Psalm 88

(Guest Post from Austin Wynn)

Psalm 88

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, 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. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah 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; my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
(Psa 88:1-18)

First focus of the psalm is the Lord. First attribute about the Lord that is brought to mind is His saving power. The psalmist has learned that God is a God who saves simply from experience. He has seen the Lord save him out of all his distresses and so it is only right to describe Him as the God of his salvation. This must be a particular case whereby the psalmist needed the saving hand of God to intervene in his life. It ought to be the practice of every Christian to call upon the Lord when they are encountering trials and tribulations and even more accurate would be to acknowledge the Lord as the true hope for your soul as that particular request is lifted. One who is experiencing sinful habits can call on the Lord saying, “Oh Lord, perfect, sinless, and just God”. One who is enduring a time of suffering can call on the Lord saying, “Oh Lord, God who hears the cry of your servant’s heart”. One experiencing a time of great rejoicing can call on the Lord saying, “Oh Lord, Giver of all good things”. Christians must learn to live all of life and pray every prayer in light of God’s presence in it. The psalmist cries out more than just once. There is a pattern of prayer that he intentionally develops because his prayer is urgent and the Lord is listening. The psalmist does not give up when no sign of the prayer being answered is given. He makes it his custom to pour out his requests all the time so as to be in close communion with the Father about his every need always. The psalmist fully expresses his desire to the Lord to be heard by Him. The psalmist does not seek the Lord’s face this fervently because the Lord is busy doing other things and needs to be aroused to his aide, but rather he seeks the Lord constantly because He knows the Lord loves when His servant lifts an empty hand and shows desperate dependence. The dependence of God’s people upon Him greatly exalts His all-sufficiency. The psalmist holds nothing back from the Lord, but instead thoroughly describes his need for God’s saving power. The next step in the psalmist’s prayer is quite informative of his theology. He declares that all the distresses in his life are ultimately from the hand of the very God to whom he seeks refuge. The rest of the psalm is one that many Christians do not recall reading because they do not see it fitting into their theology. The psalmist is not about painting the faith-filled life out to be some bed of roses, but is very clear in his expression of God’s action in his life. Notice that the psalmist is in no way blaming God or accusing God, but he is rather, like a child who understands their father knows what he is doing, expressing his trust in the Lord’s guidance by praying. The psalmist does not end joyfully because life usually does not seem to get better. The psalmist leaves the ending off because this is meant to be a prayer to be prayed to God in the midst of great trial in life and one in which the Lord will come to the aide of each of us on that Day. This is a prayer that sums up the life of a Christian on the earth….we must pour our hearts out before the Lord who will save us from every persecution we endure for the glory of His name.