Psalm 88
Darkness is My Closest Friend
The Psalms give us the words the soaring joys of knowing God. But they also give us the words for the searing pains of life in the world as it is.
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 LORD, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.I call to you, LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?13 But I cry to you for help, LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbour –
darkness is my closest friend.
If you have ever known darkness as your closest “friend” then I want to introduce you to two other friends.
The first friend is Heman the Ezrahite, the one who penned this Psalm.
He is the one whose voice croaked from crying throughout the day and night for relief from the sorrows (1-2).
He is the one gasping for breath while submerged by sorrows (3).
He is the one clawing for a helping hand while sinking to the grave (4-5).
He is the one swamped with the guilt and shame of his sins (6-7).
He is the one who has been isolated from his friends (8-9).
He is the one who asks question after question of God pleading for a good answer (10-12).
He is the one who feels deeply the rejection of God (13-14).
He is the one who is drowning in his despair and sees no way out (15-18).
It’s uncomfortable reading the words of this Psalm. But these are words for those who feel no comfort.
Mark Meynell, a Minister who has lived with depression, commented that the reason “he could still do business with God” was because God would allow words like this Psalm to be in his Scriptures.
Heman knew the darkness. And he knew beyond the darkness was the God who saves (1). And he invites us to take his words as our own, as we live in the darkness. And in the darkness to bring our sorrows to the God of our salvation.
Charles Spurgeon who knew darkness as his own friend wrote:
“Personally, I also bear witness that it has been to me, in seasons of great pain, superlatively comfortable to know that in every pang which racks his people the Lord Jesus has a fellow-feeling. We are not alone, for one like unto the Son of man walks the furnace with us.”
The second friend I want to introduce you to is an old one for many of us: Jesus.
James Hamilton writes that Psalm 88 is like Gethsemene before Golgotha. This Psalm draws us into agony and grief of our Saviour. The night before the cross was the garden. There Jesus revealed to his disciples “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26.38). For he knew what was coming.
On the cross he was friendless.
On the cross he was mocked.
On the cross he cried out in agony.
On the cross he was rejected.
He is the friend who has known the darkness. He is the friend who walks with us in the darkness. He is always and forever our friend.
Glory be to God the Father, the eternal Lord of our salvation.
Glory be to God the Son, the good Shepherd who walks with us in the valley of darkness.
Glory be to the Spirit, who intercedes for us when we cannot speak the depths of our sorrows.
Home Group: Colossians 3.12-4.1
How is a Christian meant to dress (13) and what are these set in contrast to (8)? What is the proof that they are dressed in this way (14)?
According to Paul, what should mark a community of believers (15-17)? How might we make sure these characterise our church?
What reasons does Paul give wives, children, and slaves to follow his commands? Should we obey everything our husbands, parents and bosses tell us? How do the commands given to husbands, fathers and masters subvert the culture Paul is writing to?