Understanding Psalm 22:1 (LXX): God Hears Your Cry

A Cry from the Depths: Understanding Psalm 22:1 in Context

This verse opens a powerful psalm of lament that moves from deep anguish to triumphant praise, capturing the full arc of human suffering and divine faithfulness.

Psalm 22 begins with a shocking cry of abandonment - 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?' - yet this personal plea is rooted in the tradition of Davidic psalms where raw honesty before God is not a sign of weak faith, but part of it. Though written centuries before Jesus, this psalm was later seen by early believers as a vivid prophecy of the Messiah’s suffering, especially when Jesus himself quoted its first line from the cross in Matthew 27:46: 'And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”'. This connection shows how the psalm not only expressed David’s pain but also pointed forward to Christ’s ultimate sacrifice in a way that would have surprised ancient readers.

Even when God feels distant, the psalm continues. It prepares the way for a revelation of God’s nearness and deliverance, as Jesus’ cry points beyond itself.

The Weight of Words: How 'My God, my God' Reveals the Heart of Lament

The double cry 'My God, my God' is emotional repetition; it is a desperate grasp for relationship amid total loneliness.

By calling God 'my God' twice, the psalmist holds on to a personal connection even while questioning God’s presence, showing that faith isn’t the absence of doubt but the courage to speak honestly in pain. The verse uses synthetic parallelism, where the second line builds on the first, to deepen sorrow rather than merely echo it: 'Why have you forsaken me?' moves into 'Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?' as if each cry falls further into silence. This is not a calm theological question about suffering. It is the raw voice of someone crushed, unheard, and isolated, yet still addressing God directly, showing that groaning can be a form of prayer. The fact that Jesus later prays this exact line on the cross in Matthew 27:46 shows that God himself entered this experience of abandonment, not from disbelief, but as the ultimate act of solidarity with human suffering.

One key image in the full psalm is the 'roaring of bulls' and 'snorting oxen' in verses 12 - 13, symbolizing overwhelming threats that surround the sufferer, making the sense of divine silence even more intense. Yet later, the psalm shifts to images of deliverance - 'you have answered me,' 'I will praise you in the great congregation' - revealing that the cry itself is part of a journey from isolation to worship. This teaches that expressing pain to God is not disloyalty. It is the first step toward trusting Him again.

The verse doesn’t answer why God allows suffering - that mystery remains. But it does show us that God honors honest cries and draws near even when He feels far.

Honesty Before God: Learning to Pray When Faith Feels Broken

This cry of abandonment invites us to bring our pain directly to God, as the psalmist did and as Jesus did on the cross.

When we feel forsaken, this verse teaches us that it’s not wrong to say so out loud. In fact, both the psalmist and Jesus model a faith that doesn’t pretend but instead prays honestly, even in despair.

God is not scared off by our questions or silenced by our groans. He who heard David’s cry and Jesus’ final words on the cross still listens today. This psalm shows a God who walks with us through darkness as well as light. And because Jesus prayed this prayer, we know that no suffering is outside His experience - and no cry is beyond His care.

From Cross to Community: How the Gospels and Hebrews Fulfill a Sufferer’s Cry

When Jesus cried, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' On the cross, He was not merely expressing pain. He anchored His suffering in Psalm 22, and the Gospel writers preserve this moment to show that God’s plan unfolded as foretold.

Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 both record Jesus quoting this verse in Aramaic, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,' making it one of the few spoken words from the cross they highlight - Luke and John don’t include the quote, but their accounts still reflect its meaning through Jesus’ abandonment and suffering. This difference is not a contradiction. It shows how each Gospel frames Jesus’ death through a different lens, while all affirm that the Messiah entered total human desolation. By quoting Psalm 22:1, Jesus identifies not only with the psalmist’s agony but with every person who has ever felt forgotten by God.

Hebrews 2:12 clarifies this moment: 'I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.' This is a direct quote from Psalm 22:22. This verse links Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation to the psalm’s turn from lament to worship, showing that His cry of abandonment was not the end, but the doorway to victory. Through this, we see that Christ’s suffering wasn’t meaningless - it was the means by which He sanctifies many and gathers a community of worshippers. The same psalm that begins in darkness ends in public praise, and Hebrews uses that shift to prove Jesus is both the suffering servant and the triumphant leader of God’s people. By quoting Psalm 22, the New Testament does more than fulfill prophecy; it redefines worship as arising from suffering, solidarity, and resurrection hope.

So what does this mean for you today? It means when you’re overwhelmed at work and feel alone, you can whisper this psalm like a prayer, knowing Jesus has been there. When you sit with a grieving friend, you don’t need to fix their pain; you can say, 'God heard Jesus’ cry, and He hears yours.' It means when your child asks why God lets bad things happen, you can tell them about the cross and how Jesus felt forsaken so we never would be. And it means your honest prayers - even the angry ones - are not faith failures, but steps toward healing. Because of the cross, no cry is wasted, and no darkness has the final word.

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