Voices from the Dark - Psalm 88

A few previous posts (When I Can't Say Part 1 adn 2) have talked about unbearable suffering. Psalm 88 is one of the darkest psalms, a psalm of storm suffering. As such, it voices many of our tears, questions, agonies. The author’s voice (voice one) combines with our voice (voice two), and the historical voices of many others in both Israel and the church in the history of the covenant people (voice three).  Yet, there is a fourth voice in the psalms—that of

Christ. Christ is in all the Scriptures. He is present either in 1) speaking and experiencing it as a man as well; 2) in mediating the blessings experienced; 3) in a messianic, prophetical or typological way. So, some biblical theology!But here is for the voices that emerge from the dark:


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!

 

Our voice: O Lord! We cry out—for healing, for salvation for a lost one, for strength, light at the end of the tunnel. May you hear me! I can’t voice my plea; my tongue is too weak and my soul is too deep. Hear me!

Christ’s voice: My Father, I, too, cried out with prayers and supplications, loud cries and tears, to you who could save me from death, and I was heard because of my reverence (Heb. 5:7). But your answer to me was “no” so that my people, those you gave me, might be heard as your children.

Christ’s answer: My child, because of my death, you have unlimited access to God, the never sleeping one, who hears day and night. You can be certain you have the ear of the Lord, the powerful one, the God of your salvation, the God who can intervene in your situation. Your prayers go up along with mine—I am interceding for you as your High Priest (Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34). Because the answer to my prayer was no, all the promises are yes in me (2 Cor. 1:20-21).

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

Our voice: Lord, overwhelmed. Sinking. The soul overflows, but in sorrow and troubles. My physical body fails. The situation seems like death—be it health, or bills, or a diagnosis, a broken relationship. It seems too much, I am in the depths of the pit. I feel abandoned, forgotten. The storm is too strong. Your waves—your waves! Lord, you can control them, and it seems you are not! And doubts and feelings of abandonment crush me on top of this! Oh, Lord!

Christ’s voice: Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say, “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I have come to this hour (John 12:27). And in the Garden, I was being in an agony and I prayed more earnestly; and my sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:42).

Christ’s answer: I was counted among those who go down to the pit, I faced the absolute abandonment of God, being cut off from his hand, being remembered no more, being put in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep, with the wrath of God against all sin on me—so that you, my loved one, would never have to face that abandonment. So that you could be included in our triune love, so that you could always feel the presence of the Father, Son, and Spirit (John 17:21-24; Heb. 4:16; Mat. 28:18; John 14:18).

I went to Sheol so that through my death I might destroy the one who has the power of death  and deliver you who through fear of death was subject to lifelong slavery (Heb. 2:14-15). Because I died, you need not fear the powers of death in this life, nor death. You have the Father’s eternal love, favor, and life.

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?

Our voice: Suffering is a lonely road. Each journey is unique. No one shares; no one completely understands. Condemnation and shame may creep. Whispers. Gossip. Failure to persevere in the long haul. Anniversaries forgotten.

And no light at the end of the tunnel. Seeming no answers. Will you come? Where are you? This situation will not end in what I fear, will it? How can I praise you, serve you, fulfill my desires, fulfill your calling in this situation, like this? Lord, will you intervene… before it is too late? Oh, Lord….

Christ’s voice: I came to my own, but they knew me not (John 1:10-11). I was deeply despised, abhorred by the nation (Isa. 49:7). And by my own followers, but the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ (John 13:18, citing Ps. 41:9). Then all the disciples all left me and fled (Matthew 26:56); denied me (Mat. 26:34). I was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, I was despised and not esteemed (Isa. 53:2-3).  

Christ’s answer: Oh, my never-forgotten one, I was abandoned to death. My denied, spread out hands in the Garden were spread out on the cross. I departed, knew the grave, and went to Abaddon and the darkness. But I rose again from the land of forgetfulness—proclaiming the Lord’s steadfast love, showing his faithfulness, showing his mighty power and his wonders. So, now, you can rise up and praise him, declare his steadfast love with those from every nation, tribe, and tongue before the throne (Rev. 5). An eternal song can be on your lips—a song that you can even now sing, even in your suffering. 

This is not the end, my loved one. This is not the end. You may feel at the end of the rope, but death cannot touch you. And it is only preparing something far greater.

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?

Our voice: Oh, Lord! We pray. We cry. Years, now, Lord, years. What more do you ask? What more can I do? But you seem to not respond? Why do you seem to ignore me? Why do you seem distant? In my suffering, Lord—would you at least make yourself known? At least grant some comfort? Some alleviation? Some sense of your presence? It is dark. Suffering is bad, but, O Lord, this non-answer, this silence, this hiding of your face is unbearable! Lord!

Christ’s voice: Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, I cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mat. 27:45-46).

Christ’s answer: So, you see, my lamb, I know this darkness, this despair, this weight, this horror. I know this abandonment in a way deeper than you ever will. I was hid from the face of the Father; he turned his face away so that the light of his face might be turned toward you. I know right now is dark and lonely for you; you do not feel I am with you. But I am. I am with you. I am for you.

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.

Our voice: Lord, all is out of control. Helpless. Broken. Overwhelmed. The storm is stronger than I can stand, and there is no sign of it abating. Destroyed. Surrounded. Flooded. Closed in. Dark. Despair.

Christ’s voice: I was oppressed and afflicted, yet I opened not my mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so I opened not my mouth. By oppression and judgment I was taken away (Isa. 53:7-8a). And as soon as Judas left, it was night (John 13:30). The full darkness of evil; I knew night. I knew darkness.

Christ’s answer: My beloved, you feel overwhelmed. But I was helpless, overwhelmed so I could be with you, so I could save you from the ultimate darkness. Since, therefore, you have now been justified by my blood, much more shall you be saved by me from the wrath of God. For if while you were an enemy, you were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that you are reconciled, shall you be saved by my life (Romans 5:9-10).