In Psalm 22:6-10, we read, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying ‘He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’ But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been my God.”
The Holy Spirit is using David’s own experience to point to and exalt Jesus! In deep despair David states that he feels subhuman, more like a worm than a man. He considers himself a reproach, despised and ridiculed. Onlookers spew out accusations and insults toward him because of his faith in God. Undaunted, he answers his detractors by citing the faithfulness of God and continues to credit Him as being the very Giver of life.
The Messianic elements in this psalm are apparent. Isaiah 53:3 says: “He [the Messiah] is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid . . . our faces from Him; . . . we did not esteem Him.”
Written long before the crucifixion of Christ, how accurate are these verses regarding that future event! Listen to Matthew: “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’ . . . [T]he chief priests also, mocking . . . said, ‘He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Matthew 27:39-44).
So we see in Psalm 22 that even as David describes his own suffering, the Holy Spirit inspires him to write things that would become true of Jesus, God in human flesh, in even harsher reality! Through David’s words, we look ahead to the suffering of the Messiah, becoming the beneficiaries of having all of this laid out in these verses. And yet, we must always keep in mind that what was true of David will be true for us: If we live for Jesus, we will be treated like Him—and I don’t mean that in a “good” way!
Luke wrote, “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake . . . ” (Luke 21:17-19). And in John 15:18-20, we are reminded of that again: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world . . . therefore the world hates you.” May we learn to regard these insults and attacks as opportunities to reflect Jesus, who cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
