Read Psalm 88.
What a dark psalm! This may be the darkest of all the psalms and the most bleak of all the Scriptures (save Lamentations, I suppose). As I read this today, I kept waiting for the yet or however or but that you find in other psalms, but there are none. The Bible Expositional Commentary explains that in the Hebrew text, the psalm ends with the word hoshek which means "darkness."
The psalm reminds me of much of Job's laments. Job also did not understand why he was suffering and needed explanations. He also could not understand where God was (vv. 13-14). Like Job and Jesus, he wondered why God had forsaken him. In Job's case, God finally spoke and used divine sarcasm to question Job's need to have all the answers. God did not question Job's faith or his yearning for God's return to him (those are good things to have and desire); he questioned Job's many many questions. Job found himself needing answers to his questions more than he needed God himself, and this seems to be true of Heman as well.
The good thing is that in all his dark despair, Heman did not give up on God; he did not stop coming to him in prayer. He addressed God as Lord, Jehovah four times in this psalm. Jehovah is the name for God that stresses his covenant relationship with his people. Heman recognized that God was still true to his promises. This gave Heman hope even in his hopelessness.
Sometimes, in the midst of the dark, painful circumstances of our lives, we must hold on to God's promises. We must be a covenant people. We must remember that God has made a covenant with us and we have made a covenant with him, so that when times get tough, we don't give up ... as the world does. We hold onto the covenant, we keep our promises, we trust in Jehovah Jireh, our Lord Provider. Simply put, we trust our God more than we trust our circumstances.
What I like about this psalm is the utter truthfulness we see in Heman's words. The Bible does not hide the reality of suffering and pain and human questioning. We live in a real world with real problems and a lot of things we don't understand--yet. I believe the psalm--and others like it--show God's grace. These words are in God's Word! They are part of his Message to and for us. So what do they tell us? How can they help us to live the lives God wants us to live? They tell us the truth about pain and suffering in this world. God did not cause it, but because he gave us freewill as a wonderful gift, the dark side of that freewill is that we reap some suffering and pain in this life.
The Good News is that God is still there, though sometimes silent. He walks through the dark valleys with us. And, most importantly, he conquered suffering and death when Jesus died for us on the cross. In the eternal perspective of Life, our momentary suffering will be like a snap of the fingers. Also, and an important point not to miss, our suffering can be redeemed by the Holy Spirit to bring about what only God can do.
Posts
