Piepkorn on Our Lord's Praying Psalm 22

God is thought of as present when he intervenes and conversely his absence is synonymous with a refusal to intervene. The psalmist asks: "Why dost thou stand afar off, O Lord? Why dost thou hide thyself in times of trouble?" (Ps. 10:1). This insight may help toward a better understanding of Psalm 22 and of the implications of our Lord's quotation of the first verse of the psalm on the cross. "Why hast thou forsaken me?" says the same thing as "Why art thou so far from helping me?" (Ps. 22:1; see also vv. 11, 19; Ps. 38:21; 71:12). Conversely, the wicked do not desire God's presence and say to him: "Depart from us!" (Job 22:17)

--Arthur Carl Piepkorn, *The Church* p. 161.