Christ's Prayer and Sufferings

This Psalm is written by David and describes for us his sufferings and his prayers concerning his sufferings. But we must understand it as a Psalm which is also prophetic of Christ; His sufferings and His prayers as well. In fact it is quite astonishing how many of these verses seem to apply more directly to Christ Himself than to David who penned it. It is as if Christ has taken the pen from David’s hand and said to him, “Let me write this for you, because the only way that you will be able to have an answer to your prayers in your afflictions, is if I will undergo greater sufferings for you, on your behalf.” And that is exactly what our Lord Jesus did. Whenever we are suffering afflictions, difficulties, distresses, or persecutions, let us remember that Jesus has undergone deeper, far deeper sufferings in His soul than we will ever go through. The Lord Jesus bore the sins of the world, the sins of all His Elect people upon Himself, so that we would be able to be forgiven. We, then, go on to endure the things that God would have us to go through, the things that the Father thinks will help us to become more conformed to the image of His Son. How good it is to approach this table this afternoon, and to think of whatever sufferings and problems that we have, or will have, with this in mind. We are looking at a prayer here, and it is a prayer of no small importance. We will look at this prayer, the first 15 verses of it, in 4 parts. 1st – An Urgent Request; 2nd – A Sad Report; 3rd – A Revealing Confession; and 4th – An Acceptable Time.