Attention is the most prized commodity in the world. Money has value, time is precious, but our fickle focus is hard to win. Vast marketing budgets are expended, and communications strategies are devised simply to pin down our distracted brains on a particular product. We skim, we scroll, we channel surf and speed-read, but rarely truly linger and reflect on any object of consideration.
God made us worshippers, and worship requires us to behold, to linger, to consider and contemplate the one who is worthy of our full, undivided attention. Yet, I confess, my mind is prone to wander, and I have the attention span of a fruit-fly.
The Psalms are the believer’s song book, gathering our praise from hurting hearts, guilty consciences and perplexed souls and carrying it Godwards in worship. Psalm 22 is a standout. It is a lament of raw and relentless protest. David’s worship is a litany of inconsolable complaint targeted with laser precision on God. I love the sheer honesty of these words and the way in which Holy–Spirit inspired scripture affirms such a blunt and expressive outburst. There is no leaving of feelings or circumstances at the door in David’s worship. Yet, despite his anguished outpouring, David is met with Heaven’s silence.
However, silence is not heaven’s substitute for inaction. This Psalm points to the most pivotal silence in history and Jesus’ last words on the cross.
Jesus himself takes up the first line of Ps 22 upon his lips, appropriating it as an expression of his internal turmoil and public defamation as he bears our suffering, carries our iniquity and receives the penalty for our sin (Isa 53:4-6). New Testament references to Old Testament texts function like internet hyperlinks. More than simply referencing where a phrase comes from, they are intended to invite us to consider a whole Psalm, text or story. As we read through the psalm, we will see other prophetic hints and signs that point to Jesus’ crucifixion: bones out of joint, sneering spectators and clothes divided and gambled over. (22:14-18)
So, this Psalm of worship carries David’s soul-anguish forward in time to the one crucified for us. So too it carries our burdens back in time and onto the one who has already shouldered them on our behalf on the cross. Whilst Psalm 22 does not mention Jesus by name, it transports us to the place where God responds to the complaints of the afflicted, where God acts on behalf of the guilt-riddled offender.
This then is a song that takes us to the heart and centre of worship: Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Worship’s central focus is the lamb upon the throne, and our praise takes us on a journey, leading us to the cross. It is here again and again, as we fix our eyes on Jesus, that we find our lives reset and renewed as we bring all that we are before him who loved us and gave himself for us, to him be the glory forever.
Amen
Iain