crazy...

I'm so thankful for the guys in my small group this semester. They've all been very very cool. We finished Joshua two weeks ago so we decided to go through the first two chapters of Matthew last week. It was really good. The guys really were engaging in this stuff and started asking some really great questions. Somewhere in there we started talking about how important the old testament scriptures are and how much there is to be gained from studying them. We started talking about how Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi who really knew his stuff. I mean you look at Him even as a kid and he was freaking out the people in the temple with His open mind and heart for scripture (check out Mark 2:41-ish). It was brought up that many of the things he said were direct quotes or references to scripture. Our group found it very interesting how much meaning is added to what Jesus said when it is read in its original context.

Sabo(one of the guys in the group) brought up Mark 15:34. He said that we really don't ever think about what this meant. It always just seemed like a weak moment on the cross for Jesus. He then told us to look at the foot note and turn to Psalm 22.

Psalm 22

For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David.

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?

² O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel. ^[a]

⁴ In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.

⁵ They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.

⁷ All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

⁸ "He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.

¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

¹³ Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.

¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me ^[b] in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced ^[c] my hands and my feet.

¹⁷ I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.

¹⁸ They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.

¹⁹ But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.

²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save ^[d] me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²² I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.

²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴ For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you ^[e] will I fulfill my vows.

²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!

²⁷ 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,

²⁸ for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.

³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.

³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
for he has done it.

Suddenly this "weak moment" on the cross meant so much more to me. I mean you could go on and on about how David describes Jesus' circumstances in a freakishly accurate way, but I think there was something else that really blasted my heart when i read it.

I've been asking myself over and over...was He worshipping?!?!? Maybe this gives more insight into Jesus' heart. I think our Savior was still worshiping God in His last breath. He was obviously physically too weak and in too much pain to be in one of those happy go-lucky "i love everything" moods that i sometimes try to associate with worship (upon further review i am not convinced that worship is always going to involve smiling). But the man was still completely sold out to His Father's work. It didn't make sense and certainly hurt. Yet He still set the perfect example for a perfect life of faith and abandonment to God.

I can't get over this psalm.

have a good one guys
-dave