Date︰Mar 24, 2019
Venue︰Tsim Sha Tsui Baptist Church
Title︰The Problem of Pain
Passage︰Psalm 22
- My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
- My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.
- Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.
- In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
- To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
- But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
- All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
- “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
- Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
- From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
- Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
- Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
- Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.
- I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.
- My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
- Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
- All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
- They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
- But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
- Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
- Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
- I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.
- You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
- For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
- From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
- The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever!
- All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
- for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
- All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive.
- Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
- They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!