Psalms 88:1-18: a reflection

1LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you. 2Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry. 3For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol. 4I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help, 5set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand. 6You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. 7Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah. 8You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape. 9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, LORD. I have spread out my hands to you. 10Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah. 11Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction? 12Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13But to you, LORD, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. 14LORD, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? 15I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. 16Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. 17They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me. 18You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.

This is among the darkest of the psalms, an unrelieved cry from the depths of distress; and yet, even here, the one who prays keeps crying out to God, day and night, refusing to let go of him. LORD, the God of my salvation, the psalm begins, I have cried day and night before you. Let my prayer enter into your presence. The psalmist is in the depths: his soul full of troubles, his life near despair, feeling forgotten and cut off, his closest friends taken from him. Unlike most psalms, this one finds no relief by its end, no turn to joy or deliverance; the darkness remains. And yet, through it all, the one thing the psalmist does not stop doing is crying out to God: I have called on you daily; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Even in unrelieved darkness, he keeps praying. This shows keeping on crying out to God even in the darkest, most unrelieved distress. Even in the darkest distress, keep crying out to God. This honest prayer from the depths is in Scripture, and is heard. Faith can cling to God even when it feels no comfort. You may keep calling on God even when there is no relief in sight.

Notice what this psalm does and does not do. It does not do what we might expect a psalm to do: it does not, by its end, find relief, turn to joy, or arrive at deliverance. The distress remains unrelieved; the psalm ends in darkness, with the psalmist still afflicted and feeling forsaken. In this it is unusual, and honest about the reality that sometimes distress does not lift, and darkness does not break, as quickly as we long for. But notice what the psalmist does do, all through this darkness: he keeps crying out to God. He calls on God day and night; his prayer comes before God in the morning; he spreads out his hands to God even from the depths. Even when he feels no comfort, no answer, no relief, he does not stop praying, does not turn away from God, but keeps calling on him. This holds a real comfort for those in deep and unrelieved distress. There are times, for some, when the darkness does not lift, when distress goes on and on, when there seems no relief and God himself seems far. In such times, we may feel that our prayers accomplish nothing, that there is no point in continuing to cry out. But this psalm, given a place in Scripture, shows that such raw, unrelieved prayer from the depths is heard by God and is a true prayer of faith. Faith is not only in the psalms that end in joy; it is here too, in the one who keeps crying out to God even in the dark, even feeling no comfort. To keep calling on God from the depths, even when there is no relief in sight, is itself an act of faith, and it is heard. We do well, in the darkest and most unrelieved distress, to keep crying out to God, as this psalm does, trusting that even this prayer is heard. In the darkest distress, keep crying out to God, even when there is no relief in sight. This honest prayer from the depths is heard by God. Faith clings to God even when it feels no comfort. You are not alone if the darkness does not lift; keep calling on God.

That is worth taking to heart gently, for even in the darkest, most unrelieved distress, we can keep crying out to God, and this honest prayer is heard, as the psalmist kept calling on God from the depths. In deep darkness we can feel our prayers are pointless; but this psalm, unrelieved to its end, keeps crying out to God, and is in Scripture as a true prayer of faith. Keep calling. When the darkness does not lift and distress goes on, do not stop crying out to God; keep calling on him from the depths, for even this prayer is heard, and to keep praying in the dark is itself faith. In the darkest and most unrelieved distress, keep crying out to God even when there is no relief in sight, trusting that this honest prayer from the depths is heard, as this psalm, among the darkest of the psalms, is an unrelieved cry from the depths of distress in which the one who prays keeps crying out to God day and night and refuses to let go of him, beginning LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you; for the psalmist is in the depths, his soul full of troubles and his life near despair, feeling forgotten and cut off, and unlike most psalms this one finds no relief by its end and the darkness remains, yet through it all the one thing the psalmist does not stop doing is crying out to God, calling on him daily and bringing his prayer before him in the morning, so that even in unrelieved darkness he keeps praying, which holds a real comfort for those in deep and unrelieved distress, since there are times when the darkness does not lift and distress goes on and there seems no relief and God himself seems far, and in such times we may feel our prayers accomplish nothing, but this psalm given a place in Scripture shows that such raw, unrelieved prayer from the depths is heard by God and is a true prayer of faith, faith being not only in the psalms that end in joy but here too in the one who keeps crying out to God even in the dark and feeling no comfort, so that to keep calling on God from the depths even when there is no relief in sight is itself an act of faith and is heard, and we do well in the darkest distress to keep crying out to God.

Lord, this is among the darkest of the psalms, an unrelieved cry from the depths of distress; and yet, even here, the one who prays keeps crying out to you, day and night, refusing to let go of you. LORD, the God of my salvation, the psalm begins, I have cried day and night before you. Let my prayer enter into your presence. The psalmist is in the depths: his soul full of troubles, his life near despair, feeling forgotten and cut off, his closest friends taken from him. Unlike most psalms, this one finds no relief by its end, no turn to joy or deliverance; the darkness remains. And yet, through it all, the one thing the psalmist does not stop doing is crying out to you: I have called on you daily; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Even in unrelieved darkness, he keeps praying. Show me what this psalm does and does not do. It does not, by its end, find relief, turn to joy, or arrive at deliverance. The distress remains unrelieved; the psalm ends in darkness, with the psalmist still afflicted and feeling forsaken. In this it is honest about the reality that sometimes distress does not lift, and darkness does not break, as quickly as I long for. But show me what the psalmist does do, all through this darkness: he keeps crying out to you. He calls on you day and night; his prayer comes before you in the morning; he spreads out his hands to you even from the depths. Even when he feels no comfort, no answer, no relief, he does not stop praying, does not turn away from you, but keeps calling on you. This holds a real comfort for those in deep and unrelieved distress. There are times when the darkness does not lift, when distress goes on and on, when there seems no relief and you yourself seem far. In such times, I may feel that my prayers accomplish nothing. But this psalm, given a place in your word, shows that such raw, unrelieved prayer from the depths is heard by you and is a true prayer of faith. To keep calling on you from the depths, even when there is no relief in sight, is itself an act of faith, and it is heard. Take that to my heart gently. When the darkness does not lift and distress goes on, keep me from stopping my cry to you; help me keep calling on you, Lord, from the depths, even when I feel no comfort, trusting that even this honest prayer is heard, and that to keep praying in the dark is itself faith, and that I am not alone if the darkness does not yet lift.