Read Psalm 88
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.
Go Deeper
God welcomes our grief. We can acknowledge His goodness while still mourning the broken world we live in and plead with the creator of this universe for mercy and clarity. In this psalm we see a raw cry of despair that lays out the author’s sorrow and sin in the form of a desperate prayer to a God that is bigger than our pain. Written by Heman the Ezrahite, who was known as a wise and talented man, this dark song is evidence that even the faithful experience doubt and angst.
In the midst of confusion, the writer acknowledges God’s power and goodness from the very first line. “Oh God of my salvation.” Before anything else, he recognizes God has already delivered him and then he can proceed to wrestle with his own agony. He attributes his troubles to the power and acts of God:
“You have put me in the lowest pit” (v. 6).
“Your wrath lies heavily on me” (v. 7).
“Your terrors have destroyed me” (v. 16).
By doing this, he acknowledges his own sin and wrestles with the righteous wrath and justice of God. He feels alone and weak, but his greatest despair is in verse 14 when he feels God has left him. “Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” The greatest consequence of our own sin and sorrows is that God feels far from us in them. This psalm isn’t a plea to change his circumstance, but just to be near to the presence of God again.
Doubt doesn’t disqualify or distance us from God, but it’s an opportunity to lean in and seek His face above all else. Our prayer, along with the psalmist, is to be near to God and to trust that He is constant when our situation is not.
Questions
- What is your reaction when trials come? Is it anger, confusion, sorrow?
- Reflect on a time that God has felt far from you. What was happening? What was your response?
- What can you do to seek God in the midst of trials?
A Quote
“There is nothing that so quickly makes the bell ring in heaven as the touch of a troubled hand.”
– F.B. Meyer
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6 thoughts on “Psalms of Trust: Psalm 88”
A time when God felt far from me was the death of my mother. She was a treasure of invaluable worth as she intentionally pointed others to Jesus by her words and deeds. Who I am today, I owe a debt of gratitude to her. Grief paralyzed and strangled me in a vice-like grip for weeks. Like Heman, I felt the darkness of losing my loved one (v18). I felt trapped by the emotions of anger and despair. Even now it’s hard to put into words the anguish I experienced. Ever so slowly and step-by-step my heart accepted the truth implanted in my heart of God’s goodness, faithfulness, and unfailing love. The sting of death was great, his love was greater.
My heart hurt for you as I read this sister. It is a wound that will never quite heal. You cling to the hope that is in Jesus and that is evident in the way you live your life.
Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away,”
I love you; Ella and I am so grateful that I am privileged to walk this journey with you.
Thank you, friend!
Deep, dark, despair. We all have some of this ongoing. This life is not easy BUT GOD is the only way. God wants all of YOU. He doesnt just want a few minutes of a day or every so often. He wants ALL of YOU!! This guy acknowledge God first and then went through his sorrows. I keep thinking about Jesus waiting for the death He knew was coming. I would think He might be saying this Psalm in His head, heart. BUT GOD gave Him comfort in His heart and mind to know that what He was going to endure was about the greater good. We on the other hand, out problems are usually linked in some way or another to a broken relationship with God Himself. This psalm therefore forces a man to face His Creator and his relationship with Him. We should never stop praying and crying out to God. While we have breath, let us praise the Lord! (Psalm 146:2; 150:6)
God with every breath I take I want it to be worship and praise to You for the rest of my days and breaths. God thank You that You hear when I cry in misery or in joy. Thank You for hearing all my cries. God thank You for showing me that it is ok to not be in a constant state of joy and happiness. Thank You for loving me in all situations. God thank You today for love, peace, joy, happiness, self control, patience and thankfulness asa I go through the minutes of this day. God in all minutes help me to be in that continual states of pray with You. I give You glory and honor for the minutes of today in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have experienced in my deepest despair that I Jesus was right there with me, and I could not have pulled myself out of the muck without Him. In those debilitating times He has covered me when I could not go on, could not take another breath. Jesus provides the Living Water that sustains me. ” Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” John 15:13 I have a friend in Jesus! Amen!!
18 “darkness is my closest friend.”
Such despair. So saddening to think of darkness as a “friend”.
I wonder if Simon and Garfunkel got their “Sounds of Silence” lyric “hello darkness, my old friend” from this Psalm.