Prayer in a Time of Suffering (vv. 1-21). There were three burdens that moved David to pray for God’s help, and they apply to Jesus as well.

(1) He was abandoned by the Lord (vv. 1-5). The opening words of the psalm immediately transport us to Calvary, for Jesus quoted them at the close of a three-hour period of darkness (vv. 1-2; Matt. 27:45-46; Mark 15:34). “I am not alone,” Jesus had told His disciples, “because the Father is with me” (John 16:32), and yet He cried out that the Lord had forsaken Him. When He spoke these words, He had been engaged in a mysterious transaction with the Father, dying for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2; 4:14). On the cross, Jesus was “made sin” (2 Cor. 5:21) and made “a curse” (Gal. 3:13) for us. In some inexplicable way He experienced what condemned lost sinners experience “away from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:9 nasb; see Matt. 25:41). However, note that both David and Jesus called Him “my God,” making it clear that they still knew and trusted the Father.

This was not the cry of a complaining servant but the sob of a broken-hearted child asking, “Where is my father when I need him?” As David prayed for help, he wondered why God didn’t answer him. After all, He was a God of compassion who was concerned about His people, and He was a holy God who practiced justice. Even more, Israel was God’s special covenant nation, and He was “enthroned upon the praises of Israel” (v. 3 nasb; see 80:1; 99:1; Isa. 66:1-2). Only Israel had God’s divine law and could worship Him in a way acceptable to Him (John 4:21-24). Many times in the past, the Lord had kept His covenant promises to Israel and fought battles, so why was He distant now? Compassion, justice, and the sacred covenant were strong arguments for God’s intervention–but He was silent.

(2) He was despised by the people (vv. 6-11). These words especially apply to our Savior. “I am a worm and not a man” (v. 6 nasb) is a forgotten “I am” statement that speaks of how little value the leaders of Israel and the Roman officials placed on Jesus of Nazareth. A worm is a creature of the ground, helpless, frail, and unwanted. Isaiah 52:14 predicted that Messiah would be terribly disfigured by His enemies and not even look human. (See also Isa. 49:7; 50:6; 53:3; and for “reproach,” see Ps. 69:9; Rom. 15:3. For the fulfillment of vv. 7-8, see Matt. 27:39, 43; Mark 15:29; Luke 23:35-36.) David reminded the Lord that from birth He had cared for him, so why abandon him now? (See 139:13-16.) David had learned to trust in the Lord (“hope”) from infancy and was not going to relent now. “Trust” is used three times in verses 4-5 and also in verse 8.

(3) He was condemned by the law (vv. 12-21). David looked around and saw his enemies, and so brutal were they that he compared them to animals: bulls (v. 21), lions (vv. 13, 21; and see 7:2; 10:9; 17:12; 35:17; 57:4; 58:6), and dogs (vv. 16, 20). Bashan was a very fertile area east of the Sea of Galilee and north from the Yarmuk River to Mount Hermon, now known as the Golan Heights (Jer. 50:19; Deut. 32:14; Ezek. 39:18; Amos 4:1). The wild bulls encircled their prey and then moved in for the kill. The dogs were ravaging, savage, wild dogs that lived in the garbage dumps and traveled in packs looking for victims. The people involved in arresting and condemning Jesus were only beasts attacking their Creator (2:1-3; Acts 4:23-28). Then David looked within and saw himself (vv. 14-18), and the description is surely that of a man being crucified. He is stripped of his clothing, placed on a cross, and nails are driven through his hands and feet. As he hangs between heaven and earth, his body is dehydrated, intense thirst takes over, and the end of it all is “the dust of death” (v. 15; see Gen. 3:19; Job 7:21; 10:9; 17:16; Eccl. 3:20). Like ebbing water and melting wax, his strength fades away, and he becomes like a brittle piece of broken pottery. (For the application to Jesus, see Matt. 27:35; Mark 14:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24, 28.) It is remarkable that David should describe crucifixion because it was not a Jewish means of capital punishment, and it’s unlikely that he ever saw it occur. David the prophetic psalmist (Acts 2:30) saw what would happen to Messiah centuries later.

Finally, David looked up to the Lord and prayed one more time for the strength he needed (vv. 19-21). In verse 1, he mentioned that God was far from helping him, and he repeated this in verse 11, but he asks a third time for the Lord to come near and intervene. “The sword” in verse 20 may refer to the authority of the Roman government (Rom. 13:4), for it was Pilate who authorized Christ’s death. “Darling” in verse 20 means “my only one,” as an only child (Gen. 22:2), and refers to the one and only life that David possessed (see 35:17). Once lost, it could not be regained. We may translate verse 21, “Save me from the lion’s mouth, and from the horns of the wild oxen you have delivered me” or “you have heard me.” In verse 2, he wrote that God had not answered, but now he almost shouts, “You have answered me!” (See also v. 24.) This is the turning point of the psalm.