Have you ever felt forsaken by everyone including God? Do you know the sense of utter abandonment? Hopelessness? Do you think there is anyone who can understand how you feel? Is there a way back to finding God’s presence in your life?

John of the Cross, a sixteenth century Spanish monk, wrote a book called The Dark Night of the Soul. For me, this title has come to mean a time in the life of a believer when you feel God has turned His back on you. God-forsaken. All goes dark, there is no joy, no sense of companionship with the Lord, no purpose or meaning in your walk, just numbness. This doesn’t happen to everyone and it is not related to sin in your life. It is a season that God allows. I have just watched a friend of mine come through a dark night of the soul. It was a disorienting terrible time for her. For me watching from afar was like watching the early manned spaceships orbiting around the moon. Everything went black for a while, there was no communication. Darkness. Silence. And then the spaceship came around the moon and back into full joyous communication. The dawn broke through, the dark night of the soul was over.

Psalm 22 is introduced in an unusual way, “For the choir director; upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David”. Aijeleth Shahar is transliterated from Hebrew. Many commentators think it is the name of the tune to which this psalm should be sung. However it may have more significance. It may be the title for the psalm that summarizes the theme. The first word means hind as in the hind of a deer. The second word means dawn, early morning light. The two words together, hind of the dawn, are an expression that pictures the morning sun shedding its first beams. If these words comprise the title they paint the picture of Psalm 22 beginning with the dark night of the soul but culminating with the dawn’s light breaking through.

David takes us to a God-forsaken place in Psalm 22. He doesn’t pull any punches. This psalm of lament is raw with emotion. He pours out his heart, restless, groaning, crying. He cannot find God in his circumstances. He complains without apology. David gives you permission to be honest about exactly how you feel.

You might as well be honest with God. You can try to hide your doubts and questions but our omniscient God knows how you feel anyway. “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:13. He can handle your complaining.

Jesus knows exactly how you feel. He understands completely. He understand your feelings because He is your creator, He also experienced those same feelings Himself because He is your savior. As your savior He endured the cross. You might feel forsaken by God, but He literally was forsaken by God.

His soul was distressed to the point of death in Gethsemane as He anticipated going to the cross. He despised the shame of the cross, Hebrews 12:2 . Nothing about it was easy. During His time on the cross many of the words Jesus quoted and alluded to are from Psalm 22. These words capture His emotions… abandoned, groaning, crying, no rest, I am a worm, a reproach of men, despised, mocked. His tongue cleaved to his jaws, all of his bones were out of joint, He was laid in the dust of death.
Perhaps worst of all of, He was God-forsaken.

He was forsaken by His heavenly Father. This is the heavenly Father who said three separate times, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” This is the Father of whom the Son said, “I always do the things pleasing to Him.” And yet, one April day the heavenly Father forsook His Son. Not only did He turn His back on Him in abandonment but He then poured out His wrath with full force, judging the sins of the world that had been placed on Him. Utter darkness.

But then the dawn broke through. God did not stop with the cross. Psalm 22 concludes with fervent praise and ultimate triumph, expressed with these phrases, “I will tell of Thy name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation, they will come and will declare His righteousness.” Finally there is break through and resolution. Weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning.

If you experience a dark night of the soul, if you feel God-forsaken, cry out to Him. Complain, tell Him all about how you feel. Pour out your soul. He can take it. Give Him your lament. Release all your burdens. Remember the times He has been faithful and good to you. Ask for prayer from fellow believers. Wait on the Lord. Your season will finally end and God’s light will dawn in your heart. The dark night of the soul will be over, joy will break out, the hind of the dawn.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You Lord for the honesty of Psalm 22. Thank You that Jesus understands and experienced what God-forsaken feels like. Give me the grace to cling to You even when I cannot sense that you are near. Thank you for your promise to never leave nor forsake me. May I know the hind of the dawn.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen