Read
(A song and a psalm by the clan of Korah for the music leader. To the tune “Mahalath Leannoth.” A special psalm by Heman the Ezrahite.)
A Prayer When You
1You keep me safe, Lord God.
So when I pray at night,
2please listen carefully
to each of my concerns.
3I am deeply troubled
and close to death;
4I am as good as dead
and completely helpless.
5I am no better off
than those in the grave,
those you have forgotten
and no longer help.
6You have put me in the deepest
and darkest grave;
7your anger rolls over me
like ocean waves.
8You have made my friends turn
in horror from me.
I am a prisoner
who cannot escape,
9and I am almost blind
because of my sorrow.
Each day I lift my hands
in prayer to you, Lord.
10Do you work miracles
for the dead?
Do they stand up
and praise you?
11Are your love and loyalty
announced in the world
of the dead?
12Do they know of your miracles
or your saving power
in the dark world below
where all is forgotten?
13Each morning I pray
to you, Lord.
14Why do you reject me?
Why do you turn from me?
15Ever since I was a child,
I have been sick
and close to death.
You have terrified me
and made me helpless.
16Your anger is like a flood!
And I am shattered
by your furious attacks
17that strike each day
and from every side.
18My friends and neighbors
have turned against me
because of you,
and now darkness
is my only companion.
Reflect
Psalm 88 may be the darkest of all the lament psalms. While most laments end with a note of praise, Psalm 88 ends with the plaintive statement that “darkness is my only companion” (v 18). The psalmist tells us that he has been sick and near death since he was a child (v 15). He has been abandoned by his friends and relatives (v 18). His sufferings come close to that of Job! Like Job he keeps praying to God to help him, but still the psalmist hasn’t heard back from God. God seems deaf to his cries. Even so, he does not turn away from God, but continues his efforts to get God to rescue him from his difficult predicament. In this, he is a model of persistent prayer. Even when it does not appear to us that God hears our prayer after a very long time, we should never give up, but keep asking him to help us. We don’t know whether God ever did choose to answer this prayer. He may not have healed him. But God does not get upset with us as long as we keep reaching out to him. This is an important point because some Christians wrongly believe that we should never complain to God, but we should just bear our struggles stoically until the end.
We have an advantage over the psalmist. We live after the coming of Jesus and, in the light of the New Testament we have a fuller understanding of the afterlife than the psalmist. He felt that death was the end (vv. 10-12). What justice could there be if a godly person suffered in this life and if death was the end of the story. We know that we might suffer to the bitter end, but that God will welcome us into that celestial city, the New Jerusalem, a metaphor for heaven (Rev. 21-22), where we will live in God’s presence forever.
Respond
Oh Lord, as the psalmist tells, us you are the God who saves (v 1, NIV), but sometimes in your sovereign wisdom you chose to let us suffer. We do pray that you will bring us out of our pain, but we also ask that you give us the faith that we need to trust you even when we do experience difficulties.
Tremper Longman III
Tremper Longman III (BA Ohio Wesleyan University; MDiv Westminster Theological Seminary; MPhil and PhD Yale University) is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College and author of over thirty books. His most recent books are Psalms (Tyndale Old Testament Commentary; InterVarsity, 2014) and Genesis (Story of God Bible Commentary; Zondervan, 2016). He is married to Alice and has three sons and four granddaughters. For fun, he plays squash. Publications: A Biblical History of Israel, 2nd edition, with I. Provan and V. P. Long; Westminster John Knox, 2015. Genesis. Story of God Commentary Series; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016