Psalm 88
Daily Devotional from Psalm 88–
3 “I am overwhelmed with troubles…”
18 “…darkness is my closest friend.”
From verse 3 all the way through verse 18, it goes on like this. Pain after pain with no relief. This psalm never provides us a “…but, God” moment, or a “this too shall pass” promise.
Nope. It just keeps scraping along. Grinding, tearing, burning. As painful and desperate as this psalm is, I like the fact that it provides no answers. Sometimes the answers aren’t there. Sometimes there’s no escape plan – no silver lining - no happily ever after. Psalm 88 reminds us that honest lament in the middle of suffering is a valid and holy expression of faith. Choose honesty over pretense. He can take it. You can leave space for unresolved pain, even as you persevere in faith. You can say sad or even angry things while you talk with God. Not every hard season gets a neat wrap-up or happy ending. We might not like it, but that’s just the way it is. The key is that we keep talking to him. The Holy Spirit chose to have this psalm here in scripture. He wants us to see this. He wants us to know that we have the right to do what this psalmist did. Though he cried, he directed his cries to God. And so can we.
God, I accept that sometimes there will be pain. Thanks for your unfailing love that gives us room, sometimes, to cry out our pain.
Chris Ford
3 “I am overwhelmed with troubles…”
18 “…darkness is my closest friend.”
From verse 3 all the way through verse 18, it goes on like this. Pain after pain with no relief. This psalm never provides us a “…but, God” moment, or a “this too shall pass” promise.
Nope. It just keeps scraping along. Grinding, tearing, burning. As painful and desperate as this psalm is, I like the fact that it provides no answers. Sometimes the answers aren’t there. Sometimes there’s no escape plan – no silver lining - no happily ever after. Psalm 88 reminds us that honest lament in the middle of suffering is a valid and holy expression of faith. Choose honesty over pretense. He can take it. You can leave space for unresolved pain, even as you persevere in faith. You can say sad or even angry things while you talk with God. Not every hard season gets a neat wrap-up or happy ending. We might not like it, but that’s just the way it is. The key is that we keep talking to him. The Holy Spirit chose to have this psalm here in scripture. He wants us to see this. He wants us to know that we have the right to do what this psalmist did. Though he cried, he directed his cries to God. And so can we.
God, I accept that sometimes there will be pain. Thanks for your unfailing love that gives us room, sometimes, to cry out our pain.
Chris Ford
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