Psalm 22

⁰⁹             Yet, You are the One who delivered me from the womb;

You have caused me to hope

[even] at my mother’s breasts.

            ¹⁰             [Into Your care] was I given from my birth,

                                    and since my mother bore me,

You have been my God.

                ¹¹             Be not far from me,

                                    for trouble is close by,

                                    and there is none to help.

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Be Near to Me

For the Lord’s Day:  the 24^th of October 2004

Introduction:  Delitzsch is so much more contemporary in his comments than he can ever realize.  In the birthing process so evident in this Psalm he translates: “my pusher forth, i.e. he who causes me to break forth.”  While my Translator’s Handbook argues the case against seeming to bring the Creator God into the mid-wife business, still we must understand the work of God in all things great and small. 

 

On occasion I have even assisted in the delivery of lambs, calves, bunnies and baby chicks.  My first experience, when I was a toddler, was with baby chicks.  All the eggs had hatched except three and mother hen had taken the rest of the brood for a breakfast walk.  I heard weak pecking in the left-over eggs and decided to help in the delivery process.  Two of the three gave up live chicks who looked me over carefully.  Later on there was apparently some sort of fixation on the one who had delivered them, because they were friendlier to me than all the rest of the little flock.

 

I do not believe that it is too much to presume that once David had understood the amazing saving relationship that the good Lord had established between them, that thereby his own affections were made all the more friendly towards the divine intervention – which is always in order to believe when it comes to the second birth as we now label it.

 

Certainly, David here is meditating upon the physical birth and crediting the Lord of heaven and earth with taking the time to oversee and accomplish his safe delivery of many years before.

 

Both Spurgeon and Delitizsch here comment upon the maternal focus of these verses as if the virgin birth of Mary were completely and totally expected.  Of course, we can agree in principle with this line of thought.  However, at the very least we should understand that Joseph, the apparent father of Jesus: lived long enough to teach his son the trade of working in wood.  He was at least upon the scene through the age of twelve – but then drops out of the New Testament record.  So by the time this Psalm of the Cross takes on its greatest importance, it is Mary – the mother who is remembered on the cross and given into the care of a beloved disciple.

 

More than most, we may carefully presume: the Lord Jesus Christ knew the Creative Father of heaven and earth.  And David here only anticipates however minimally prophetically the family of Christ gathered there on the hill of Golgotha so many centuries later in time.

 

Development:  Calvin too persists in the implied fatherhood of God even in every familial relationship.  The psalmist “declares that even before he was born God had shown towards him such evidence of his fatherly love, that although now overwhelmed … he might upon good ground venture to hope for life from him.”

 

The original conception of life can of course be traced to our natural fathers, but in the granting of continued life, prosperity and all the good things that come from spiritual sonship – we who have sons and daughters are powerless except in our ongoing witness to demonstrate the ultimately higher form of God’s ever faithful fatherliness.

 

We might also add that the more we understand of the complexities of genetics and the wonderful working together of all the body parts – how important the common grace of God really is – whenever life continues, grows and thrives under His kind allowances day by day.  “Yet, You are the One who delivered me from the womb; You have caused me to hope [even] at my mother’s breasts.”

 

There are three thoughts in this ninth verse.  “Yet,” the psalmist writes in introduction.  In that introductory word the Translator’s Handbook senses that David is “turning once more from his distress” to a better base: “his hopeful plea for help on his own past experience of the Lord’s faithful care.”

 

The second thought here is the admission that it is only within the cause of God that new babies are ever born.  Scientists speculate that as many as a third of fertilized eggs never get established in the womb.  Today another third are not allowed to be born in many countries.  It may sound like an incredible wastage, but if we read Psalm 139: 13 in the way one medical theologian anticipates it:  “For you formed my inward parts; you folded me over in my mother’s womb.”  It is thereby precisely the time when implantation takes full effect that the fetus may fully be recognized as a person. 

 

Of course, all of those sensitive things happen in such minute specimens that we cannot fully know the mind and purpose of the Lord God in this regard.  However, we can certainly count the abortion industry’s curtailment of human life as almost unbelievable in its pathetic pagan perversity.  Our culture has brought to a soundless screaming halt the entire birthing process.  And in those unnatural conditions, thereby engineered, so too is the general health and well being of the intended mother weakened and possibly even shortened.

 

The third thought in this precious verse is even a baby may have a hope of eternal life because of the interest of our Creator God in the child barely born and still so dependent upon its loving mother.  Truly, we should understand the Lord’s interest in the elect even at such a tender, early age.

 

In the next verse, the tenth – we see David’s confidence in the God of Creation.  “[Into Your care] was I given from my birth, and since my mother bore me, You have been my God.”  Clearly, from the beginning of our lives down to our final breath – the Lord God is our refuge.  And this precious Psalm of the Cross covers not only the history of David and His greater Son, but also remains a solid reference from the beginning of the dynasty through to the temporary death of the last heir.

 

David, having looked back over his entire life realizes how closely entwined were his day to day adventures under the kind and gracious oversight of his Father in heaven.  So too were the days of Christ under the same benevolent management and purpose agreed to before time began.  By extension – do we sense even as David did that there are really no accidents in our lives, but a daily guidance and perfection in sanctification meant for us to realize in the Lord’s service?

 

Well does Calvin appreciate the divine providence and protection:  “Since God anticipates in this manner, by his grace, little infants before they have as yet the use of reason, it is certain that he will never disappoint the hope of his servants when they petition and call upon him.  This is the argument by which David struggled with, and endeavored to overcome temptation.”

 

Application:  Our last verse demonstrates the progress that David has attained through the leading of the Spirit, in this second cycle of prayer from despair to hope.  Still, even though he does not sense the immediate blessing and leading of the Lord God, he prays all the more:  “Be not far from me, for trouble is close by, and there is none to help.”

 

There were many times in the course of twenty-five years of public service, when I was ready to give up the ongoing battle for excellence and civilization.  This is probably the reason I have spent so many decades in the Psalms.  Having preached through the Psalter twice and now beginning the third go-around, I do believe I understand the heart of David.  Just as some agronomists observe about the sheep, so too can we say of the elect.  And that something is simply this:  without the benevolent management and protection of humans, the mild mannered sheep would have gone extinct long ago.  In the same way too, without the overriding interest in the elect, His Church – those who belong to the Lord would have been eradicated by the pagans and wicked a long time ago.

 

During World War One, a British Cavalry squadron found themselves retreating between the advance elements of the German Army and the follow up marching regiments that made up the most strength of the enemy.  For several days the missing horsemen played cat and mouse with the adversary and eventually found an opening through which they were able to gallop home to the safety of their own lines.

 

Do we need to be reminded that we too are in enemy territory?  The real nature of the worldly crowd is that they gladly count themselves enemies of the cause of Christ.  They are rebels and with few exceptions they control the governments and religions of this old world as well as every useful institution.  We, like David who claim the cause of Christ are caught between a rock and a hard place.  How much we need the divine presence of the Holy Spirit to lead us day by day.  Trouble is always close by and except for the kindness and graciousness of the Lord God – there would be precious help for those who belong to Christ.

 

Now and again, we may offer kindness and a drink of water in the Name of Christ, not only to our enemies but also God’s friends.  How much that is appreciated is never realized until you meet a fellow Christian who also realizes the counter-revolutionary situation in which we find ourselves.  Every so often, I meet young people who know only a couple people upon whom they can count the knowledge of Christ.  And how much they treasure the fellowship of those moments when they can forget the world around them and share the foundation of the hope that is within them.

 

Can we count David here as one of those friends?  Of course we are separated by time, space and language – but he understands our condition and our cause better than we.  Long ago, in the public sector – I was questioned about my apparent lack of close friends in the liberal institution.  Not wishing to name names and thereby worsen the situation of those I did count amongst fellow believers – I simply told my busybody inquisitor that the greater majority of my friends did not live in the twentieth century and let it go at that. 

 

And yet, for those of us who study the scriptures and the Christian believers whose works we treasure from countless centuries – as long as there are books, we are never at a loss for friends.  And just carrying around one of those precious books will identify us to others who share our friendships and are thereby ready and willing to provide fellowship in our own time and place.  May the Lord God of heaven and earth bless us with fellow saints, like David – to carry us through times such as David knew.  And in David’s knowing of his own greater Son, may we too delight in the love of the Lord and share Him as fully as we are able.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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