Summary

The questions string themselves together and are repeated. Why do you hide your face?

That is the opposite of the blessing of Numbers 6:25–26 where it is written, The Lord make his face to shine upon you. The author continues: why do you forget our misery? It is a very human question. Of course, God does not forget all of that. But the praying person experiences it as if God is not paying attention. After all, he is Jacob’s Saviour (as in Psalm 44:4). This persistent praying makes us think of the widow in Luke 18:3–5. She searched for justice from a wicked judge and was so persistent, that he finally took action. So, never lack in zeal in praying.

With this repeated why, our thoughts turn to the cross when the Saviour quotes Psalm 22:1–31, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Then God hides his face from the Messiah. Think of those three hours of darkness. As crucified Lamb of God, he takes the sins away. John the Baptist already prophesied in John 1:29, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! After his resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples and enlightens their understanding, in Luke 24:44–46, Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled…that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead…