Reading Psalm 88

O LORD, God of my salvation;

I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;

incline your ear to my cry!

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.

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?

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.

This is a Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. This man was, I think, very wise, for he is mentioned in 1 Kings 4:31, where it talks about Solomon being wiser than this list of men including Heman. (I don't think he would have been mentioned had he been something of an ignoramus.)

So, this wise man wrote Psalm 88, which many consider to be a hopeless Psalm. All his wisdom availed him nothing when the rubber hit the road, eh? ...I don't really see it that way; indeed, it does end on a negative note, and there is no blatant hope or joy to be seen. It is a rather dark lament. Some believe that Heman was afflicted with leprosy or some other disease that cut him off from his people. The Psalm does not say specifically what was being suffered.

However, there are a few things that hit me whenever I read this Psalm.

The writer recognizes who God is. He is aware that God is the God of salvation. He knows that God hears prayer. He admits that God is sovereign, even over evil; like Job, the writer recognizes that God is not surprised by events, but rather is moving throughout them.

He turns to God in his grief. This is truly amazing to me. This whole Psalm is a prayer to God. Even in his distress, the writer is seeking God's answer, seeking God's relief. His hope is found in God. He is waiting for God's response. He reminds God that he would not be able to tell of His majesty if he were dead. He reminds the LORD that he is crying out to Him. He asks questions, though he is grieved. He continually turns to God in his distress. He calls upon him "every day". His hope rests with God and God alone.

Do we do that? In our grief and struggle, do we remember who God is, and turn to Him? Do we express our grief to God, or cry out to Him night and day while we are going through adverse circumstances? I admit that sometimes the problem or the trial seems so big that I cannot see anything else. My vision is clouded by the trial I am undergoing. That's usually because I've picked up the trial in my hands and pressed it against my eyeballs. "I can't see you, God!" I cry, and if I had listening ears I would hear God's answer: "Hold the trial in perspective." It seems a whole lot smaller when I do that. Strange.

I think the Psalmist, though he did not finish his Psalm with comfort, was nonetheless comforted as he poured out his heart before the God of his salvation. I think he reminded himself that even if all his companions had shunned him, he had one Friend left - the one to whom he was revealing all his troubles.

The reason I think that is because I have done the same sort of thing. I have prayed to God in anguish, and finished in anguish, but there has always been stubborn joy and resolute faith being smothered but not quenched beneath the darkness. Whenever I go through something terrible, I still know that God is with me, that He has never left me, and never will. I know that He is always listening, and I know that He is working in the terrible events. Even if I sit in ashes and scrape my sores with a piece of broken pottery, I know that God is God, and I know that ultimately, if I lose everything and gain only Christ, that is more than enough.

So Psalm 88 is not a hopeless Psalm to me. It is one of the Psalms that brings me the most hope, because it reminds me that other believers experience the same anguish I do - and ultimately it points to Christ, Who suffered on my behalf and endured the punishment I ought to have endured. He knows my sufferings; He has shared in them. My hope is in Him.

And I am comforted.