Psalm 88:1-18 NKJV
88 O Lord, God of my salvation,
I have cried out day and night before You.
2 Let my prayer come before You;
Incline Your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of troubles,
And my life draws near to the grave.
4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit;
I am like a man who has no strength,
5 Adrift among the dead,
Like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom You remember no more,
And who are cut off from Your hand.
6 You have laid me in the lowest pit,
In darkness, in the depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah
8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me;
You have made me an abomination to them;
I am shut up, and I cannot get out;
9 My eye wastes away because of affliction.
Lord, I have called daily upon You;
I have stretched out my hands to You.
10 Will You work wonders for the dead?
Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah
11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?
Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark?
And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But to You I have cried out, O Lord,
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
14 Lord, why do You cast off my soul?
Why do You hide Your face from me?
15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth;
I suffer Your terrors;
I am distraught.
16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me;
Your terrors have cut me off.
17 They came around me all day long like water;
They engulfed me altogether.
18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me,
And my acquaintances into darkness.
The Christian life is a life of joy and peace. We revel in the love God has for us, and in the knowledge of His fatherly wisdom and care. We’ve seen His love on display in giving His Son into death for our sins. We are confident that all things must work together for good to those who love God. But that doesn’t mean that we always experience joy or peace, or that the Christian never experiences moments of loneliness, sadness, and near despair. Psalm 88 is a comforting example of such experiences in the life of a believer—comforting, because it’s real. To portray the Christian life as always happy, never sad, never desperate, is to deceive people. The real Christian life includes the themes expressed in Psalm 88.
When you’re suffering, when it seems as if you have no friends, when the weight of your troubles seems unbearable, and the Lord appears deaf to your cries, turn to Psalm 88 and pray it. And let it remind you that the despondency you’re feeling is giving you just the smallest taste of what the Lord Jesus Himself was feeling most acutely from the evening of Maundy Thursday until the “It is finished!” of Good Friday. Because, though His words on Good Friday were few, Christ spoke of it ahead of time through the prophets, including the author of this Psalm.
Consider especially these verses: “Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” These seem to be rhetorical questions, to which the answer is, “No, You will not work wonders for the dead. They will not arise and praise You, nor will Your faithfulness be declared in hell. Therefore, O Lord, You must help me before I die!” But in the death and resurrection of Christ, and even in His descent into hell to declare the Lord’s faithfulness there, we see the beginning of a different answer: “No trouble, not even death, cannot separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Therefore, even in your darkest days, turn to the Lord in hope, and He will show you the ray of light you need to see. Let us pray: O Lord, You alone can help me. Preserve me in the darkness and show me again the light of life! Amen.