A Plea for Deliverance

October 13, 2024 Background Scripture: Psalm 22; Daniel 3 Lesson Passage: Psalm 22:1 - 11 Today's lesson focuses on God's response to the faith of His servants in times of distress. Psalm 22 and Daniel 3 are used as the Background Scripture. The historic account recorded in Daniel 3 is an example of what David described in Psalm 22 from three perspectives: faith in God for deliverance, deliverance by God, and praise to God for deliverance. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Hebrews living in captivity in Babylon. The Babylonians knew them to be devout men who had faith in the God of the Hebrews. Therefore, they plotted against them by having a law declared in Babylon that they were sure to violate, and that would lead to their punishment. They were faced with the daunting challenge of obeying Babylonian law by bowing down to an idol god or being executed for obeying the Law of the God of the Hebrews. As they stood before the king of Babylon to answer the accusations against them of not bowing to the idol god of the Babylonians, they declared their faith in God's ability to deliver them if He decides to do so. They vowed to continue to obey God even if He did not deliver them. Of course, God did deliver them. And that deliverance led to the king of Babylon proclaiming the Hebrew God as a God to be revered throughout Babylon. Psalm 22 is one of the psalms of David. It begins as a lamentation and ends as a psalm of praise. This transition within the psalm happens because it includes the fact that God answered David's prayer for deliverance. The prayer contains lamentations, confessions, and petitions to God. The psalm opens with a painful cry to God at a time of great trouble when David felt abandoned by God. The question is asked, why have You abandoned me? The cry is to God because He is the one David's ancestors taught him to call upon. God had a track record of delivering David's family because of their faith in Him. So, when David was faced with his own trouble, he knew that God is the only one he could call upon and expect results. The prophetic nature of this psalm is astounding. It is a prophetic psalm that describes the details surrounding the crucifixion and post-resurrection of Israel's Messiah, David's descendant. The actual words spoken by Jesus while nailed to the cross are recorded in this psalm. This was not Jesus merely repeating what He knew David had written over one thousand years earlier. That is evident because this psalm also details what the Gentile soldiers did as well as statements made by the priests during the crucifixion. Some of the reactions of people in the crowd around the cross are also described in this psalm. Again, Psalm 22 has two very distinct parts, lamentations and praise. The first part focuses on the plea for God's deliverance from the agonizing torment of his enemies. It ends by acknowledging God's answer to David's prayer. The second part is a celebration of praise for God's deliverance of His servant. The opening verses of Psalm 22 is our Lesson Passage. Beginning at the first verse of this psalm, our minds quickly go to Calvary's cross. Although we appreciate the pattern within this psalm, we cannot ignore the prophetic description it provides of the Messiah's crucifixion. The details in this psalm are the same as those in the accounts of the Gospel which are the reports of eyewitnesses. This psalm should remind us that God never changes. Whether it is David, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the Messiah, or Christians today, this lesson is a reminder that God is always attentive to the prayers of His servants for deliverance. Robert C. Hudson September 30, 2024