What is the context?
This opening belongs to a prayer that moves through abandonment, remembered faithfulness, appeals for rescue, and praise for an answer. The repeated my God remains a direct address amid anguish.
The complaint belongs within a larger movement from distress toward answered prayer and public praise. Its emotional force should be heard alongside that continuing trust.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley reads the cry as most fully expressed in Christ. The USCCB note also identifies the opening words on the crucified Jesus’ lips. Their Christian use makes the cry central without reducing the whole psalm to its first sentence.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Matthew 27:46 directly records Jesus speaking the opening words from the cross. His cry gives the psalm a clear New Testament connection while the surrounding poem retains its own appeals and eventual praise.
What is our position?
On Jesus’ use of the opening cry, our study on prayer reads His words as honest anguish directed to the Father while He endures the cross. Such honesty is not treated as unbelief. This addresses the cry on Jesus’ lips; the psalm as a whole also includes requests for rescue.