The Suffering Savior

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What if the words spoken by Jesus from the cross had been written centuries
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before he had ever walked upon the earth?
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As Jesus hung on the cross, he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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Those words come directly from Psalm 22. But that's not the only connection.
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As we read this ancient psalm, we encounter a man surrounded by enemies,
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mocked by those who watch him suffer,
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experiencing intense physical anguish, and even seeing his garments divided and lots cast for them.
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And yet Psalm 22 was written long before the crucifixion. Why?
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What was David experiencing when he wrote these words, and how could this psalm
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point so clearly toward the suffering of Jesus Christ?
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Today, we'll explore Psalm 22 and discover how the suffering of the Savior was
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part of God's redemptive plan.
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This is The Suffering Savior, today on...
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Welcome to Bible Bytes, the podcast where we work to inspire faith one byte at a time.
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I'm your host, Randy Black. I'm an educator, technology specialist,
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and podcaster who's been a Christian for over three decades,
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and I'm excited to continue studying God's Word together with you here on Bible Bytes.
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In our previous episode, we continued our journey through the Psalms by looking
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at Psalm 19 and considered the ways that God has made himself known.
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We looked at the heavens declaring his glory, his word revealing his truth,
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and David's response as he allowed God's revelation to examine his own heart.
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Today, we're turning our attention to Psalm 22. Psalm 22 begins with one of
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the most familiar cries in all of Scripture.
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My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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Those words were written by David, But centuries later, they would be spoken
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by Jesus Christ as he hung upon the cross.
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As we study Psalm 22 here, we'll discover a remarkable picture of suffering
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that points us toward the Messiah.
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We'll see the anguish, rejection, and the physical suffering described in this psalm.
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And we'll examine how those words find their ultimate fulfillment in the suffering
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and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
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But Psalm 22 doesn't end with suffering. The psalm moves from anguish to praise
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and from apparent defeat to confidence in God's purposes.
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Our key scripture today is Psalm 22, and as we study it together,
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I want us to consider this question.
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What can the suffering of the Savior teach us about God's redemptive plan when
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we are walking through suffering on our own?
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Before we go and open God's Word together, let's begin with a word of prayer.
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Heavenly Father, we come before you today with grateful hearts,
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thankful for your Word and for the opportunity we have to study it together.
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Lord, as we open Psalm 22, give us wisdom and understanding.
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Help us to see beyond the words of David and recognize the suffering of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Help us understand the depth of his sacrifice and the incredible redemptive
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plan you were accomplishing through his suffering.
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Father, there are many listening today who may be walking through suffering of their own.
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Some may feel forgotten, abandoned, or uncertain about what it is that you are doing.
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Remind us that even when we cannot understand your purposes, you remain faithful.
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Teach us to bring our pain honestly before you while continuing to trust you.
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Give us the wisdom to see suffering through the lens of the cross and the faith
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to remember that suffering does not have the final word.
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Open our hearts and minds to your truth today and help us grow in our understanding
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of Christ and in our trust in you.
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We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen.
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Our primary scripture today is Psalm 22. Rather than reading the entire psalm
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straight through, we're going to walk through several key portions of it together.
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As we do that, listen for the movement of this psalm, from anguish to suffering,
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and ultimately to praise and to proclamation.
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Let's begin with the opening verses. So Psalm 22, verses 1 through 5.
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My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?
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O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent.
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But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
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Our fathers trusted in thee. They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
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They cried unto thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee,
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and were not confounded.
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Right from the beginning, we encounter the tension that will carry us through the entire psalm.
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David cries out to God because God seems distant, yet he immediately begins
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remembering God's faithfulness to his people.
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There's something important here. The psalmist's circumstances have not changed,
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but his understanding of God's character hasn't changed either.
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He can ask why while still saying my god now let's move into the next portion
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where the anguish becomes more personal and the opposition becomes more intense.
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Verses 6-8 say this, But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men,
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and despised of the people.
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All they that see me laugh me to scorn.
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They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord
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that he would deliver him.
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Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
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Here the psalmist describes humiliation, rejection, mockery.
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Those words become especially significant when we later read the gospel accounts of Jesus' crucifixion.
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The people gathered around the cross and mocked Jesus, and they did it in a
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strikingly similar way and similar language than what happened here.
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What David describes here in his suffering becomes part of the biblical picture
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of the suffering of the Messiah.
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But the psalm continues, and the language becomes even more striking.
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Let's jump forward. Let's look at verses 14 through 18.
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I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
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My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels.
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My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.
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And thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
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For dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.
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They pierced my hands and my feet.
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I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me.
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They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.
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This is one of the most remarkable portions of Psalm 22.
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We hear language describing extreme physical suffering.
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We hear of hands and feet being pierced. We hear of garments being divided and
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lots being cast for them.
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And when we read the gospel accounts of the crucifixion, we find these very
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details surrounding the death of Jesus.
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The significance of Psalm 22, then, is not simply that it contains words about suffering.
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It gives us a picture of suffering that finds a remarkable correspondence in
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the crucifixion of Christ.
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But if we stopped here, we would miss something very essential.
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Because Psalm 22 does not end with suffering.
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There's a dramatic change that begins in verse 22. The language moves from anguish
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toward praise, and the focus expands from the suffering individual to the worship
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of God among his people and ultimately among the nations.
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Listen to this closing moment of the psalm. So, Psalm 22, verses 22 through 24.
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I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
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Ye that fear the Lord praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob glorify him,
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and fear him all ye the seed of Israel.
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For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted.
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Neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard.
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That is the turning point. The psalm began with a cry that God seemed far away.
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Now the psalm declares that God has heard the afflicted.
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And the final verses take that praise one more step further. So verses 27 to 31.
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All of the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord,
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and all the kindreds of the nation shall worship before thee.
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For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations,
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and they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship, and they that go
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down to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keep alive his own soul.
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A seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
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They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall
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be born, that he hath done this.
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Notice where Psalm 22 ends. He doesn't end with abandonment.
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It doesn't end with mockery.
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It doesn't end with pierced hands and feet.
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It ends with worship, proclamation, and the righteousness of God being declared
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to generations that are yet to come.
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That movement from suffering to praise is essential to understanding this psalm.
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As we move into our exploration of the historical and biblical context of Psalm
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22, we're going to step back and ask what David was experiencing when he wrote
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these words, how Psalm 22 fits within the biblical story,
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and why the New Testament repeatedly points us back to this psalm when telling
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us about the suffering and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
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Psalm 22 is identified as a Psalm of David. David knew opposition,
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danger, rejection, and uncertainty.
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He experienced seasons when enemies surrounded him and his life depended upon God's deliverance.
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So the anguish that's described here is not abstract. David is expressing genuine suffering.
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Yet the language of Psalm 22 reaches beyond what we might expect from David's
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immediate circumstances.
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The psalm here describes mockery, physical anguish, pierced hands and feet,
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and garments being divided and lots being cast.
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And when we read those words alongside the New Testament accounts of Jesus'
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crucifixion, the connections are extremely remarkable.
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Matthew records people mocking Jesus and challenging him to trust God for deliverance.
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Matthew also records the soldiers casting lots for his garments.
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John specifically connects their actions with Scripture concerning Christ's vesture.
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Matthew and Mark both record Jesus crying from the cross with the opening words
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of Psalm 22, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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The connection between Psalm 22 and Jesus is therefore not simply something
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Christians discovered by looking backward and finding similarities.
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The New Testament itself repeatedly brings this psalm into the story of Christ's suffering.
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At the same time, we should not make David disappear from the picture.
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Psalm 22 was written in the midst of his real suffering, but God used David's
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experience and the words he wrote in a way that ultimately pointed beyond David
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to the promised Messiah.
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This fits a larger pattern in the Old Testament. The scriptures point forward
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to a coming king and a savior from the line of David, and they also point toward
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a Messiah who would suffer.
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Isaiah 53 provides another powerful picture of this suffering servant,
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describing one who would be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
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Jesus later explained that the Scriptures had spoken beforehand about the suffering
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and the glory of the Messiah.
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Psalm 22, therefore, brings together David's genuine suffering,
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the prophetic anticipation of the Messiah, and the New Testament testimony concerning Jesus Christ.
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And there's one final detail that we need to keep in view. Psalm 22 does not end with suffering.
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It ends with God's righteousness being declared and the nations turning to worshiping the Lord.
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The psalm moves from the suffering of one to the worship of many.
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That movement helps us understand the purpose of Christ's suffering.
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Jesus did not go to the cross simply to endure pain. He went to accomplish redemption.
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With that foundation in place, we're ready to examine the first major truth
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that Psalm 22 teaches us.
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The suffering of the Savior was not an accident. It was foretold in the Word of God.
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When we look at the suffering of Jesus Christ, it can be easy to view the cross
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as a terrible event that happened to him unexpectedly.
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But Scripture gives us a very different picture. The suffering of the Savior was foretold.
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Psalm 22 was written centuries before Jesus walked the earth,
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yet portions of this psalm describe circumstances that correspond remarkably
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with what happened at Calvary.
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We've already heard David write about being mocked and despised.
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We heard him describe his enemies surrounding him. We heard the words,
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they pierced my hands and my feet,
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and we heard that his garments would be divided and lots cast for them.
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Now compare those words with what the gospel writers tell us happened to Jesus.
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Matthew records the mocking of Jesus at the cross. John records the soldiers
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dividing his garments and casting lots for his vesture.
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And Jesus himself quoted the opening words of Psalm 22 while hanging on the cross.
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These connections are not isolated details. They're part of a much larger biblical
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testimony concerning the suffering Messiah.
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Isaiah chapter 53 gives us another remarkable picture.
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Isaiah writes that the coming servant would be despised and rejected,
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acquainted with grief, wounded for our transgressions, and bruised by our iniquities.
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Then, after his resurrection, Jesus explained this very truth to his disciples.
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Luke chapter 24 tells us that he showed them from Moses, the prophets,
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and the scriptures that Christ must needs have suffered before entering into his glory.
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That word must matters.
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The suffering of Christ was not an accident. It was not evidence that God's plan had failed.
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The cross was part of the plan.
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Peter made the same point when he preached in Acts chapter 2.
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He told the people that Jesus had been delivered by the determinate counsel
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and foreknowledge of God.
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The crucifixion was carried out by wicked hands, but it did not take God by surprise.
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This gives us a really important truth when we think about suffering in our own lives.
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We often judge our circumstances by what we can see in the moment.
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When something painful happens, we may immediately wonder, where is God?
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Why would he allow this? What purpose could possibly come from this.
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Psalm 22 reminds us that we cannot always understand God's purposes simply by
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looking at the circumstances that are placed in front of us.
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At the cross, it looked like everything had gone wrong. The Messiah was rejected.
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He was mocked. He was beaten. He was crucified.
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But what looked like defeat was actually part of God's redemptive work.
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It doesn't mean every painful experience that we face is going to make immediate sense to us.
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It does mean, though, that God's purposes are not defeated simply because we cannot see them.
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The suffering was foretold. The suffering had purpose.
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And the God who was faithful through the suffering of Christ is still faithful
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when we walk through suffering ourselves.
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So when you find yourself in a season you don't understand, remember this.
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God's silence is not the same thing as God's absence.
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And circumstances that look like defeat are not necessarily the end to God's story.
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The cross reminds us that God could be working out His greatest purposes in
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ways that we cannot yet see.
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And if the suffering of Christ was part of God's plan, then we need to ask the next question.
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What was the purpose of that suffering?
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Why did the Savior willingly endure the cross?
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That then brings us to the second major truth from Psalm 22 The Savior suffered for us,
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This first truth we've seen is that the suffering of Christ was foretold Scripture
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pointed toward a Messiah who would suffer And what happened at Calvary was not
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an interruption of God's plan,
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But that leads us to an even more important question Why did Jesus have to suffer?
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The answer is that he suffered for us. The cross wasn't simply an example of
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someone enduring terrible pain.
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Jesus willingly gave himself, sacrificed himself for sinners.
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Jesus said in Mark 10.45, For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered
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unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
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That's the language of purpose. Jesus came to earth to give his life.
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Isaiah had already pointed toward this hundreds of years earlier.
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Isaiah chapter 53, we read that the suffering servant would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows.
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Then Isaiah gives us the heart of the matter.
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But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities.
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Notice the language. Our transgressions.
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Our iniquities. The suffering of Jesus was connected directly to our sin.
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Peter makes the same point in 1 Peter 2, verse 24, saying that Christ,
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his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree.
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This is why we cannot understand Psalm 22 simply as a prophecy describing physical suffering.
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The physical suffering was real and terrible, but the cross was accomplishing
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something, something far greater.
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Jesus was bearing the penalty of sin.
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Paul summarizes it simply in 1 Corinthians 15 3.
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Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. That little phrase,
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for our sins, that's central to the gospel.
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We've all sinned. We've all fallen short of God's righteousness.
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There's nothing that we can do in our own strength to remove the guilt of our own sin.
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But Christ, Christ did what we could never do. He took our place.
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Paul explains this even more directly when we look at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21.
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For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
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the righteousness of God in him.
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Jesus was without sin, yet he willingly endured the judgment associated with
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our sin so that we could be reconciled to God.
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That changes the way that we should look at the cross.
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The cross should not merely make us feel sorrow because Jesus suffered.
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It should make us marvel at his love.
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He knew what awaited him.
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He knew the rejection, the suffering, the cross, and yet he willingly went anyway.
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That's why Jesus' suffering is so different from our suffering.
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We may suffer because of circumstances that we cannot control,
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but Christ willingly entered into suffering because he was accomplishing something on our behalf.
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And that gives a different reason to look at our own suffering.
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We should never assume that our suffering somehow earns our salvation or pays for our sins.
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Only Christ could accomplish that work. Our hope is not in how much we can endure.
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Our hope is in what Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection.
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Instead, when we suffer, we can look to the one who suffered for us.
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We can remember that we have a Savior who understands suffering,
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who knows rejection and grief, and who willingly gave himself so that we can
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have forgiveness and reconciliation with God.
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The cross then is not simply a picture of suffering.
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It's a picture of sacrificial love. The Savior suffered for us.
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And because he suffered for us, We can know that our suffering is not meaningless
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simply because we cannot understand it.
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We can trust the one who has already demonstrated his love for us by going to the cross.
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But there's still one more truth that we need to see in Psalm 22.
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The psalm does not end at the place of suffering.
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It points us, it turns us toward praise, toward proclamation,
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and toward the glory of God.
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And that leads us to our third major truth from Psalm 22 Suffering does not have the final word.
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We've seen that the suffering of the Savior was foretold. We've seen that he
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willingly suffered for us.
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But there is one more truth here that we need to see in Psalm 22.
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Suffering does not have the final word.
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If we stopped reading Psalm 22 at verse 21, we would have a very different psalm on our hands.
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We would have anguish, rejection, physical suffering, enemies surrounding the
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sufferer, and a desperate cry for deliverance.
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But Psalm 22 doesn't stop there.
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Beginning in verse 22, the entire direction of the psalm changes.
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I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
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The suffering one is now speaking of praise. And then the scope of the psalm becomes even greater.
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It moves beyond one individual and looks toward the worship of God's people
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and ultimately to the nations.
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Verse 27 says, All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord,
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and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
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That's an extraordinary conclusion to a psalm that began with,
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my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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The psalm moves from anguish to praise, from suffering to proclamation,
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from what appears to be defeat to confidence in the reign of God.
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And this is where the connection to Christ becomes especially important to us.
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Jesus' suffering and death were not the end of his story.
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He went to the cross, but he didn't remain in the grave.
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The writer of Hebrews points back to Psalm 22 and connects its language of declaring
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God's name among the brethren with Christ.
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The suffering Savior is also the victorious Savior who brings his people into the presence of God.
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Philippians 2 gives us the same pattern. Christ humbled himself and became obedient
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unto death, even the death of the cross.
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But the passage doesn't end with the cross.
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God highly exalted him, and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will
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confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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The humiliation was real. The suffering was real.
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The death was real. But none of those things had the final word.
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And that's an important truth for us today as believers.
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Christian hope does not mean that suffering isn't real.
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It doesn't mean that we pretend that grief doesn't hurt or that difficult circumstances don't matter.
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Christian hope means that we know suffering is not the end of the story.
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Hebrews 12, verse 2, tells us that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him.
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He could see beyond the suffering to what God was accomplishing through it.
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And because Christ rose from the dead, we have a hope that reaches beyond this present life.
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Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that Christ is risen from the dead and has
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become the first fruits of them that sleep.
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That means the resurrection changes the way that we look at suffering.
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We may not know how every difficult circumstance will turn out.
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We may not receive the answer that we're hoping for in this life,
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but we know how the greater story ends.
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Christ has conquered death.
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God's kingdom will stand. His righteousness will be proclaimed.
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And those who belong to Christ have an eternal hope that suffering cannot take away.
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So if you're walking through a difficult season right now, don't allow the present
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moment to convince you that God has finished writing your story.
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Psalm 22 reminds us that the darkest portion of the psalm is not the conclusion.
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The cross was not the conclusion. The grave was not the conclusion.
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And your present suffering doesn't have to be the conclusion either.
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There is hope beyond the pain because there is victory in Christ.
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The suffering Savior is the risen Savior.
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And because He lives, we can face suffering without believing that suffering has the final word.
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So how do we take what we've learned from Psalm 22 and apply it in our own lives?
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The first thing we need to understand is that suffering is not something we have to hide from God.
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David didn't hide his anguish. He cried out, My God, my God,
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why hast thou forsaken me?
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He brought his questions, his fear, and his pain directly before God.
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And we can do the same. When we're hurting, we don't have to pretend that everything is fine.
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We can tell God what we're experiencing. We can ask Him difficult questions.
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We can bring our grief, our disappointment, our fear, and our confusion before Him.
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But Psalm 22 also teaches us not to stop with what we can see in the moment.
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The psalmist remembers God's faithfulness. He looks back at what God has done
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for His people, and eventually, the psalm turns toward praise.
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That gives us a practical pattern for suffering. Bring your pain to God.
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Remember His faithfulness and continue trusting Him even when you cannot see the outcome.
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Second, don't automatically interpret God's silence as God's absence.
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There may be moments when you pray and don't receive the answer you want.
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There may be seasons when you cannot understand why God has allowed something to happen.
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But the cross reminds us that God can be working through circumstances that
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look completely hopeless.
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What appeared to be the defeat of Jesus was actually part of God's redemptive plan.
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That doesn't mean every painful circumstance will have an explanation that we see in this lifetime.
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It means we can trust the character of God even we don't understand his purposes.
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Third, look to Christ when you suffer.
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Jesus is not a distant Savior who knows nothing about pain.
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He experienced rejection, humiliation, physical suffering, and ultimately death.
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He understands what it means to walk through suffering.
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And yet His suffering, it was not the end.
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So when you're hurting, don't let your circumstances become the only thing that you see. Look to Christ.
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Remember his cross. Remember his resurrection.
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Remember that your present circumstances are not greater than his power.
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And finally, allow your suffering to become an opportunity to point someone else toward hope.
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Psalm 22 ends with God's righteousness being declared to future generations.
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What began as a cry of anguish ends as a testimony of God's faithfulness.
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We may not choose the suffering that we experience, but we can choose what it is that we do with it.
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We can allow suffering to drive us away from God, or we can bring it to him
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and allow him to strengthen our faith.
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So here's the challenge for this week. Identify one area of your life where
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you're struggling to understand what God is doing.
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Bring that situation honestly before him.
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Then deliberately remember his faithfulness, what he has done,
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what he has promised, and what Christ has already accomplished for you.
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You may not have the answer to your why today, but you can still say,
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my God, and you can trust him to take care of the rest.
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There are five truths from Psalm 22 that I want us to remember from today's study.
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First, Psalm 22 shows us that we can bring our suffering honestly before God.
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David did not hide his anguish, and we don't have to hide ours.
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We can bring our questions, our fears, and our pain directly to the Lord.
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Second, the suffering of Christ was foretold and was part of God's total redemptive plan.
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What happened at the cross was not an accident, and it wasn't a failure of God's purposes.
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Scripture pointed toward the suffering Savior long before Jesus ever went to Calvary.
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Third, Jesus willingly suffered for our sins, accomplishing something that we
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could never accomplish for ourselves.
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The cross is not simply a story about suffering. It's the story of sacrificial
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love and God's provision for our redemption.
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Fourth, God's purposes are not defeated by suffering. Even when we cannot understand
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what it is he's doing, the cross reminds us that circumstances that appear to
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be defeat can still be part of God's greater work.
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And finally, because Christ suffered, died, and rose again, suffering does not
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have the final word for those who trust in him.
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Psalm 22 moves from anguish to praise, and the gospel moves from the cross to the empty tomb.
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So when suffering comes, bring your pain to God. Trust his purposes.
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Look to Christ and remember that what you can see in the present moment is not the whole story.
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God is still faithful.
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Christ is still our savior. And suffering does not have the final word.
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Psalm 22 gives us some difficult truths to consider, but it also gives us an
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opportunity to examine our own hearts.
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When suffering comes into your life, what's your first response?
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Do you immediately turn toward God or do you find yourself pulling away because
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you just don't understand what it is that he's allowing?
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It's easy to trust God when circumstances are going the way that we expect,
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but what happens to your faith when the answer doesn't come,
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the situation doesn't change, or the pain continues longer than you had anticipated.
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Have there been times when you've interpreted God's silence as God's absence?
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Think about those seasons of life carefully.
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Did God actually leave you, or were you simply unable to recognize what it was he was doing?
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Psalm 22 reminds us that a person can cry out, my God, my God,
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even while struggling to understand God's presence.
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What would it look like for you to hold on to who God is, even when you cannot
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understand what it is that he's doing?
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How does the suffering of Christ affect the way you view your own difficult circumstances?
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Jesus willingly endured rejection, suffering, and the cross to accomplish our redemption.
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When you remember what he endured for you, does that change the way you respond
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when life becomes difficult?
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Does it move you toward greater trust, greater gratitude, or greater dependence upon him?
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Is there an area of your life right now where you are struggling to trust God's purposes?
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Perhaps it's a relationship, a loss, a disappointment, an unanswered prayer,
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or maybe a circumstance you simply cannot explain.
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Are you willing to bring that situation honestly before God and then trust Him
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with what you cannot control?
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And finally, are you allowing what you see today to determine your hope for tomorrow?
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Psalm 22 begins in anguish, but ends in praise and proclamation.
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The cross looked like defeat, but it was accomplishing redemption.
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What appears to be the darkest chapter of your story may not be the final chapter.
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Take some time to consider those questions. Don't rush past them.
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Bring the answers honestly before the Lord and ask Him to strengthen your faith,
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deepen your trust, and help you remember that He's faithful even when you can't
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see yet how the story is going to unfold.
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There may be someone listening today who understands Psalm 22 in a very personal way.
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Maybe you know what it feels like to cry out to God and wonder why he seems so far away.
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Maybe you've prayed for an answer that hasn't come.
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Maybe you're walking through grief, disappointment, loneliness,
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or a season of suffering that you never expected to happen.
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If that's where you are today, I want you to remember something from Psalm 22.
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God has not changed simply because your circumstances have changed.
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David began this psalm with a cry of anguish, but even in that cry he said, My God.
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He didn't understand what was happening, but he continued to recognize who God was.
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That is an important distinction for us.
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There may be times when we don't understand God's plan. There may be prayers
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we cannot explain and circumstances we cannot make sense of.
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But our inability to understand God does not mean that God has stopped being faithful.
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And look at where Psalm 22 ultimately leads. The psalm that begins with suffering ends with praise.
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The one who cries out in anguish eventually declares God's righteousness.
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The focus expands until the nations are turning to the Lord and worshiping Him.
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That is the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
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The cross looked like the ultimate defeat, but God was accomplishing redemption.
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The grave looked like the end, but it wasn't because Jesus Christ rose again.
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So whatever it is that you're facing today, don't let the present moment convince
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you that God has abandoned you or that your story is finished.
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You may not know what God is doing. You may not understand why he has allowed
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this particular season, but you can know who he is.
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He is faithful, He is sovereign, and He is merciful.
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And He has already demonstrated His love for you through Jesus Christ.
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The suffering Savior is not a Savior who remained in the grave. He is the risen Christ.
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And because He lives, you can face the suffering that's in front of you with
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the confidence that suffering does not have the final word.
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When you cannot see the way forward, hold on to Christ.
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When you cannot understand the circumstances, trust his character.
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And when you are tempted to believe that the darkness will never end,
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remember the cross and the empty tomb.
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God's story is bigger than the suffering you can see today.
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And if you belong to Christ, your hope is bigger than your pain.
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As we close out this study, let's again go to the Lord in prayer.
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Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us to spend this time in your word
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and to see more clearly the suffering of our Savior.
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Thank you for Jesus Christ who willingly endured the cross, who bore our sins,
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and who gave himself for our redemption.
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Thank you that his suffering was not a failure of your plan,
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but part of the redemptive work that you had proposed from the beginning.
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Lord, for those who are suffering today, remind them that you have not abandoned them.
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Help them bring their pain honestly before you while continuing to trust your
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character and your promises.
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When we cannot understand what you are doing, give us faith to trust you.
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When circumstances look like defeat, remind us of the cross.
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And when we are tempted to lose hope, remind us of the empty tomb.
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Thank you that suffering does not have the final word because Jesus Christ is risen.
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Help us keep our eyes upon him and to live with the hope that is found in him.
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We ask these things in his precious name. Amen.
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Before we close out today's episode, I again want to take a moment and thank
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you for being a part of the Bible Bytes community.
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One of the things I appreciate most about this podcast is knowing that these
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episodes aren't simply being recorded and sent out into the world.
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There are real people listening, studying God's Word, thinking about these truths,
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and allowing them to shape their walk with Christ.
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Today's study has been especially meaningful for anyone who's walking through a season of suffering.
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If Psalm 22 brought someone to mind while you're listening, I encourage you
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to share this episode with them.
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Sometimes a simple reminder that someone is not walking through a difficult
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season alone can make a tremendous difference in their life.
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And as always, if you have a prayer request, a testimony of God's faithfulness,
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or something you'd like to share with the Bible Bytes community,
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I would love to hear from you.
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Your messages and encouragement are meaningful parts of what makes this podcast possible.
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You can reach out through the contact page that's found on our website.
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That's at bible-bytes.com. That's B-Y-T-E-S, bytes with a Y, dot com slash support.
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And there you can send us a message for any of those reasons.
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00:41:51.030 --> 00:41:54.239
If you'd like to support Bible Bytes, you can find information about supporting
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00:41:54.239 --> 00:41:59.449
the podcast on our website at bible-Bytes.com.
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And if financial support that we offer there for you isn't something that you
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can provide, that's absolutely fine.
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One of the best ways that you can support this podcast is simply doing what
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00:42:11.750 --> 00:42:15.530
we've already discussed, and that's sharing an episode with someone who might
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benefit from hearing it.
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If you'd like to stay connected with Bible Bytes, between episodes,
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we've recently launched the Bible Bytes newsletter.
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It's a simple way for us to share biblical encouragement, updates about the
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00:42:28.830 --> 00:42:32.170
podcast, and occasional resources and announcements that we might have.
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00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:36.540
If you'd like to receive these updates, you can subscribe by visiting Bible-Bytes,
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00:42:36.540 --> 00:42:40.560
with a Y, B-Y-T-E-S dot com slash newsletter.
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We'd love to have you join us, and we're grateful for the opportunity to continue
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encouraging you through God's Word in just another medium.
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Thank you for listening, thank you for praying, and ultimately,
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00:42:52.219 --> 00:42:55.390
thank you for being a part of the Bible Bytes community.
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00:42:57.480 --> 00:43:01.160
And now let's take one final look at what we've learned today and look ahead
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to where we're going next.
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Today, we've seen that the suffering of Jesus Christ was not an accident and
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it was not a failure of God's plan.
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Psalm 22 gives us a remarkable picture of the suffering Savior,
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and the New Testament shows us how those words point us toward the cross.
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We have seen the suffering that was foretold, that the Savior willingly suffered
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for us, and that suffering does not have the final word.
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So, when you find yourself walking through a difficult season,
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remember what Psalm 22 teaches us.
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Bring your pain honestly before God.
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00:43:36.860 --> 00:43:39.449
Trust his purposes even when you cannot understand them.
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Look to Christ and remember what he's accomplished for you.
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And never forget that the cross was followed by an empty tomb.
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The suffering Savior is also the risen Savior.
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Next week, we're continuing our journey through the Psalms with one of the most
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beloved passages in all of Scripture.
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Psalm 23 begins with these familiar words, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
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In episode 108, we're going to explore what it means to know the Lord is our
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shepherd, the one who guides us, provides for us, restores us,
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protects us, and walks us through every season of life.
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After looking at the suffering Savior in Psalm 22, we'll turn our attention
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to the shepherd who cares for his sheep.
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That's episode 108, The Lord is My Shepherd, coming next week on Bible Bytes.
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Until then, keep studying God's Word, keep growing in your faith,
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and keep looking to Christ in every circumstance in your life.
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Join us next time on Bible Bytes, the podcast where we work to inspire faith, one byte at a time.