Meditation for the week of August 26, 2007
Psalm 22:6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. (NKJV)
We often think that the wealthy and powerful never experience rejection. However, that wasn’t the case with David who wrote this Psalm. David had two times of great persecution in his life. The first was when Saul was trying to destroy him so that he could not be king. Saul was trying to establish his dynasty and wanted his son to be king. That persecution was completely undeserved because David had been totally loyal to Saul while he was king. He considered Saul to be the Lord’s anointed and he wouldn’t touch him (1 Samuel 26:11).
The second persecution was when his own son Absalom rebelled against him and tried to take his throne (2 Samuel 15). This second persecution was the result of David’s sin with Bathsheba. When Nathan confronted David about his sin, David confessed the sin. There is no doubt that God forgave Him, but there were still consequences associated with what he had done. In 2nd Samuel 12:11-13 we are told that the Lord had put away David’s sin after he confessed it, but that an adversary would arise from within his family.
We don’t know for sure when David wrote this Psalm, but it would make sense that it was written during the first persecution that was not deserved rather than during the second which was deserved. This is a Messianic Psalm which means that the authors of the new testament quote it to show that the Lord Jesus fulfilled some of these experiences prophetically. Since the Lord did not deserve his persecution, I would like to believe that David wrote this Psalm before he sinned with Bathsheba.
If David considered himself to be a worm (or more appropriately, a maggot), and if the Lord also experienced total rejection, why should we consider it unusual as the Lord’s people to feel totally rejected at times? David had as many as six hundred men with him when he was fleeing from Saul (1 Samuel 25:13) and yet there were times when he felt totally alone and forsaken. He was a leader of men and yet felt like he was a maggot.
Rejection is a powerful tool of Satan because Christians need to have friends and fellowship. That is one of the functions of the new testament church. Satan knows that if he can isolate and discourage us, he can render us powerless and ineffective. When those who reject Christ reject us, that hurts, but we expect that. But Satan knows that his best weapon is to have those who claim to be be Christians reject us. The Lord experienced that when his disciples forsook Him and fled (Matthew 26:56). Finally, God also forsook Him (Matthew 27:46). All this was done so that we might have One who could not only save us, but Who has promised that He will never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Those of us who have trusted in Christ are unconditionally accepted in the beloved, that is we are accepted by God because of our trust in Christ (Ephesians 1:6). And that is what really matters!
When we feel like a worm and not like a man, it is easy to think God’s relationship with us is the same as that of our acquaintances. But we who are trusting in Christ need to understand that God’s love is not fickle. His acceptance of us is not conditional but unconditional. We are often told that we should be happy if we find one really good friend during our lifetimes. If we are saved, we have that friend in the Lord Jesus!
Bruce Collins