Have you ever had a time when people were talking about how great it is to know the Lord and how comforting it is, and you just thought, “No way. I don’t feel that at all.”
When you are in great suffering, to hear people talk about hope and how good the Lord has been can feel hollow and make you feel even more isolated. Who are these people, you think, who have no real struggles?
That’s one thing I love about the Psalms. They are made for people with struggles. They contain great declarations of faith, but those declarations are often made after deep struggles with the hard realities of their situation.
On the other hand, sometimes you just can’t see the light. You struggle. You pray. You process. And you still can’t see the light. Psalm 88 tells us of one such person.
Psalm 88 begins like many other psalms. “Lord, you are the God who saves me; day and night I cry out to you” (Psalm 88:1). However, as the Psalm develops, he says, “I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death” (v. 3). It never moves to a high point from there. It simply concludes. “You have taken from me friend and neighbor—darkness is my closest friend” (Ps. 88). And that’s the end.
It’s rather remarkable that there is a song like this in the Bible. It’s not really what a person might expect. I love our worship songs and hymns, but you wouldn’t guess that this would be one of the songs in the Bible based on what we sing in church. It’s a really dark psalms that speaks of a person who is overwhelmed and struggling with the toughest things in life.
So, what are we to do with this “dark” psalm?
First, we should remember that people feel this way sometimes. We should remember that not everyone can easily see the light. We should be patient with them and allow them to process their darkness without being “miserable comforters,” as Job called his friends.
Second, you may feel that way right now. This is a Psalm for you. You can pray this psalm or something like it and present your feelings exactly as you are to God. Even if your feelings aren’t this strong now, it shows you that you can bring your struggles to God. Even if they aren’t that strong to day, it’s good to think of the future and how you may use this psalm later.
Finally, they point us to the suffering of Christ. The psalms tell us of ourselves, and they also tell us of Christ. Christ said while he was on earth, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Ps. 26:38). When we are struggling, we are dealing with a God who has experienced what it means to have “sorrow to the point of death.” That’s why the author of Hebrews tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:15–16).
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