Psalm 88: In Darkness… Light

​Key Verse
O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you.
 
Meditation
God’s Word gives language to engage the difficulty and darkness of our world. Confidence in God’s covenant care is manifest in taking questions and frustrations to God in prayer.
 
Today’s reading is the darkest psalm in the psalter, the word “darkness” repeated in every stanza and having the last word (vv. 6, 12, 18). Like guiding stars in the night, two lights dot the psalm.  First, “O Lord…”, the repeated covenant name for God (vv. 2, 13, 14), reflects the psalmist’s anchoring in God’s steadfast love. Second, God is the “God of my salvation” (v. 2), a title reflecting faith in God and His promises. Darkness is not the end of the story. God is working everything for His glory.
 
Unlike Job, the psalm does not question God’s goodness. When “darkness has become my only companion” (18) the one secure in God’s covenant care will pray constantly (v. 1), daily (v. 9b), and one more time (v. 13) knowing God will redeem and restore in His time.
 
This Psalm gives lyrics to join creation in longing for redemption (Romans 8:18-23). Though the darkness slays us, God’s people must hope in Him (Job 13:15). When we are “afflicted in every way,” we are “not driven to despair” (2 Corinthians 4:8) because Christians know Jesus entered into darkness for us (Mark 15:33) and emerged victorious, now enthroned and making all things new (Revelation 21:6).  Satan wants to discourage faith, bending us toward breaking (Job 1:9). We know God is working good from what the enemy intends for evil (Genesis 50:20), light overcomes darkness.
 
 
Today’s Reading
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 For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am a man who has no strength,
5 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.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
 
8 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;
9     my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
    I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah

11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness,
    or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But I, O Lord, cry to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
    Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
    I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
    your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
    they close in on me together.
18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
    my companions have become darkness.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you in today’s psalm, especially the darkness driving the lyrics?
 
-The Psalm is anchored in faith, trusting the covenant love of God and His promise to save His people- ultimately manifest in the person and work of Jesus. Does the grounding of this prayer give you boldness to pray?
 
-How can you be bolder in your prayers, engaging the tough questions of life, to trust the person and promises of God more? Be specific.
 
Key Verse
O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you.