Psalm 22:24 teaches that God does not look down on people who are suffering, turn away from them, or ignore them when they call out for help. When the afflicted cry to him, he listens. The verse is spoken by a worshiper who has just come through deep distress and is now testifying to what God did in response to his cry, and he is speaking to the gathered community of God’s people.
For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, Neither has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried to him, he heard.
Psalm 22:24 (WEB)
What Psalm 22:24 Means
The verse begins with a negative pair: God has not “despised” nor “abhorred” the affliction of the afflicted. Despising means treating something as worthless or beneath notice, and abhorring means recoiling from it with disgust. The psalmist is saying that the suffering of the one in pain did not make God contemptuous or repulsed. The word “affliction” describes real hardship, oppression, or misery, and the repetition of “afflicted” stresses that God saw the person as they actually were.
The second half moves from what God did not do to what he did. He has not hidden his face, which is an image of withdrawal, the opposite of the warm attention a person gives when they are paying close regard. Then comes the decisive phrase: when the sufferer cried out, God heard. The verse does not promise that every trouble will vanish on the spot or that the psalmist will never feel abandoned again. It does promise that God’s posture toward the afflicted is attentive, not indifferent, and that a cry for help reaches him.
The Context of Psalm 22:24
Psalm 22 is traditionally attributed to David, and it is a lament that opens with the anguished question “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The psalm moves from desperate complaint to confident praise. Verses 21 and following shift the tone, as the psalmist pleads for rescue from a lion’s mouth and the horns of wild oxen, then declares that God has answered him. Verse 24 sits at the turning point, where the rescued worshiper invites the people of Israel to join him in glorifying the Lord.
Because the verse is part of a thanksgiving spoken before the congregation, it reads as testimony rather than abstract doctrine. The psalmist is not reasoning about how God might behave; he is reporting what he has experienced and urging others to fear and praise the one who answered. That context makes the verse feel personal and public at once, and it explains why the surrounding verses speak of vows, sharing a meal with the humble, and the nations turning to the Lord.
Key Phrases in Psalm 22:24
Psalm 34:17
The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
(WEB)
This verse echoes the same pattern of a cry met with divine attention, adding that the Lord rescues the righteous from all their troubles. Read alongside Psalm 22:24, it strengthens the picture of a God who responds to those who call on him in distress.
Psalm 145:18
The LORD is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
(WEB)
Here the psalmist affirms that the Lord is near to all who call on him in truth. The nearness described here parallels the hiding of the face in Psalm 22:24, showing that God’s posture toward those who call is one of closeness rather than distance.
A Short Prayer From Psalm 22:24
Lord, I bring you the hurt I have been trying to carry alone. You have not despised my affliction, and you have not turned your face away from me. Hear me now as I cry out, and help me trust that my voice reaches you. Teach me to speak honestly and to stop hiding what is true from you. Let your nearness steady me today, and let me rest in the knowledge that you listen. Amen.
