Psalm 88 Psalm 88

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Fighting for Joy – Part 1 Psalm 88

Psalm 88 1

O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! 3

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For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

Introduction

“Hell came to pay me a visit.” “A lonely, private hell.” “I feel as though I died a few weeks ago and my body hasn’t found out yet.” “My bones waste away thought my groaning all day long.” “That is all I want in life: for this pain to seem purposeful.” “There was no control on my mind – thoughts ravaged me, brutally harsh ideas, thoroughly crushed ideals, incomprehensible feelings.” You don’t feel as though you know much. “The only thing you know is that you are guilty, shameful, and worthless. It is not that you have made mistakes in your life or sinned or reaped futility. It is that you ARE a mistake; you ARE sin; you ARE futility.” “You are confident that everyone would be better off without you.” These thoughts, among many others, only reveal a small portion of what is means to feel and be depressed. I gathered these from a book by Edward T. Welch. Exposition I.

The psalmist begs the Lord to hear him. (Vss. 1-2)

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The psalmist trusts the Lord to hear him. (Vss. 3-18)

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Conclusion – There is vulnerability revealed in this psalm that we must see and consider. The psalmist trusts the LORD with his emotions and concerns.

Conclusion

We live in a pretentious society. Genuine, transparent speech is rare. In times like these, we must learn how to express our feelings to the One who not only cares but who is able to meet us in our need and deliver us. We must learn the language of lament with hope. When we are dealing with the Lord, we do not have to know the answer in order to implicitly ask the question. Psalm 88 does not end with a resolution. It ends with psalmist submissively waiting “in darkness” for the Lord to answer. When we feel like Psalm 88, we need to learn to pray like Psalm 88. It’s time for us to be reverently and fearfully honest with God about our emotions. But how can this be? How could we ever honestly bear our hearts to God? How can we have any confidence to share our deepest and darkest struggles with Him? Because Jesus Christ died and rose again, we, even in our times of darkness, when it seems as though “hell itself” is paying us a visit, we can have confidence that God hears our laments. Romans 8:34 say, “Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.”