To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Psalm 22 was written by David, the famous king of Israel, during a time of extreme suffering and abandonment. The psalm is remarkable because even while expressing total desolation, it never fully stops addressing God. The opening cry — "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" — became one of the most significant sentences in all of Scripture when Jesus quoted these exact words from the cross shortly before he died. Christians have long understood this psalm as both David's genuine anguish and a prophetic picture of Jesus' suffering, written centuries before it happened. The phrase "words of my groaning" is raw and physical — this is not polished, composed prayer. This is the unfiltered sound of someone who has prayed repeatedly and heard only silence.
My God — even when I can barely say it, that's still what you are. I don't always understand your silence, and I won't pretend it doesn't hurt. But like David, I'm still talking to you. Stay close to me in the places where I cannot feel you. Amen.
The most honest prayer in the Bible might be a question that doesn't get answered. "Why have you forsaken me?" David cries it from a place of total collapse. And then centuries later, Jesus says it too — dying on a cross, borrowing David's exact words as his own. The Son of God, in his final hours, reached for the language of lament and called it prayer. If you've ever prayed at 3 AM with no answer, felt the silence of heaven when you needed God most, or quietly wondered whether you'd been left behind — you are in the company of David, and you are in the company of Jesus. This verse doesn't explain the silence. It doesn't wrap the pain in a lesson. It just names it honestly and keeps talking to God anyway. Notice: even in the depths of "why have you forsaken me," it's still addressed to "my God." That small possessive word is doing everything. You can be furious, undone, out of answers — and still say "my." That might be what faith looks like at its most stripped-down and most real.
What does it mean that Jesus quoted this exact psalm from the cross? How does that change the way you read David's original words?
Have you ever felt truly abandoned by God? What did that experience feel like, and what did you do with it?
Some people feel uncomfortable expressing anger or confusion toward God in prayer. Do you think there's a place for raw lament? What does this psalm say about it?
How does knowing that others — including Jesus himself — have felt forsaken affect the way you hold space for people in your life who are spiritually struggling?
Is there a grief or confusion you've been keeping from God because it felt too raw or too irreverent to bring to him? What would it look like to bring it anyway this week?
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Matthew 27:46
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mark 15:34
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
Psalms 32:3
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Psalms 43:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13:5
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luke 24:44
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Psalms 22:16
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Hebrews 5:7
To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijeleth Hashshahar (The Doe of the Dawn). A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
AMP
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
ESV
For the choir director; upon Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
NASB
Psalm 2 For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David. 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?
NIV
To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
NKJV
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
NLT
A David psalm God, God... my God! Why did you dump me miles from nowhere?
MSG