Psalm 88 is the darkest psalm in the entire collection. It's a lament with no resolution. The psalmist is suffering, crying out to God, feeling abandoned, and at the end of the psalm there's no 'but then God saved me.' It just ends in darkness. 'My closest friend is darkness.'
I love that this psalm exists. A lot of Christian teaching suggests that if you're faithful, depression lifts, suffering ends, God brings resolution. But Psalm 88 is a faithful person's prayer in a situation where none of that has happened. The psalmist still prays. Still cries out. Still brings the pain before God. But the pain doesn't leave.
I was in a long season of depression, and I'd exhaust all the spiritual formulas. Pray more, read Scripture more, believe harder. Nothing worked. The depression was still there. And Psalm 88 gave me permission to pray from that place without pretending the relief would come. My cry comes before God, the psalmist says. That's enough. I don't have to have an answer. I just have to bring the cry.
No comments yet. Be the first.