Trouble Near: Christ's Solitude and the Believer's Comfort

Psalm 22:11 pierces the heart: "Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help." Joseph Exell perceived in this Psalm "a greater than David is here"—even Christ himself. Reading these words while contemplating Calvary reveals their prophetic weight: they describe the precise sufferings and agony our Lord endured.

Christians often indulge in sinful foreboding, viewing distant troubles as mountains when they are merely mole-hills we can step over with faith. Yet Christ foreboded nothing except what He knew would come to pass. When He cried, "Father, save Me from this hour," He immediately added, "For this cause came I to this hour"—withdrawing the petition, refusing escape from sorrow.

The most prominent feature of His distress was distress of psyche (soul). Divine wrath lay heavily upon Him, prompting His cry, "Now am I troubled." His disciples know similar soul-distress in their first awakenings and after-conflicts, yet never as judicial punishment—never bearing the full weight of Elohim's wrath that Christ alone bore.

Christ faced external assaults: powers of darkness unleashed. His Church must expect the same. The world and the Church cannot coexist unless the Church compromises her dignity, purity, and spirituality. A Christianity that separates you from the world will certainly bring Satan's rage and the world's scorn.

Yet Christ's solitude at Calvary contained peculiar mercy: had others stood with Him, they would have shared His burden. Sometimes the absence of human help reveals Yahweh's sufficiency alone.