Silence can be a wonderful thing. Just ask any librarian, schoolteacher, or parent of young children. As the saying goes, silence is golden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet silence can also be deafening\u2014sometimes painfully so. During trials, have you ever felt as if God isn\u2019t listening to your cries for help? Or worse, like He\u2019s listening but doesn\u2019t care? David felt this, too, when he wrote the searing words of Psalm 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest. We don\u2019t know what prompted David to write this brutally honest psalm, but it\u2019s clear he was under attack (vv.12\u201313) by those with no remorse (v.18). He felt abandoned (v.1), despised (v.6), and mocked for his faith (vv.7\u20138). Under great duress, he wasn\u2019t sure where relief would come from (v.11). His situation had plunged him into extreme weariness on all levels of his being (vv.14\u201315).<\/p>\n\n\n\n If David had stayed in that state, wallowing in excruciating circumstances, who knows what might have happened. Trials can feel like black holes where the light of hope seems absent. Indeed, if we focus exclusively on the painful circumstances in our lives, God will feel far off. We, like David, will wonder if He has abandoned us, preferring to lounge in the luxuries of heaven, oblivious to earthly cares, rather than sully His divine fingers in the dirt of human chaos. But this attitude greatly misconstrues the \u201csilence\u201d of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, God is not silent. He is always working sovereignly for His glory and the good of His children. Sometimes we perceive it. Often we don\u2019t. But our<\/em> perception is not God\u2019s reality. Rather, God\u2019s reality\u2014His unchanging presence and character\u2014should be our perception, and even more, our hope! <\/p>\n\n\n\n God\u2019s past faithfulness should inform our present state of mind. Amid his severe trials, David remembered: \u201cOur ancestors trusted in you; they trusted, and you rescued them. They cried to you and were set free; they trusted in you and were not disgraced\u201d (vv.4\u20135).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once David remembered, he rejoiced: \u201cI will give praise in the great assembly because of you\u201d (v.25).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the cross, Jesus Himself reiterated David\u2019s words in Psalm 22:1\u20132, as He absorbed the full wrath of God against our sins (Matthew 27:46). Yet He also put His hope in God. \u201cFather,\u201d He cried, \u201cinto your hands I entrust my spirit\u201d (Luke 23:46). God saved David, and He vindicated His Son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God has not abandoned you. He is not silent or far off. He is, in fact, very near (Philippians 4:5), dwelling in the hearts of His beloved children. When you cry out, He listens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So in the silence, remember\u2014and rejoice in God\u2019s salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Written by Josh Cooley<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Silence can be a wonderful thing. Just ask any librarian, schoolteacher, or parent of young children. As the saying goes, silence is golden. Yet silence can also be deafening\u2014sometimes painfully so. During trials, have you ever felt as if God isn\u2019t listening to your cries for help? Or worse, like He\u2019s listening but doesn\u2019t care? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":72971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[311],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lent2026"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[73254],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"Psalms 19\u201322<\/b> Silence can be a wonderful thing. Just ask any librarian, schoolteacher, or parent of young children. As the saying goes, silence is golden.<\/p> Yet silence can also be deafening\u2014sometimes painfully so. During trials, have you ever felt as if God isn\u2019t listening to your cries for help? Or worse, like He\u2019s listening but doesn\u2019t care? David felt this, too, when he wrote the searing words of Psalm 22.<\/p> My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest.<\/em> We don\u2019t know what prompted David to write this brutally honest psalm, but it\u2019s clear he was under attack (vv.12\u201313) by those with no remorse (v.18). He felt abandoned (v.1), despised (v.6), and mocked for his faith (vv.7\u20138). Under great duress, he wasn\u2019t sure where relief would come from (v.11). His situation had plunged him into extreme weariness on all levels of his being (vv.14\u201315).<\/p> If David had stayed in that state, wallowing in excruciating circumstances, who knows what might have happened. Trials can feel like black holes where the light of hope seems absent. Indeed, if we focus exclusively on the painful circumstances in our lives, God will feel far off. We, like David, will wonder if He has abandoned us, preferring to lounge in the luxuries of heaven, oblivious to earthly cares, rather than sully His divine fingers in the dirt of human chaos. But this attitude greatly misconstrues the \u201csilence\u201d of God.<\/p> In fact, God is not silent. He is always working sovereignly for His glory and the good of His children. Sometimes we perceive it. Often we don\u2019t. But our<\/em> perception is not God\u2019s reality. Rather, God\u2019s reality\u2014His unchanging presence and character\u2014should be our perception, and even more, our hope!<\/p> God\u2019s past faithfulness should inform our present state of mind. Amid his severe trials, David remembered: \u201cOur ancestors trusted in you; they trusted, and you rescued them. They cried to you and were set free; they trusted in you and were not disgraced\u201d (vv.4\u20135).<\/p> Once David remembered, he rejoiced: \u201cI will give praise in the great assembly because of you\u201d (v.25).<\/p> On the cross, Jesus Himself reiterated David\u2019s words in Psalm 22:1\u20132, as He absorbed the full wrath of God against our sins (Matthew 27:46). Yet He also put His hope in God. \u201cFather,\u201d He cried, \u201cinto your hands I entrust my spirit\u201d (Luke 23:46). God saved David, and He vindicated His Son.<\/p> God has not abandoned you. He is not silent or far off. He is, in fact, very near (Philippians 4:5), dwelling in the hearts of His beloved children. When you cry out, He listens.<\/p> So in the silence, remember\u2014and rejoice in God\u2019s salvation.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"5","scripture":"Psalm 19:1-14, Psalm 20:1-9, Psalm 21:1-13, Psalm 22:1-31","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2014Psalm 22:1\u20132<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\r\nby Josh Cooley<\/i>
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\u2014Psalm 22:1\u20132<\/em><\/p>
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n