Pastor Fredo Ramos: For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so, as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a psalm a day. We started in January 1st and every day you're gonna get a new psalm, but the opportunity to read the psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the psalms.
This has been
Pastor Fredo Ramos: a gift to me
Pastor Fredo Ramos: in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you, and so would you join us. Grace and peace.
Pastor Fredo Ramos: We continue praying through the Psalms and we've come to Psalm 22. David writes, my God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my cry my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. Yet You are enthroned as the holy one.
You are the one Israel praises. And You, our ancestors put their trust. They trusted and You delivered them. To You, they cried out and were saved. In You, they trusted and were not put to shame, but I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me. They they hurl insults, shaking their heads. They say, he trusts in the Lord. Let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him since he delights in him.
Yet you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast on you. From my mother's womb, you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there was no one to help.
Listen to the cries of David here. Bulls surround him, they say in verse 12. Roaring lions, they they tear him up. They open their mouths wide against against me. And poured out like water.
All my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. Verse 16. Dogs surround me. All my bones are on display.
People stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. For you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength. Come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouths of the lions. Verse 22. I will declare your name to my people. In the assembly, I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you descendants of Jacob, honor him. Revere him, all you descendants of Israel, for he has not despised or sworn the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly.
Before those who fear you, I will perform perform my vows. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him, for dominion belongs to the Lord, and He rules over the nations. This is a, holy and sacred Psalm that we've come to today. One in which it's clear that David is in, is in anguish. He's suffering.
The psalm opens with the well known phrase, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Which we've come to know Jesus himself would say these very words on the cross. Many have pointed out that Psalm 22, David appears to be giving us, this kind of scenario in which someone is being executed. His garments are being divided up and gambled off. He's surrounded by people who are somewhat personified as as kind of animals, or they're described as animals who are looking to tear him apart.
And he even acknowledged that he he feels as though God is far from him. Yet at the same time, this psalm ends with resounding hope that that this person, David, and those who identify with the suffering one will also perform their vows in the temple. They will praise God again, And and God will reign over the world. Alright? And so this psalm offers to us today a unique, coming together of both suffering and hope.
Pastor Fredo Ramos: And I'm not sure where
Pastor Fredo Ramos: you might find yourself in this particular moment, but I believe this psalm is preserved for us in the sense that it would, number 1, be the very psalm that Jesus himself would cry out on the cross. It wasn't just David who was dealing with that execution. In fact, David was actually never executed in his life. He he died as an old man. But this is David riding under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, speaking about what would happen 1000 of years later to his great grandson, the true king, the ultimate king in king Jesus, who said these words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
I would imagine at some point in your life, if you haven't yet, you will come to a place where you feel as though God has forsaken you, and he has not heard your cry. Though you can speak about other people who have been delivered by God and you know of their stories and yet you say God, why are you so far from me? This psalm is to remind us ultimately of what Jesus went through on our behalf, but also to to to give us hope that as we navigate our own suffering, as we navigate our own feelings of feeling forsaken by God, that because Jesus was fully forsaken by him, you and I never will be. That even in your most darkest of moments, God is at work and God is close to you. But secondly, this psalm is also a reminder for us today that it gives us permission to speak how we're feeling.
And so there's there's a space for you to say to God what you need to say to Him, what you want to say to Him, that that you feel abandoned, that you feel forsaken. But I would encourage you that as you pray that kind of feeling, know that hope is also present. That God is close to you. And the confidence we have that Christ himself was forsaken on our behalf, we will never be forsaken. And so as you express yourself to God today, wherever you might find, know that hope is also present.
Hope is here. Jesus, today, oh man, Lord, we are reminded that you were forsaken for us. And that what you suffered was immense, was painful. That you were isolated like we have never experienced before, and yet you did that for us. And so would You lead us now to a place, God, where we might open ourselves up, and if we're feeling that kind of way, that we might name also the ways that we feel as though You are far from us.
And we ask now that by your holy spirit, you would gently remind us of your nearness, and how close you truly are. That there might be hope in our hearts still today in the midst of our suffering. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.