Real Hope: The Psalms of DavidSample

King David, Psalmist and Prophet

Did you ever sing a ‘round’ in school? Your teacher divided the class into groups, each singing seemingly different melodies. Then when you sang together, as if by some musical alchemy, your combined voices produced the most unexpected harmony.

Psalm 22 is simultaneously about a dark time in David’s life – a word-perfect prophecy of Jesus’ crucifixion while also reminding us of God’s promises to us in 2023.

As the psalm begins (vv1–2), David pleads for his God to return to him in a crisis. Over 1,000 years later, Jesus cries out in this same way, sharing His deep grief at being separated from His own Father. Their cries reflect how deep their love has been, and is for God that they should feel His distance so deeply. In verses 6–18, David daubes a vivid fresco of scornful onlookers relishing his demise. In Matthew 27, Jesus is subjected to that same savage mockery as He hung from the cross. It’s a frenzied, depraved, and seemingly hopeless place for both Jesus and David in these middle verses. Flashes of clothing being torn, with the malevolent spectators gambling over the rags for trophies. Then in verse 22, David draws back heaven’s curtains and bathes these desolate scenes with heaven’s hope and joy. The chapter draws to a final soaring crescendo (vv25–28) as we can almost hear the combined choirs of heaven and mankind singing of God’s undiminished dominion over all things! I adore David’s change of gear here, reminding us that God’s glory will eclipse even the darkest of moments. Our future is assured to such scale we can’t even imagine.

Written by DWAYNE JEFFRIES