The God Who Answers
Preached by Ben Bechtel
April 12, 2020
Today, for our Easter service we will be concluding our short series through the Psalms of Lament. Now if you know anything about Psalm 22 or Easter in general, this may strike you as odd. Why would we preach a passage that starts with a cry of God-forsakenness on Easter? Isn’t Easter supposed to be about the resurrection and the triumphant, glorious news of the gospel? Aren’t we supposed to bound out of church arm and arm wearing our matching pastel colors? Or, more appropriate to this Easter, we bound out of our houses after watching the service for the thousandth walk this week, not ashamed to sport our matching pajamas we all got for Christmas and dug out of the bin. We are going to see from Psalm 22 that it is Easter that brings ultimate perspective and shape to our lamenting. Easter is essential for Christian lament, and therefore, for Christian joy. Let’s read Psalm 22:22-31 together:
Scripture Reading
Psalm 22:22-31
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.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
Due to the current state of things, many of us have had more time on our hands which means we are all probably watching more movies than we were before. It is a time to watch new movies or to watch old favorites you haven’t seen for a long time. One such favorite for me is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In many of our favorite movies or stories there comes a point in the plot where the circumstances seem irreversible, where all chances of a happy ending are squashed. Yet, there is a scene in the movie when things turn, when light dawns, when hope breaks in out of nowhere. We all likely have a scene that specifically comes to mind which epitomizes this.
That scene for me is from The Two Towers, the second book and movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The people of Rohan are being attacked by dark forces and have been forced to retreat to a fortress. They have been driven back into the deeps of this fortress and there are not many of them still alive. Yet, in a courageous move in hope that reinforcements would come, these few men ride out to meet the enemy. Despite their courage, the enemy forces close in on all sides. It looks as if they are abandoned and all is lost. But at this moment when things are darkest, Gandalf the wizard appears on a hill far off in dazzling white as dawn breaks over the hill with an army of reinforcements. In that moment when Gandalf appears, light breaks in, both literally and in the hearts of the soldiers. Everything turns on a dime.
This psalm of David takes place at a moment like this. The psalm begins in a moment of despair, a moment so sorrowful it leads David to feel as if God has forsaken him. And as Pastor Mike taught us on Good Friday, these are the very words Jesus takes to his lips on the cross. This is psalm is not primarily about David or even about us, but it is about Jesus. And it appeared that Jesus was actually forsaken by God, lying dead in the grave after suffering the death of a criminal and a sinner. This psalm asks the question: Does God hear our cries for help, our groans of anguish in the dark of night? Will he answer or has he abandoned us?
This psalm provides a definitive answer from God to our suffering. In order to see this as clearly as possible, I’m going to read verses 19-22 in the CSB translation, another great Bible translation:
19 But you, Lord, don’t be far away.
My strength, come quickly to help me.
20 Rescue my life from the sword,
my only life from the power of these dogs.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth,
from the horns of wild oxen.
You answered me!
22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters;
I will praise you in the assembly.
The Bible translation we usually use here at church, the ESV, makes this clear, but not as clear. That word in verse 21 that the CSB translates as “answered” occurs at the end of the sentence. What the text is trying to communicate is a dramatic shift at a moment’s notice. You could almost read verse 21 with a dramatic pause (read it like this). This answer from God sweeps in, not like the first beams of light breaking over the horizon but like a floodlight into the pitch black of night! That floodlight is the resurrection of Jesus.
Although all hope appeared to be lost, Jesus did not stay in the grave. That Saturday in between Friday and Sunday was like the dramatic pause in this psalm. But then Jesus broke out of the tomb and light broke into this dark world! The resurrection is a worldwide declaration that God has not forsaken his Son and that he has not forsaken us. The resurrection shows that suffering and death is inevitable in this world, but it is not ultimate, it does not have the final say. God has declared in the death and resurrection of his Son that all who trust in him will never be forsaken.
Let’s spend our time this morning focusing on three ways the resurrection declares good news to those who are suffering from this psalm.
1. The Resurrection is For Everyone
This passage pictures the salvation God offers in the resurrection as a massive feast that more and more people get invited into. If you look down through verses 26-30 you will see that all kinds of people get invited to this feast. All nations are invited. Both the humble and proud, both the lowly and the haughty, both the one who’s life is a wreck and who’s life looks put together on the outside are invited. And even generations that haven’t been born yet are invited by Jesus to partake in this worship feast of salvation.
Why do you usually get invited to a party? I don’t know about you but usually for me it’s my charming good looks and my very influential social skills. But seriously, we usually get invited to a party based on who we are. Usually the host of a party doesn’t invite all of his enemies and estranged relatives to have a great dinner party. And yet, this is precisely what Jesus does in salvation. Jesus suffers and dies for his enemies and invites them to an eternal feast.
You see, no matter whether you are proud and still think your life is good or have been afflicted and know your life is not good, no matter whether you are black or white, no matter whether you are young or old, the greatest suffering you can experience is not found in this life. The greatest suffering you can experience is the true absence of the presence of God. All humans are on a death march away from the presence of God that will reach its conclusion when we die, eternally separated from God’s loving embrace. And we all know this. We get a foretaste of what death away from his presence looks like right now. We know we stink at running our own lives. If we are captains as the saying goes, than our lives are the Titanic. We are all in the same boat as humans.
And yet, God doesn’t invite us to this party based upon who we are or what we have done for him but based upon who he is. When we run from him, he runs towards us. The only way we can be spared from this eternal suffering is if God in his goodness steps in and that’s what he does in the gospel. This is what Christians mean when we speak of grace. Verse 31 perfectly lays out this truth for us:
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
God in his love has done everything necessary for you to have life forever.
This is incredibly good news for you in your suffering because if you trust in Christ this means that this is the worst things will get! In his humanity Jesus dies apart from the presence of God so that you might be welcomed into a resurrection feast in the presence of God forever. And this is all a free gift to you today. You don’t have to be a certain pedigree. You don’t have to be a certain ethnicity. You don’t have to be 18 years old before this message applies to you. You don’t have to be your best quarantine self, baking 45 loaves of bread and putting on a collared shirt in the morning to receive this news. Anyone can get in on this. Anyone who asks can receive life because Jesus has taken on eternal suffering and come out on the other side for you.
2. The Resurrection is For the Darkest Times
In verse 1 of this passage it speaks of David groaning in his prayers of suffering to God. When we are suffering or even doing something hard groans come naturally out of us. When we are doing difficult yard work, we groan. When we exercise, we groan (unless we are at Planet Fitness). When a mother is in labor delivering a child like so many ladies in our church have been recently or will be soon, she groans. There is a sense in which we groan because those things are hard but, in another sense, our groans in those moments are in hope of the pristine lawn, or fit body, or newborn child to come. The resurrection transforms psalms of lament into groans of ultimate hope because we know what is on the other side of our suffering.
But the resurrection doesn’t just change what we know is to come. It changes who we know is with us in suffering right now. Verse 22 of this passage tells us that Jesus is not ashamed to call us, those whom he came to save and suffered alongside of, brothers and sisters (Heb. 2:9-13). Not only that but in Romans 8 Paul speaks of us groaning, by the Spirit of God, in prayer to God in the midst of our suffering longing for the day of resurrection. You see, Jesus not only comes as our older brother and groans in suffering on the cross, but even now the risen Jesus who has ascended to the throne of the universe gives us his Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and groans with us in agony and in hope. The Spirit helps us pray these psalms of lament on the pathway to resurrection hope.
Christian, not only can you pray the prayer of Psalm 22 or any other prayer of lament looking forward to the promise of resurrection, but you also pray with the presence of the Spirit within you. He groans with you. He groans with you as your business has fallen apart and you worry about how to support a family. He groans with you as you try to display godly character with your children. He groans with you in your loneliness. He groans with you for your sick loved one or the loved one you cannot see right now. The resurrection holds forth Christ as our hope in the groanings of the darkest hour and gives us the strength by the power of the Spirit to set our gaze on that hope even as we groan. Lament and resurrection are not opposites but are integrally related.
3. The Resurrection is Too Good Not to Sing About
Not only is the resurrection described as a feast, but it is also described as a rousing worship service in praise to our God for his grace in salvation. Look with me again at some of these verses from the passage (vv. 22b-23; 30-31):
22 …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!30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
This news of God’s grace for anyone even in the darkest night is news that we can’t help but sing about! We can’t help but praise God for what he has done! And notice too, this praise takes place before nations and coming generations. The praise of the people of God for his good news of resurrection is the way in which God draws more people into this feast of praise! Notice in verse 22 Jesus doesn’t hoard the benefits his resurrection like we hoard toilet paper. He freely proclaims it to his brothers and sisters!
I wish so deeply that we could be together this morning to sing and feast in celebration of the resurrection! In fact, that first Sunday we are back at church I’m proposing we have a churchwide feast and time of worship where we don’t stop singing until our lungs give out. But even as we can’t gather together this morning and do this in person, this psalm highlights the fact that you can raise a song of praise in your homes today. Your children need to hear about the good news of the resurrection, not just this Easter but every day! One application from this psalm is to prioritize worship in your home, teaching your kids about the good news of the resurrection. May the glow of the coming day of resurrection reflect in and out of each of our homes into a dark world as we transform these ordinary places into temples of praise!
Friends, I don’t know exactly how dark your night is right now, but it’s at least a little darker than it was a few weeks ago and for many of us it is a lot darker. But dawn is coming. In the gospel, you get a foretaste of the light of that great day. There is something to sing about today. Today we don’t have to drown in the sorrow of despair about the pandemic of coronavirus. As we come in contact with neighbors or coworkers during this strange time, may we display the gospel with a dumbfounding amount of hope in the midst of darkness. In these dark times we can join the chorus of Christians that have gone before us singing the praises of our God in whose presence is the fullness of joy (Ps. 16:11)!
This Easter especially, there is not a strangeness but an appropriateness to focusing on lament. But the resurrection shows us that we can’t stay there. Lament is not quicksand but a pathway, a pathway to true joy. The gospel doesn’t give us a choice to stay in despair but through lament to look beyond our horizon and see the Resurrected one who invites us to keep moving one step closer towards that feast of joy in the fullness of his presence.
