Series: Songs of Worship—Getting Real With God
Sermon: Forsaken
Speaker and Writer: Elia King

Refresh: Open with prayer. Ask God for understanding through the Holy Spirit.

Read: Psalm 22:19–31 (ESV). Reread in the English Standard Version for new insights.

Reflect: One of the challenges that songwriters often face is keeping a song focused on one thing. Especially in Christian music, it’s tempting for songwriters to “chase a rhyme” instead of following one idea through an entire song. So you might have a song that starts out being about the faithfulness of God but then there is something about wings like eagles and God being a strong tower. Don’t get me wrong! These are all great ideas on their own. But sometimes you have to wonder if the songwriter really knew what they were saying, or if they were just looking for words that rhymed to finish the song.

A quick read of Psalm 22 might make you wonder if the writer was guilty of the same thing. The first verses stand in such stark contrast with the later verses. How can this all be part of the same idea? The answer, of course, is that the Psalmist understood that one of the great tensions of life is that we will often feel hopeless, like we need rescue, but that even in our times of greatest need, we have hope in Jesus. There’s a song that we sing at Boulder once in a while and it expresses some of the same sentiments:

When the waves that are washing over me
Are much more than I can stand;
And I know my boat is sinking,
But my feet won’t touch the sand;
When the mountain that’s in front of me
Seems to high for me to climb;
And I cannot say for certain
That victory is mine;

Be near me, Jesus, be near
Be near me, Jesus, be near
It’s the prayer of my life
Won’t you answer when you hear?
Be near me, Jesus, be near

These words aren’t intended to be trite, or to brush aside the challenges of life, but instead are intended as a reminder that even when things seem at their bleakest, we can still find hope in the presence of Jesus.

Recalibrate: What is one area of your life in which you feel like there is no room for Jesus?

Respond: Pray that Jesus will be near you today.

Research: Read The Problem of Pain by C.S Lewis. What questions resonate with your own faith journey?