This is the final post of Praying the Psalms on Your Worst Day. Today, Psalm 22, the psalm Jesus prayed on the worst day there ever was.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Matthew 27:46 NKJV

On the worst day in the history of the world, the Son of God did not compose a new prayer. He prayed a psalm.

At the end of Teach Us to Pray, in When Heaven Is Quiet, I left you at Psalm 22:2. I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear. I told you then not to quit reading at verse two. This post is about what comes after verse two, because Jesus did not pray a psalm that ends in abandonment. He prayed a psalm that ends in praise.

Written a Thousand Years Early

But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in Jehovah, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

Psalm 22:6–8 NKJV

David wrote this psalm about a thousand years before the crucifixion, and much of it reads like an eyewitness account. Matthew tells us the people passing the cross wagged their heads (Matthew 27:39). The chief priests mocked Him with nearly the same words. “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him” (Matthew 27:43). They were quoting Psalm 22 without knowing it, while the Man on the cross was praying it.

I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.

Psalm 22:14–18 NKJV

Bones pulled out of joint. A tongue stuck to the jaw from thirst. Hands and feet pierced. Garments divided by lot, which John says the soldiers did at the foot of the cross so the Scripture would be fulfilled (John 19:23–24).

There is a small detail in the title too. The psalm is set to a tune called The Deer of the Dawn. In Psalm 42 a man panted like a deer for water. Here the deer stands at dawn, in the last dark hour before the light.

You Have Answered Me

Save Me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.

Psalm 22:21 NKJV

Read verse twenty-one slowly. The first half is still a cry for rescue. Save Me from the lion’s mouth. Then a single Hebrew word, anitani. You have answered Me.

Everything changes on that word. Verse two said You do not hear. Verse twenty-one says You have answered. From there to the end, the psalm is all praise.

I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You.

Psalm 22:22 NKJV

The writer of Hebrews quotes this verse and puts it in the mouth of the risen Christ, declaring the Father’s name to the brothers He came to save (Hebrews 2:11–12). The Man who cried My God, why have You forsaken Me, stands up in the congregation and leads the worship.

The Face Not Hidden

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; but when He cried to Him, He heard.

Psalm 22:24 NKJV

This is where the thread we have followed all series long comes to its end.

In Psalm 51 David begged God to hide His face from his sins but not cast him away from His face. In Psalm 13 he asked how long God would hide His face. In Psalms 42 and 43 a discouraged man hoped for the help of God’s countenance and found his own face lifted. In Psalm 139 David admitted he could never get away from God’s face.

And here, on the far side of the suffering, the psalm says it plainly. He has not hidden His face from Him. When He cried, He heard.

The Son bore the full weight of our sin, and He felt the abandonment that sin deserves. That cry from the cross was real. It was not the last word. The Father did not despise the affliction of the Afflicted One. He heard. He answered. And on the third day the whole world found out.

Jesus did not pray a psalm that ends in abandonment. He prayed a psalm that ends in praise.

He Has Done This

All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to Jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You.

Psalm 22:27 NKJV

The word remember is zakar, the same word from Psalm 103:14, where God remembers that we are dust. Here the nations remember Him. A psalm that began with one man crying out alone now reaches the ends of the earth.

A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this.

Psalm 22:30–31 NKJV

The last words of the psalm are He has done this. Some readers have heard in that line an echo of the last word Jesus spoke in John’s Gospel. “It is finished!” (John 19:30). The words are different. The claim is the same. The work is done, and people not yet born will hear about it.

You are one of them.

Look how far this one psalm travels, from a lone voice that seems to go unheard to every family of the nations bowing down. That is the shape of the whole book of Psalms. The early books are heavy with lament. The last five psalms, 146 through 150, each open and close with Hallelujah. The Psalter moves from lament to praise. So does Psalm 22. And if you have prayed through this series, so have you.

The Words Under the Words

Word	Original	Strong’s	Meaning
azav	עָזַב	H5800	To leave, to abandon, to forsake. “Why have You forsaken Me?” verse 1
anah	עָנָה	H6030	To answer, to respond. “You have answered Me,” verse 21
tehillah	תְּהִלָּה	H8416	Praise. “Enthroned in the praises of Israel,” verse 3, and “My praise shall be of You,” verse 25. The word behind the Hebrew title of the book
asah	עָשָׂה	H6213	To do, to make, to accomplish. “He has done this,” verse 31

Look at the third word. In the first post of this series we learned that the Hebrew title of the Psalms is Tehillim, praises. Psalm 22:3 says God is enthroned in the tehillot of Israel, seated on the praises of His people like a king on a throne. The Son prayed His way through the worst day there was and came out the other side leading those praises.

For the One on the Worst Day

Hebrews says we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). That verse means something specific after this series.

Whatever day you are in, guilt or grief, silence or rage, fear or numbness, the One you are praying to has been in the dark Himself. He knows what it is to cry out and hear nothing. He prayed the Psalms there, out loud, with nails through His hands. And He came out the other side.

No worst day you bring to the Psalms is beyond His understanding. The prayer book in the middle of your Bible was His prayer book first. When you borrow those words, you are praying alongside Him.

Pray It This Week

Pray Psalm 22 in two halves this week. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, pray verses one through twenty-one on behalf of someone you know who feels abandoned by God, and say their name as you pray. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, pray verses twenty-two through thirty-one as your own praise for what Christ has done. On Sunday, pray all thirty-one verses straight through, and then go to church and declare His name in the assembly.

Lord Jesus, You prayed this psalm in the dark so that I would never have to pray it alone. You cried out, and the Father did not hide His face from You. When You cried, He heard. You have done this. I was one of the people not yet born, and now I have heard. Let me declare Your name to my brothers and sisters. Let me praise You in the great assembly. Amen.

Keep Going

The series ends here. The Psalter does not. If you want to keep praying the Psalms, here is a simple plan that takes you through all one hundred fifty in a month.

Read five psalms a day for thirty days. On the first day, read Psalms 1, 31, 61, 91, and 121. Each day after, add one to every number. Day two is Psalms 2, 32, 62, 92, and 122. On day thirty you will read 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150, and the last psalm you read will be the last psalm in the book. Let everything that has breath praise Jehovah. Psalm 119 lands on day twenty-nine. Give it two days if you need to.

Then start over.

Discussion Questions

1. How does knowing Jesus prayed the first line of Psalm 22 change the way you read the rest of it?
2. Read Psalm 22:21 slowly. What changes on the words “You have answered Me”?
3. Compare Psalm 22:2 with Psalm 22:24. How can both be true?
4. Which psalm from this series did you need most? Which one do you expect to need again?
5. Who do you know who feels forsaken by God right now, and how could you pray Psalm 22 for them this week?

Going Deeper

Read Psalm 22 straight through, then read the crucifixion accounts in Matthew 27:27–54 and John 19:16–30 with the psalm open beside them. Mark every place they touch. If you want to see one of the textual questions in this psalm, look at verse 16 in a good study Bible. The traditional Hebrew text reads like a lion at my hands and feet, while the Greek Septuagint and a Hebrew scroll fragment found in the Judean desert support a verb, they pierced. The NET Bible’s translator notes walk through the evidence carefully.

Thank you for praying through these psalms with me. We will close the series the way Israel’s priests closed worship.

Jehovah bless you and keep you; Jehovah make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV