ESV)
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. [...] 22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.

Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Romans 8:15-16 (ESV)
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Observation questions

Psalm 22 begins with a cry of abandonment but ends with praise. What specific phrases in verses 1-2 and 22-24 show this shift?
How does Colossians 3:16 connect singing psalms and hymns to teaching and correcting one another?
The sermon mentions that rituals like communion are "repeatable practices" that help us "profess trust" in God’s acceptance. What example of a "familiar tune" was used to illustrate how rituals anchor us? [29:21]
According to the sermon, why is Psalm 22 associated with both private grief and communal memory (e.g., Purim and the crucifixion)? [54:32]

Interpretation questions

Why might Jesus have quoted Psalm 22:1 on the cross if, as the sermon argues, he was not ultimately forsaken by the Father? How does this connect to his role as the "perfect sacrifice"? [01:03:41]
The torn temple curtain (Matthew 27:51) is linked to Psalm 22’s conclusion. What does this symbolize about our relationship with God, and how does it contrast with the "forsakenness" we sometimes feel?
How does the structure of Psalm 22 (lament to praise) model a healthy way to process grief while still affirming God’s faithfulness?
The sermon warns against viewing rituals as "meaningless repetition." How might rituals like communion or singing Psalms actually reshape our hearts over time? [32:44]

Application questions

When have you avoided expressing raw emotions (like anger or doubt) to God? How might praying Psalm 22:1-2 honestly this week create space for God to meet you?
The Psalms are called "God’s words on human lips." What Psalm or hymn could you memorize or sing daily to "teach your heart to hope" during a current struggle? [44:58]
The sermon emphasizes that Jesus’ cry of abandonment was not rejection but a doorway to acceptance. How might believing this truth change how you approach God when you feel distant or unworthy?
Rituals like communion are described as "repeatable practices" that ground us. What small, daily habit (e.g., prayer before meals, bedtime Psalms) could you adopt to "anchor" your faith in chaotic moments? [32:23]
The sermon warns against valuing "novelty" over communal practices. Are there areas where you prioritize spontaneity or personal creativity in worship? How might embracing shared rituals (like corporate prayer) deepen your connection to God’s people? [36:43]
Psalm 22 ends with a call to proclaim God’s faithfulness to future generations. Who in your life needs to hear your story of how God has carried you through a "liminal space"?

Sermon Clips

42s

#YouAreLoved

“It is recognizing that Jesus carried our feeling of forsakenness with him so we could see how absolutely received we are when we come to the father. Isn't that good news? Yes. Come on. Hallelujah. Yeah. Reject the theology of rejection. On the cross and in Psalm 22 because Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that was received. Because he was received, we can all experience that reception. This is my son, this is my daughter who I love. You are loved.”

40s

#HeCarriedOurGrief

“What it's speaking there at the end of Psalm 22 is it is finished. He has done it and it's speaking as if it's already happened and that comes after my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because the forsakenness that Jesus is expressing is yours and mine. He is voicing our frustration, our grief, he is carrying our grief and carrying our sorrow with the father. Not as one rejected but one as who is accepted because he is perfect. He is the perfect sacrifice for our sins.”

46s

#CurtainTorn

“After the sacrifice of Jesus is accepted, actually he says, it is finished. And then he says, my He says, father, into your hands I commit my spirit. He voices intimacy with the father, not abandonment, and his sacrifice is accepted. The place where the sacrificial lamb year after year was sacrificed. This is the way it's described. Then curtain was torn from top to bottom. What does that mean? That means the father pleased with the sacrifice, finally once and for all rips the curtain top to bottom, rips the curtain because the sacrifice was accepted for you and I.”

42s

#GodDidNotAbandonJesus

“And you get this theology all over the place. I was reading a devotional on Psalm 22 from put out by whoever puts out the ESV study bible and that wasn't me like not saying the name, I just can't remember right now. And they literally said this, God has one only forsaken one person in human history so the rest of us would not experience forsakenness. And you get this all over the place. He abandoned Jesus so you and I wouldn't be abandoned. That's not how sacrifices work. If a sacrifice is rejected, it doesn't work.”

37s

#FromLamentToPraise

“Well, curiously that is exactly the way Psalm 22 ends, but the side of Psalm 22 that is worship. See Psalm 22 doesn't end with lament. How many half of it is? The second one is exaltation and praise. So it starts with my God, my God, why have you forsaken me ends with it is finished. Listen, this is the way it goes. Posterity will serve him. It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to all people even yet those unborn that he has done it.”

41s

#BeHonestWithGod

“Is it okay to talk to God like that? Absolutely. In the Psalms, yes, the answer is yes. But there can be a little voice in us sometimes saying hold back. Don't tell God all that you mean, but speaking this way is spirit inspired groaning that will become for us an openness to receiving the light God has to offer in that dark spot. Unless we are honest with God, we will not be open to his help.”

39s

#GodGivesWords

“Now if I let off with that, you might feel like those questions were inappropriate to ask in the church. After all, that's not great theology. Well, welcome to Psalm 22. And remember that this is God putting his own words on our lips, forming our worship and shaping our lives. And somehow, these are not just our words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But they're gifts from God to help us say exactly what we mean to him.”

44s

#SharedSufferingSharedHope

“It invites us to be really honest with our grief. To not be shy about saying a question that maybe God himself is prompting you to say to him. If you feel forsaken, abandoned, invoicing that to provide an opportunity for him to come in and show your acceptance in the son. We get to be honest with our grief and hold with that honest hope. We have a savior who went through the fullness of pain to share with us the fullness of a restored relationship with the father. That is Psalm 22. That is the first Psalm of the good shepherd.”

Ask a question about this sermon

The Refuge Church - Bremerton This sermon · AI assistant

How do rituals and songs create spiritual stability?

How should Psalm 22 shape Christian grief?

Was Jesus abandoned by the Father on the cross?