Psalm 88:1-18 A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. 1 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. (ESV)
The powerful, descriptive phrase “dark night of the soul” is not much used today, but it was in the Middle Ages, where it was found in the writings of the European mystics. It is a translation of the title of a book by the Spanish monk St. John of the Cross known in English as The Ascent of Mount Carmel (1578–1580). What is the dark night of the soul? It is a state of intense spiritual anguish in which the struggling, despairing believer feels he is abandoned by God. This is what Psalm 88 describes. It is not unlike other psalms in which the writers complain of their wretched circumstances and lament their misery. But these others all move toward some state of resolution, maturing faith, or hope by the end of the psalm. This is not the case with Psalm 88. It begins with God, but it ends with the words “darkness is my closest friend,” and there seems to be no hope anywhere. (Boice, J. M. (2005). Psalms 42–106: An Expositional Commentary (pp. 715–716). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.)
In some Christian groups a false piety has given people the impression that believers should never find themselves in such a predicament and no spiritual songs are sung to suggest an experience of this nature. It is reassuring to realise that God’s word contains prayers that depict the kind of dark experiences through which Christians are sometimes led and confronts them in an open and honest way. It is shocking to many readers, who can imagine such words coming only from an unbeliever. But God’s children too may find themselves temporarily overcome by despair when devastating disaster strikes them. ( Brug, J. F. (1989). Psalms 73–150 (2nd ed., p. 68). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.)
Martin Luther, the great Protestant Reformer, had many such dark periods in his life in which he spoke of ‘the hiddenness of God’. Christian hymn-writers, following the lead of our psalmist, have written similarly. In the second verse of Edward Mote’s, My hope is built on nothing less, we sing: When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil. Psalm 88 encourages us to ‘cling tenaciously to God in the dark’ as Job did in his sufferings. The psalmist is likened to Isaiah’s description of the person who fears the Lord and obeys yet ‘walks in darkness and has no (apparent) light’. Isaiah urges one in such a situation to ‘trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon God’ (Isaiah 50:10). Like Psalm 87, Psalm 88 in the inspired superscription before the first verse, as a ‘Song’ as well as a ‘Psalm’ belonging to the SONS OF KORAH. Like the heading to Psalm 80, Psalm 88 is “TO THE CHOIRMASTER/CHIEF MUSICIAN” with perhaps a suggestion concerning the tune or instrument—"ACCORDING TO/UPON MAHALATH” (see the heading to Psalm 53). The expression ‘LEANNOTH”, which is unique to this psalm, may be a part of the tune’s name or a separate item about the psalm’s content and associated with a verb meaning ‘to humble’ or ‘to afflict’ (cf. verse 7 ‘afflicted’). It describes the despair which permeates this psalm.( MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 820). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.)
The psalm is also one of the thirteen ‘Contemplation’ or teaching psalms (see Psalm 32) and the only one attributed to “HERMAN THE EZRAHITE”. HERMAN was a famous Kohathite singer belonging to the Levites (1 Chronicles 6:33–38), involved in the prophetic music of the sanctuary along with Asaph and Ethan during David’s kingship (1 Chronicles 15:17, 19; 25:1–7; cf. heading to Psalm 89). In this Psalm, three times Heman calls out to God (verses 1–2, 9b, 13) and in each case it is followed by a lament that speaks only of darkness and death with no relief whatever (verses 3–9a, 10–12, 14–18). This sad song introduces the ‘Selah’ not at two obvious places in the text but perhaps to suggest a pause at points where it was thought the subject matter was particularly harrowing, at the close of verses 7 and 10. Like so many in Book 3, this psalm was placed here to express the feelings of God’s people some time after the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and its temple and carried off the bulk of the population into exile. Lamentations gives expression in poetry to this same darkness felt by the people of God at such a catastrophe. The precise occasion which triggered this remorseful poem is not known.( Smith, J. E. (1996). The wisdom literature and Psalms (p. 360). Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co.)
The Psalmist of Psalm 88 expresses “Prayers that Light Darkness” with prayer as an: 1) Urgent appeal in Affliction (Psalm 88:1–9a), 2) Urgent appeal with No Answers (Psalm 88:9b–12), 3) Urgent appeal under Divine Wrath (Psalm 88:13–18).
“Prayers that Light Darkness are an:
1) Urgent appeal in Affliction (Psalm 88:1–9a)
Psalm 88:1–9a 1 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. ) (ESV)
The psalm opens in verse 1 like many laments by the psalmist telling the “God of (his) salvation”, that in his actions: “I cry out day and night before” Him. He has called out to God continually, urging Him to hear and receive his prayer. In verse 2, he pleads with God to “Let (his) prayer come before (God, that he would) incline (His) ear to (the Psalmist) cry!. (cf. Psalms 77:1–2; 86:1–3). Therefore, no matter how dark the remainder of the psalm, prayer is proof of a lingering hope within his heart. (Courson, J. (2006). Jon Courson’s application commentary: Volume two: Psalms-Malachi (pp. 110–111). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.)
Please turn there now to Luke 18.
The question we wonder with this appeal to God is why such a request would be necessary? Jesus told a parable in Luke 18 to help us understand this question. In, what is known as “the Parable of the Persistent Widow”, Jesus tells us a parable about God to explain how he hears and regards our plea. Like all parables, we hear a story alongside a teaching to help us understand a concept. In this parable, it is presented as a story of contrast and not a story of comparison. Here the unjust Judge is the very opposite of God to help us understand how God hears us and answers the prayers of those He loves. In “the Parable of the Persistent Widow”, Luke says about the teaching of Jesus:
Luke 18:1–8 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (ESV)
• In verse 1, the introduction of the parable serves as the guide to its interpretation—i.e., to pray persistently for justice for God’s people, as the woman did who pleaded with the judge for justice. For the people identified here in verse 7, the Justice to his elect refers primarily to God rescuing his people from suffering and injustice in the world (cf. Luke 1:68–74). To the question: “Will God be patient much longer as he sees his elect suffer?” The implied answer is no. Justice will come to his elect speedily (verse 8), however, that speed is defined from God’s perspective. From a human perspective, of course, justice may seem to be a long time coming. Therefore, God’s people must persist in prayer, as the widow persisted until she received justice (vv. 2–5). Jesus poses a question at the end of the verse, in order to encourage his disciples to constant watchfulness and prayer (cf. vv. 1, 7). When he returns, Jesus will be looking for those who are praying and watching for him (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1994). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.).
Psalm 22:2 reveal God’s sensitivity to these ceaseless cries, for all His apparent indifference’. For the psalmist hope lies in the God of redemption and covenant promises, who has aready been identified as “The God of my salvation” in verse 1 (cf. Psalm 85:4). In all of his suffering and affliction he maintains his confidence in God as the God of his salvation. (McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: Poetry (Psalms 42-89) (electronic ed., Vol. 18, p. 182). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
The Psalmist plight in verse 3, is presented with a view to moving God to show compassion and act to deliver him. Instead of being ‘satisfied’ with the goodness of God’s house (Psalm 65:4), his whole being is ‘full of troubles’ so that he is like one who is at death’s door, his “life draws near to Sheol/the Grave”. This does not necessarily mean that the Psalmist was very ill and about to die. The imagery of dying and the state of the dead is a graphic way of expressing how the psalmist feels and the pressures he is under. It is a death-like situation that he is enduring. In the severity of his situation, he goes to the Lord in prayer, but there is no place for hypocrisy in personal prayer. One of the first steps toward revival is to be completely transparent when we pray and not tell the Lord anything that is not true or that we do not really mean. The Psalmist confessed that he was “full of troubles” and felt like a “living dead man.” He was without strength and felt forsaken by the Lord. Old Testament believers did not have the full light of revelation concerning death and the afterlife, so we must not be shocked at his description of sheol, the world of the dead. The Lord does not forget His people when they die, nor does He cease to care, for “to be absent from the body” means to be “present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6–8) (Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be worshipful (1st ed., p. 284). Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries.)
The imagery in verse 4, is one of death. If a tomb was not available in a rock, dead bodies were buried in a ‘pit’ and this became symbolic of where a person under God’s judgment went after death (cf. Psalm 28:1). The Psalmist feels as if he has become like a ‘man who has no strength. In verse 5 the psalmist likens himself to a dead soldier slain on the battlefield, freed from the one he served (cf. Job 3:19), no longer remembered (cf. Jeremiah 11:19) and without God’s protection and care, hence, “like one cut off from (God’s) hand”. (cf. Ezra 7:9). He does not deny God’s remembrance and care but speaks phenomenally, that is, the way it appears to people. Since little is known about the state of the dead, they are as if forgotten by God. Because the OT has a high view of life, death is unnatural (cf. vv. 10–12)(VanGemeren, W. A. (1991). Psalms. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, p. 566). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.).
The ‘pit’ features again in verse 6 and this time the Psalmist considers that it is God in his wrath who has “put/brought” him to what feels like the “depths/lowest parts” of the pit, pitch dark in the very depths of the “grave/Sheol” (cf. Psalms 63:9; 86:13; Ezekiel 26:20). This does not mean that prayer and praise of a personal kind are impossible; the Psalm itself is a prayer; but that national worship in the ritual of the temple can no longer be carried on. The dead could not render that worship in the “grave/Sheol”. How can they rise up in resurrection so that they may do it? This poet longs for a speedy restoration, because he seems to imply a negative answer to his question, and to suggest that if the nation really dies, a national resurrection is not to be thought of. And yet this was exactly what later poets learned to be the purpose of their God (Briggs, C. A., & Briggs, E. G. (1906–1907). A critical and exegetical commentary on the book of Psalms (pp. 245–246). New York: C. Scribner’s Sons.)
Like a person drowned by a tidal wave (Psalm 69:2), so God in his wrath has ‘afflicted’ the Psalmist in verse 7 picking up the word Leannoth (‘affliction’) in the heading. For the Christian, however, there is light in the darkness. The kingdom has come and is coming. Jesus promises us His presence up to and through death. His Spirit abides with us, and we now have the assurance that when we repent, God’s wrath is lifted from us and placed upon our Savior. (Williams, D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1989). Psalms 73–150 (Vol. 14, pp. 125–126). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
The Psalmist also believes it is God who has distanced him from his intimate friends (verse 8) which is often seen as aggravating the situation (Psalms 31:11; 38:11; 69:8). “You have caused my companion to shun me, you have made me a horror to them”. Like Job and the Suffering Servant he is abhorred and despised by them (Job 19:13; 30:9–10; Isaiah 53:3). Our Lord’s suffering on earth was such that his own disciples forsook him (cf. Luke 23:49). The Psalmist feels shut in and unable to find a way out of his predicament. In the beginning of verse 9, His “eye grows dim/wastes away” with “sorrow/grief” (cf. Psalms 6:7; 31:9) on account of his ‘affliction’. The distress arises because of his being forsaken by man and by God. Therefore, he is full of “sorrow/grief” (v. 9a; cf. 38:10).( VanGemeren, W. A. (1991). Psalms. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, p. 567). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
Hymn: The psalmist traces his troubles back to God himself, accusing him of separating him from all his companions and loved ones. The only friend he has is darkness itself, with the word ‘darkness’ being the final word. Yet we must balance this conclusion with the opening of the psalm. Isolated from human help, he is still able to call God his saviour. That is where his true hope lies. In days when there is no light the believer has to walk, trusting in his God (Isa. 50:10), and say as Edward Mote put it in his hymn: “ When darkness seems to veil His face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil. His oath, His covenant, and blood, Support me in the whelming flood; When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay”. (Edward Mote 1797–1874) (Harman, A. (2011). Psalms: A Mentor Commentary (Vol. 1–2, p. 654). Ross-shire, Great Britain: Mentor.)
“Prayers that Light Darkness can be an:
2) Urgent appeal with No Answers (Psalm 88:9b–12)
Psalm 88:9b-12 (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? (ESV)
Again, here the Psalmist reminds God of how “every day” he has continually called out to him and ‘spread out’ (not ‘stretched out’ as in Psalm 44:20) his empty hands to Yahweh (‘LORD’ in his desperate need. Beginning now in verse 10, he then wrestles with God in prayer by means of a series of rhetorical questions concerning death. Do they imply a negative or positive reply? In one sense the questions imply the answer ‘no’. The psalmist speaks of what God does in this present life. It is here in this world that God shows His ‘wonders’ as he did at the time of the exodus (verses 10 and 12; cf. Psalm 77:11). The Psalmist is trying to reconcile his predicament with God’s ‘steadfast love/loving-kindness’), his ‘faithfulness’ (verse 11) and his ‘righteousness’ as He acts to put things right (verse 12), (cf. Exodus 34:6). Death ends all that gracious divine saving activity in the same way as a person whose body lies dead in a tomb cannot praise God (cf. Psalms 6:5; 30:9). From the Psalmist experience therefore, we can discover instructions to follow when life falls apart and our prayers seemingly are not answered.( Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be worshipful (1st ed., p. 283). Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries.)
Death, the last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), is described using a variety of vivid images: a. In the second half of verse 10 the “departed” is a poetic equivalent for the more regular word for the dead that appears in the first half of verse 10 (cf. Proverbs 2:18; Isaiah 26:14, 19). The parallel expression to the usual word for ‘grave’ in verse 11 is ‘Abaddon/destruction’ (cf. Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11), a term that surfaces in John’s vision as the name of the angel of the bottomless pit—‘Abaddon’ (Revelation 9:11). The word expresses the point that the body perishes or decays in the grave. The grave or tomb is a place that is in “the darkness” (verse 12; cf. verse 6), the very opposite of walking ‘in the light of the living’ (Psalm 56:13). Finally, death is also described as ‘the land of forgetfulness’ (verse 12; cf. verse 5). Not only are the dead soon forgotten (Psalms 6:5; 31:12) they also know nothing of this world (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10). The Psalmist is asking for relief from his afflictions, since such relief will serve as a sign of God’s love and will demonstrate the faithfulness of His promises. Such relief will also strengthen the Psalmist and others, and it will restore the Psalmist’s ability to serve God on this earth. (Brug, J. F. (1989). Psalms 73–150 (2nd ed., p. 69). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.)
But these rhetorical questions can also imply an affirmative answer. The psalmist is in a death-like situation but he is not actually in the grave. He is alive and praying to Israel’s God whose name is the ‘LORD’ (Yahweh/Jehovah, verse 9), who shows ‘steadfast love’, ‘faithfulness’ and ‘righteousness’ toward His people (verses 11–12). He can still do ‘wonders’ (verse 10) in the psalmist’s present circumstances. Indirectly, then, the Psalmist is appealing to God to rescue him and bring him up out of this ‘grave’ situation (verse 11). He knows that God is able to do what seems impossible to humans. There were examples in Old Testament times of God actually raising dead people to life again as happened during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha but these were rare occasions (1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:18–37). But David and the prophets anticipated that God would one day raise dead bodies to life (Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2). For the psalmist, he shows no hope in death; for him, in his current emotional state, it seems like the end (Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ps 88:10). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.).
Please turn to Ephesians 3
When the Apostle Paul considers the majesty of God’s worldwide work of redemption in Christ, he directs his readers and hearers to appeal to this God in prayer for strength and understanding of His power (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2267). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.).
The key to the confidence in prayer is truly knowing to whom we pray to. It helps connect what we need to what He can do. Paul explains this in Ephesians 3:
Ephesians 3:14–21 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)
• God’s present action here in the naming of “every family” (v.15) is a further affirmation of his sovereignty over all creation. We can know of His presence with us (v.16) as the Holy Spirit applies to believers the personal presence and power of God. We can be assured of His love and care for us (v.17) as we reflect (v.18) in the immeasurable dimensions of God’s riches in Christ. Finally, the reason God calls us together corporately as a body of believers (v.21) is to pray together with glorifies God (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2267). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.)
Hymn: Although there may be times in our lives where God seems absent, pleading to Him and focusing back on His promises can help us realize that His apparent absence, is just a problem with our awareness. A situation similar to the one in the psalm may be behind Henry Francis Lyte’s words from the Hymn “Abide with Me”: “Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide; When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me”. (Harman, A. (2011). Psalms: A Mentor Commentary (Vol. 1–2, p. 650). Ross-shire, Great Britain: Mentor.)
Finally, “Prayers that Light Darkness can be an:
3) Urgent appeal under Divine Wrath (Psalm 88:13–18)
Psalm 88:13–18 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. (ESV)
Yet again, in verse 13, the Psalmist refers to his persistent pleadings to the ‘LORD’ (Yahweh/Jehovah) (cf. v.1, 9b) using a different word for ‘cry out’ than the one in verse 1. Here it suggests ‘crying out for help’ (cf. Psalms 5:2; 18:41). The arrival of the morning light is often associated with renewed hope as well as marking the beginning of a new opportunity to resume prayer (cf. Psalms 5:3; 30:5; 59:16). He is not yet a mere shade, an inhabitant of the grave/Sheol; he is in the flesh, upon the earth; he can still cry, and does still cry, to the Lord/Jehovah. There is thus still a faint gleam of hope for him. ( Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). Psalms (Vol. 2, p. 231). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.)
As he continues to wrestle with God his ‘why’ questions (verse 14) become challenges for God to take action. At present, the psalmist knows only rejection, asking God: “why do you cast my soul away?”. (cf. Psalms 43:2; 74:1; 77:7) and divine punishment asking: “Why do you hid your face from me?” (cf. Psalm 13:1). The questioning implies that God can change the situation if He wishes. There is no confession of sin or any recognition that his grievous situation is due to any particular sin as we find in other psalms where God’s wrath is felt. The Psalmist seems to be in the same kind of situation as Job. This psalm shows remarkable parallels to Job, especially in the psalmist’s personal affliction and abandonment. He just cannot understand the reasons for his predicament (Dockery, D. S. (Ed.). (1992). Holman Bible Handbook (p. 343). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.).
Please turn to Job 23
Some of the hardest times in life are reserved for situations where there are unanswered questions for suffering. Although there are situations where we will experience the consequences of our sin, including correction from God, we live in a world of sin where the presence of evil and the consequences of sin by others are experienced by those who have not actually directly committed the offense.
The story of Job is such an illustration for this common predicament. It is only those who have tasted God’s goodness and love who can speak in these terms when they no longer experience the felt presence of God and despair that He is so distant. Job in his suffering comes to God:
Job 23:1–17 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning. 3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! 4 I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. 6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me. 7 There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. 8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; 9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. 10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. 11 My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. 13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. 14 For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. 15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. 16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; 17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face. (ESV)
• Seeing the errors of the recent council of Eliphaz’s who claims to know exactly why Job is suffering, Job instead expresses his longing to be able to come before God directly, because Job trusts that his ways are truly known and would be vindicated by God (23:1–17). In verse 2, Job is implying that after all of the dialogue with his friends they have neither attended to him well nor persuaded him of his guilt. There are some that are so clueless that they actually pile on your distress when you reach out to them. Job’s desire for God in verse 7, and for acquittal anticipates the justification that is found in Christ (Rom. 4:25–5:1; 8:1). The challenge for Job and for us this side of heaven (v.17) even in the darkness of not being able to understand his path or God’s purposes fully, Job is compelled to continue his lament: that he still cries out to God: “yet I am not silenced” (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 904-5). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.).
As the psalmist’s lament draws to a close in Psalm 88:15, he brings together word pictures and themes he has used earlier. His whole life is viewed as an existence “close/near to death”. Through the years he has borne God’s ‘terrors’ (Psalm 55:4–5) and is at a loss to do anything about them (‘helpless/distraught’). He explains his situation in verse 16, as resulting from God’s ‘fierce wrath’ (literally ‘your burnings’) that have ‘swept over’ him like the waves of the sea (Psalm 42:7). God’s ‘terrors’ or ‘dreadful assaults’ have destroyed him. Again, the image of the sea is used in verse 17 (cf. verse 7) as he depicts God’s terrors to surround and “close in on” him like an incoming tide trapping a person on a sand dune. The Psalmist concludes his despair in verse 18, wondering why it seems God has removed ‘loved one and friend’ far from him (cf. verse 8) and as for his ‘acquaintances’ only ‘darkness’ remains. The thought may be similar to Job’s dark despair (Job 17:13–16) before God broke into his situation. Finally, the psalm ends abruptly but appropriately with the word ‘darkness’. The psalm is reminiscent, as we have seen, of Job’s anguish but also of his persistence in prayer as he looked to God to bring light into his dark situation. Like Job, the Psalmist did not curse God, he did not turn his back on God. The sufferings made him more determined to look to God and to call out to him in the darkness. The Psalmist reminds us that life in this present world order does not always have a happy ending. As the Preacher keeps on emphasising (Ecclesiastes 1:2), life for the believer as for the unbeliever, is fleeting and full of frustrating experiences. Believers can suffer severely all their lives with mental, physical and spiritual problems. Fine Christians are struck down with severe illnesses and become completely helpless through the effects of strokes and dementia. The ‘groan’ of creation is the groan of the believer too as we await the new creation and the redemption of the body (Romans 8:18–25). This prayer was incorporated into the Psalter and is thus a prayer for us. Since it does not end in resolution, God’s answer is still open. It is a prayer for the sick, not for the healed. In our darkness, in our anguish we too can pray this psalm. The promise is that God will hear and answer. The resolution lies in His sovereign hand. Moreover, this “incomplete” psalm demands the gospel to complete it. Jesus is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29). It is by His stripes that we are healed (Is. 53:5). (Williams, D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1989). Psalms 73–150 (Vol. 14, p. 131). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
We can appreciate why the Anglican Book of Common Prayer assigned Psalm 88 to be read on Good Friday, for it gives some expression to what the Saviour must have experienced as he hung in pain and anguish on the cross. An eternity of suffering was crammed into those three dark hours as our Lord endured the full force of God’s wrath. While Jesus could speak prophetically both of his death and resurrection on the third day and could endure the cross on account of the joy set before him, that did not mitigate in any way the intense pain and spiritual suffering he bore silently on that lonely tree accursed by God and humans. It is one thing to speak objectively about the sufferings of death and hell it is another actually to experience them. The Son of God in his humanity felt the full force of the darkness and horror of God-forsakenness. In our darkest hour we can find comfort and hope in the God of our salvation. As Thomas Kelly wrote: “We sing the praise of Him who died, Of Him who died upon the cross; The sinner’s hope let men deride, For this we count the world but loss. The cross he bore is life and health, Though shame and death to Him; His people’s hope, His people’s wealth, Their everlasting theme”. (Thomas Kelly) Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord” (Ps. 27:13–14, NASB). The Lord always has the last word, and it will not be “darkness.” We should never doubt in the darkness what God has taught us in the light.( Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be worshipful (1st ed., pp. 285–286). Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries.)
(Format Note: Outline & some base commentary from Eveson, P. (2014–2015). The Book of Psalms: From Suffering to Glory (Vol. 2, pp. 114–119). Welwyn Garden City, UK: EP.)
010 BENEDICTION. And now may He grace you with his presence, So that the weak might say,‘I am strong’, And the poor will say,‘I am rich’, And the feeble will say,‘I am upheld’. In Christ we Pray. AMEN. (cf. Joel 3:10; Isaiah 35:3; 2 Corinthians 6:10)
