When there is no one to help

[Psalms 22:1-11]

When was the most intense pain that you experienced in your life?  What were you thinking at that time? Perhaps one of the thoughts you thought was ‘No one understands me.’  Because no one understands us, we can think that no one can help us.  What should we do if such thoughts come to our minds?  I often sing the Korean gospel song “I never want anything”: “I never want anything in my life to take Your place.  I never want to live by any other grace.  My longing and my heart’s desire is to see Your face.  O Lord, and become a friend of God.  I love You day and night.  I love You all my life.  I love You Lord heart and soul.  I long to be a friend of God.”  When my heart is in pain and heavy, I sometimes sing this gospel song. And when I sing especially “I never want to live by any other grace.  My longing and my heart’s desire is to see Your face,” sometimes my heart moved.  Just as a child in pain who sees the face of his parents and is comforted and in peace when we children of God seek the face of the Lord who will help us in severe suffering, our hearts are comforted and empowered by being filled with the hope and longing to see Him.

In Psalms 22:11, the psalmist David says, “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.”  In trouble, David relied on the Lord, confessing that no one could help him.  Based on Psalms 22:1-11, I want to think about what we should do when there is no one to help us.  We must trust in the Lord.  Look at Psalms 22:4 – “In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.”  Then how should we trust in the Lord?  We can think of three ways:

First, those who trust in the Lord cry out to the Lord without giving up.

                Look at Psalms 22:1-2: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.”  What was the environment of David's prayer?  He cried out to God in extreme suffering.  David cried out to God while feeling the wrath of God (Park).  And his prayers never ceased.  He cried out to God in the daytime and in the night time with being silent.  David didn’t stop his prayer life even in the midst of the difficult tribulation, when prayer was not answered for a long time (Park).  Despite God's seeming disregard for David's prayer (v. 1), David continued to cry out to God without giving up.  Although David felt that God was forsaking him and He was being so far from saving him, he cried to God without giving up.  When the prayer is not answered, it seems that God is far from those who cry out to Him.  However, in reality, God doesn’t leave the true saints far away.  God simply doesn’t answer them in order to make their hearts more earnest (Park).

                We should cry out to the Lord without giving up.  Even if our feelings are so exhausted and our pains are so severe that we feel like God has left us and forsake us, and we are so tired to endure, we should not give up and keep on crying out to God.  We shouldn't give up on praying because God's answer to our prayer is slow.  Also, if we feel like God is turning away from our groaning, we should not give up on praying.  Why should we pray to God without giving up?  The reason is because God will surely answer our prayers.  Look at Psalms 22:3 – “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.”  Why did David write this verse 3 after verses 1-2?  In other words, in verses 1-2, after saying that there was no answer no matter how much he cried out in the sense that God had forsook him and was so far away from him, why did he suddenly praise God and confess that He was holy in verse 3?  This is because David was convinced that the Holy God would answer his prayers.  Praise is singing about what God has done in our lives.  David confessed that the Lord who dwell in the praise was holy because he was sure that God would answer his prayers.  One of the reasons David prayed courageously without discouragement even in difficult times was because he believed that God was holy and that He would certainly listen to the saints' prayers (Park).  Our Holy Lord, who dwells in praises, is the God who answers our prayers and makes us to praise His holy name.

Second, those who trust in the Lord reflect on the grace of salvation in the past. 

                Look at Psalms 22:4-5: “In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.  They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.”  We are too busy.  Since we say we are too busy in pursuing our goals, we don’t know how to pause and look back.  Our excuse is that we cannot afford to have time to reflect our lives.  But those who trust in the Lord must pause and know how to look back.  David was a wise man who could look back.  Instead of remembering the hurts and pains of the past that were of no benefit and wasn’t in discouragement and resentment, he was convinced that ‘He who trusts in God is saved’ by remembering (recalling) God who saved Israel's fathers in the past.  In particular, David recalled that when Israel's fathers cried to the Lord, they were saved (v. 5).  So David also cried out to God in agony with assurance of answering prayer.  He also remembered that his forefathers not only were saved because they trusted in the Lord, but also they were “not disappointed” (v. 5).  Those who trust in God are not disappointed.

We must know how to look back wisely.  We, like the Israelites of Exodus, should not commit the sin of blaming God and someone, looking back on our past when we faced suffering, adversity, and crisis.  Rather, we must look to God when we are suffering, adversity, and crisis.  We must meditate on the God of salvation who has delivered us from crisis and adversity of the past.  In the midst of that, our thoughts, feelings and will should be controlled by God our Savior, rather than by the circumstances of crisis.  Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘It is certain to have courage in faith by thinking about the faith of the saints of the past who have gone ahead.’  Not only did David cry out to God because of his dependence on Him in extreme suffering, but he also had confidence in salvation and courage in faith by remembering (recalling) God, who gave the grace of salvation to the forefathers of Israel in the past.  Also, as David remembered his forefathers who trusted in the Lord and wasn’t disappointed, he also trusted in the Lord and cried to Him in the midst of the severe sufferings he faced and wasn’t disappointed, but rather convinced of God’s salvation.

             Third and last, those who trust in the Lord keep their true faith in all circumstances.

                Look at Psalms 22:6 – “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.”  The situation David was facing was being persecuted by wicked people who looked down on him as “a worm” (Park).  In fact, David poured out his complaint before the Lord because he was mocked and reproached by his enemies (vv. 6-8) (Park).  All the enemies laughed at David and mocked, and they hurled insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him’ (vv. 7-8).  For some reason, this ridicule that David received reminds me of the ridicule of those who said that Jesus couldn’t save Himself even though He could save others when He was on the cross.

                Even in this situation, David trusted only in the Lord.  Look at Psalms 22:9-10: “Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast.  From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.”  In these words of “you made me trust in you” and “I was cast upon you,” we must learn what true faith is.  It is nothing more than faith is dependence, and it is also humility and devotion (Park).  ‘Faith without devotion is not yet definite faith’ (Park).  If we don’t dedicate ourselves to God and just say that we trust in Him, then it is not definite faith.  However, David confessed that he had believed in the Lord from a young age, and that he lived by trusting in Him and by dedicating himself to the Lord (v. 10).  What a beautiful faith?  David, who was dedicated to God from birth and had been living only by trusting in Him, showed his devotion to the Lord by trusting in Him even though the suffering he was facing was severe.  Dr. Yoon-sun Park said this: ‘When we know that we are sure that we have dedicated ourselves to the Lord, we are sure to pray and be confident that we will receive God's salvation and grace.  Anyone who doesn’t trust God and wants to be helped by Him is like a person who wants his disease to get healed without a doctor’s surgery.’  We must trust and dedicate ourselves to the Lord completely and cry out to Him in faith.

Let’s meditate on Psalms 22:1 again: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? …”  We can hear David's cry also on Jesus' cross: “… Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) (Mk. 15:34).  Heavenly Father turned away the prayer of Jesus, the Son of God who cried out to Heavenly Father.  Heavenly Father didn’t 'save' His Son Jesus.  God forsook His Son, Jesus, who had died on the cross to fulfill His will by relying on Heavenly Father.  Why did Heavenly Father do that?  The reason is because God wanted to save us who deserve to be forsaken by God and die forever when there was no one to help us by even forsaking His begotten Son Jesus Christ on the cross.  Jesus was forsaken by His own Father God because Father God wants to hear our prayers when we pray to Him in Jesus’ Name.  Heavenly Father forsook Jesus on the cross because He wanted to give us true faith.  This is God's grace and God's love.

Living by God’s help in His abundant love and grace,

James Kim

(After proclaiming this word during the Wednesday prayer meeting)