THE PSALMS – A JOURNEY IN WORSHIP AND FAITH - November 7, 2014 - Day 88 - Psalm 88

Most of us will pass through seasons of life when nothing makes sense. Even as Christians there are times when it seems God has left us to wallow in sorrow. Our grief looks as if it can only end in death. Psalm 88 is a picture of those times. It is universally known as the saddest psalm of all.

Psalm 88:1-7
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. Selah

There are many Old Testament characters who could have written such a Psalm. Joseph was literally cast into a pit by his own brothers and left to die. Later he was cast into a cell accused of a sexual crime he did not commit. Certainly Job had plenty of reason to pen such a psalm. He lost everything. Yet he had done nothing to deserve it. Maybe that is your current situation. You are suffering at the hands of a false accusation.

Psalm 88:8-9
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.

This psalm could have come from any of those who suffered with leprosy. Some of you are suffering with terrible illnesses.

Psalm 88:10-12
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?

Personally I suffer with the disease of depression. Like the psalmist I sometimes just feel alone and as if there is no end short of death. Many of you are dealing with this too. It doesn’t even make sense.

Psalm 88:13-14
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?

Most of us don’t like to talk about it but sin can bring on these things. Unconfessed sin will put separation between us and God. Not always is it your sin but even the sin of others can affect us as well. We live in a fallen world.

Psalm 88:15-17
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.

But no matter why the psalmist is afflicted, the affliction is still terrible and brings him to a feeling of utter desolation.

Psalm 88:18
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

This psalm does not provide the answer. It simply presents the scenario. But we cannot read the Bible by isolating one verse or chapter or even one book. The Holy Spirit meant it to be read from beginning to end. Then it makes sense and then your theology will be correct.

The good news is that unlike the psalmist, who did not have a New Testament to read, we know there is a sure hope, an anchor for our souls; Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Even death does not offer hopelessness to the Christian.

1 Thessalonians 4:13
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

Most of us will never suffer to the extent of Job. Yet here is what Job said.

Job 19:25-26
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,

Joseph after facing so much could declare this truth.

Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Today you may be facing things that quite simply have no good answer as to why they are happening. Maybe you could write a psalm like this one. But stay the course and continue to cry out to God. Lift your hands up to Him daily. Jesus knows what you are going through. He could have written this psalm as cried out in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. He could have written this psalm as He watched his disciple Judas betray Him. He could have written this psalm as He was scourged and whipped. He could have written this psalm as He hung on the cross suffering the penalty of complete separation from His Father that you and I deserved.

But because Jesus suffered more than any of us can grasp, we, like Job, can say in our affliction, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.