James Montgomery Boice says of Psalm 88, “It is good that we have a Psalm like this, but it is also good that we have only one.”
He says this because Psalm 88 is the darkest Psalm in the Bible. While most laments in the Psalms end on a note of praise and thanksgiving, Psalm 88 ends with the words “my companions have become darkness.”
It is good that we have a Psalm like this because sometimes our prayers echo the tone and sentiment of Psalm 88. Sometimes hope seems so elusive and God seems so distant we can’t even begin to form words of praise and thanksgiving. It is with great effort that we cry out to God at all. Sometimes the darkness crowds out the light.
But it is also good that there is only one Psalm like this to remind us that darkness does not get the last word. Psalm 88 gives words to our deepest grief, but we who name Jesus as Lord know that all grief will one day come to an end. That is why there is one, and only one, Psalm that ends on such a dismal note.
For this study, we’re going to look at Psalm 88 from several different perspectives. First, we’re going to sit in the sorrow of the Psalm and empathize with the deep pain the Psalmist is expressing. Then we’re going to go back through and find the glimmers of hope in the Psalm. We’re going to look at the Psalm with resurrection eyes and see how even the most despairing words can point us to our hope in Christ. Then we’re going to consider how Jesus might have sung this Psalm, how this Psalm might be sung as a church, and lastly how I have sung this Psalm during dark times in my life.
Psalm 88, however sorrowful and despairing, is a sacred part of the Word of God and deserves our attention and contemplation.
Counted Among the Dead
At first glance, the first line of Psalm 88 seems to be the only hopeful line in the entire Psalm:
O Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out day and night before you (vs. 1).
The Psalmist, Heman the Ezrahite, is bringing his despair to God who is his salvation.
What follows this are lines of imagery that paint a picture of the utter despair and darkness the Psalmist is experiencing.
If we look at the main ideas of each strophe in the Psalm, we perceive the following emotions:
Strophe 2 – verses 3-7: Because of God’s wrath, the Psalmist feels like the living dead.
The Psalmist is a man with no strength who is like the slain who lie in the grave. The Psalmist’s suffering and grief are so acute, he feels more dead than alive. He feels as though he has been cut off from God by God’s own wrath which lies heavily on him.
It’s helpful to note here that the Psalmist’s view of the afterlife is incomplete. Like most Jews in his day, he did not know a lot about life after death. Although other Psalmists seem certain that they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6), Heman the Ezrahite in Psalm 88 seems to believe that once he enters Sheol, he will be of no use to God, unable to worship him. He will be separated from him and remembered by him no more. Perhaps, Heman does know that God will one day resurrect the dead, but his despair is so deep that it feels as though he is cut off from God and forgotten by him.
It is also helpful to note what the Psalmist means by blaming God’s wrath for all of his troubles. This certainly seems like an ungracious thing to do. In this case, it’s helpful to remember the book of Job. Job’s complaint to God for all the suffering he is undergoing sounds very similar to the Psalmist’s complaints in Psalm 88. We are given a picture at the beginning of the book of Job that shows us that all of Job’s suffering, though directly caused by Satan, was ordained by God. So while the Psalmist of 88 may not directly be experiencing God’s wrath as he claims, he recognizes that his suffering has been allowed and ordained by God. In this sense, God is responsible for his suffering. To see how God answered Job’s similar accusation, check out Job 38-41.
Strophe 3 (part 1) verses 8-9: I am abandoned and alone.
Not only is the Psalmist experiencing great suffering, he is experiencing it alone. His companions shun him (vs. 8 and 18), his beloved has shunned him, and he feels shut in with no escape. The Psalmist is so depressed and lonely, he feels he has no one to turn to.
Strophe 3 (part 2) verses 10-12: Can you do anything good with the dead?
The Psalmist feels as helpless and useless as a dead person. He feels so close to death that he feels he can be of no use to God. So he questions God. In essence, he is asking God, “why would you allow me to experience this suffering if it prevents me from praising you and declaring your steadfast love? How can my suffering produce any good?” We can assume that the Psalmist, with his limited view of the afterlife, would answer all of these questions in verses 10-12 with a resounding, “no.”
Strophe 4 – verses 13 – 18: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
The Psalmist ends his song confessing his feeling of abandonment. His circumstances are so dark and desperate that he can see nothing of God’s goodness. He has been afflicted from his youth and he again blames God’s wrath for his present suffering. He is so overwhelmed by his suffering and grief he feels that the darkness is his only true companion.
Psalm 88 is a good reminder that God does indeed ordain our suffering and we may never know the purpose of it in this life. We humans love a story with a good moral and a happy ending. Psalm 88 reminds us that life is not always like that. Sometimes the moral is elusive and the ending unhappy.
Does not knowing the good purpose behind our suffering mean there is no good purpose? No! And Psalm 88, though terribly sad and gloomy, has glimmers of light hidden throughout it to show us that there is still hope even in the darkest night.
Hope in the Dark
The first glimmer of hope in Psalm 88 is in the very first two verses:
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!
Although the Psalmist seems to be without hope, he does one very hopeful thing. He takes his despair to his Heavenly Father. He knows his Heavenly Father will hear him. When his suffering is overwhelming and he has no words of praise or thanksgiving to offer, he pours out his anguished heart to God. This act of petition is a fight for his hope. He is battling his despair by turning to the one he knows can overcome his suffering. Even if every word that follows is painful and hopeless he is offering his pain and hopelessness to God which is, in itself, a great act of faith and hope.
The second glimmer of hope comes in the rhetorical questions the Psalmist asks in verses 10 – 12. The Psalmist asks:
Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you?
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?
We can see in these verses what the Psalmist knows to be true about God, despite the desperation of his questions. The Psalmist knows:
- that God can and does work wonders
- that God is worthy of praise
- that God’s love is steadfast
- that God is faithful
- that God is righteous
Although the Psalmist is questioning whether theses aspects of his character will be known after death, he knows for certain that these are indeed aspects of God’s character.
And although the Psalmist may have been expecting the answer to these questions to be “no”, we who live on this side of the resurrection can answer these questions with a triumphant “yes!”
God does work wonders for the dead – he did so in Christ.
The departed in Christ will rise up and praise him – because Christ rose up first.
God’s steadfast love was boldly declared it the empty grave of Christ.
God’s faithfulness to his children in the place of destruction (Abaddon) is seen on the cross when Christ descended to the place of destruction on our behalf.
Christ, the risen light of the world, is the wonder known in the darkness.
The righteousness of Christ is gifted to those who proclaim him as Lord and they will therefore never be forgotten or forsaken.
No matter how intense our suffering, or how acute our grief, we who are in Christ never sing Psalm 88 with the same despair as the Psalmist. For our eyes are fixed on our risen Lord, who joyously proclaims “yes!” to every question the Psalmist poses.
Application Through Multiple Lenses
If you’ve been following along with the Psalms study and have been using the worksheets, then you know that for the application part of the study, I ask several questions to help you connect with and apply the text. For me, the application questions were particularly poignant for Psalm 88. I’m going to answer the questions here to help you apply and pray Psalm 88 in times of trouble.
What would this Psalm have meant in its original context?
Heman the Ezrahite must have been experiencing a deep depression when he wrote Psalm 88. The fact that this Psalm appears in our Bibles gives it value – this kind of depression and suffering is a common human experience. It is also a good reminder to carry our darkness to God. Our God can be worshiped in the darkness because he is right there with us in the dark.
What would this Psalm mean if it were sung to Jesus?
As we sit in the darkness, with the darkness being our sole companion, we appeal to the one who we know has overcome the darkness (John 1:5). Because not only do we know that God hears us when we cry to him in the dark, but, as the next questions considers, Jesus can empathize with us in our darkness.
What would this Psalm mean if it were sung by Jesus?
I can’t help but think that these words must have been on Jesus’ mind as he hung on the cross. He had been abandoned by everyone, including his Father. No one but Jesus can truthfully say: O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? (vs. 14). No one but Jesus can honestly cry: Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves (vs. 7). If any of the sentiments in Psalm 88 resonate with you, know that they resonated with Jesus even more. Jesus understands your suffering and has suffered alongside you.
How should the church sing this Psalm today?
This Psalm was written to the choirmaster to be sung as a part of worship. How can one sing this dark and depressing Psalm truthfully if they aren’t experiencing darkness and depression themselves? They sing it in sympathy with those who are. Singing the Psalms in sympathy with others is a way that we bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). We can sing this in sympathy with our friends who suffer from anxiety and depression. We can sing this as a lament for the suffering and despair experienced by black slaves in the deep south at the hands of white people. We can sing this in solidarity with Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith. Even if the words don’t resonate with you in your current circumstances, singing it in sympathy with those who are crying out to God in despair can help us to walk with them through their suffering.
What does this Psalm mean to you?
I have sung this Psalm in all sincerity. I have personally experienced this kind of darkness. I have felt abandoned by God. I have felt so hopeless that I had no words to express my inner turmoil so I cried out with the Psalmist, “Why do you hide your face from me?” This Psalm gave utterance to my deepest groanings and helped me bring them before God.
There have been times in my life when prayer and Bible reading seemed utterly impossible. I was suffering too greatly to find the strength to come before God in his Word and in prayer. Were it not for the Psalms, including Psalm 88, I may have abandoned my Bible altogether. When I had no words, the Psalms gave me the words. When I couldn’t express how I was feeling, the Psalms expressed it for me. Psalms is a highly emotional book because we are highly emotional people created by a highly emotional God. We feel deeply because God feels deeply and we image him. And praise God, he created the Psalms as a way to express and process our emotions and bring them before him. I am thankful for Psalm 88, but I am also thankful for Psalm 40 because I have sincerely sung them both. And I am thankful for God who has provided a way for us to worship in the dark.