Psalm 88
INTRODUCTION
Hello darkness my old friend, here I come to talk again – The sound of silence, Paul Simon.
After reading Psalm 88, we might feel like Paul Simon in this song. I translate the lyrics of the chorus.
I should point out that this song is not Christian, and I don't know if its authors were inspired by Christianity. What I am sure of, however, is that although the psalmist ends this psalm by evoking “darkness,” he certainly does not give victory to darkness. That is what I would like to explore this morning.
As I reflected on this during the week, I remembered that as a child I often saw astrological reports (horoscopes) in newspapers or on TV. I also remembered that these reports never announce bad news. To check this, I looked at the horoscopes for all the signs for the coming week. And roughly speaking, I can summarize it as follows: for some, you will be successful in love; for others, your projects will be successful; for others still, you will find new energy in your activities; and for the last ones, you will discover a new eloquence and charisma in communication that will be useful in your relationships.
In short, everyone will have their “little piece of happiness” next week.
If we lived in paradise, why not? Let's take it easy next week. Happiness for all!!
The Bible, on the other hand, seems more realistic about the life we lead and the struggles we face in a fallen world.
I invite you to join me in reading this psalm—so keep your Bibles open:
first, to see that the faith of the faithful can waver in affliction
then to see what place God has in our affliction
and finally to see that darkness does not have the final word
Let's read it together.
PSALM 88
O LORD, GOD OF MY SALVATION
The psalmist begins his lament by addressing the LORD as the GOD OF MY SALVATION. That is to say, the Lord, God who saves. On many occasions, we find these terms associated in the Bible to evoke victory, deliverance, help, and salvation coming from God.
For example, when the Israelites fled from slavery in Egypt, trapped between Pharaoh's army behind them and the Red Sea in front of them, they were filled with fear and dreaded death (Ex. 14:4 and Ex. 14:10-12). In verse 13 we read that “And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today”_ESV. Then in the next chapter, after being definitively saved from Pharaoh's army, Moses and the Israelites sing (Ex. 15:2) " The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him."_ESV
This is also how the psalmists often refer to the Lord: as the one who can help them, deliver them, save them, and give them victory. There are many references in the psalms*1. I will mention here only the refrains of Psalm 42-43 and Psalm 62 (ESV).
Psalms 42:5/11 / Psalms 43:5
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation
Psalms 62:1
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
Psalms 62:3/7
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
In Psalm 88, the psalmist again addresses God, invoking him as his savior: O LORD, GOD OF MY SALVATION. These are the only words of hope you will find in this psalm. At the lowest point of his misery, at the bottom of the abyss, from the depths of darkness, all his lament is addressed to the LORD, GOD WHO SAVES / who can save him.
Let us continue reading this lament together:
A soul filled with afflictions
The psalmist suffers terribly from many woes:
4 For my soul is full of trouble; his soul is satiated with pain. This man has encountered enough trouble. He is overwhelmed by his suffering in life. 10 my eye grows dim through sorrow.,either from crying or from all the suffering he has seen since his youth. 16 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up; he has seen enough, he can no longer bear to suffer so much for so long. These sufferings seem to have lasted. We also note that his suffering is visible to others, particularly his friends and loved ones, since he has become an object of horror to them and they have consequently distanced themselves from him.
9 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them.
19 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
The psalmist's suffering soon leads him to death:
The darkness of death pervades this entire psalm. Three times we read the word darkness. The psalmist is in danger of dying soon: 4b- and my life draws near to Sheol.
And already he is counted among the dead. He is not only at the end of his strength, he is soon without the strength to survive. The grim image is striking: the man awaiting the end of his misery already lying in the grave among the dead.
5 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength,. 6 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.
These grim descriptions should not be read literally. The image is deliberately evocative and serves to convey to the reader the intensity of the psalmist's despair. We can imagine the fatal anguish of this man.
Moreover, the word “set loose” in verse 6, “like one set loose among the dead” (The Annotated Bible of Neuchâtel suggests “I am abandoned”), has the literal translation “FREE,” like a slave freed by his master in Mosaic law in Exodus 21:2.
Here we should understand that the psalmist is freed from the bond that keeps him alive among men. This is what angers this man the most: the idea of being abandoned by God in the manner of " like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand”. This is what ultimately afflicts his soul. This man does not merely fear death; he is terrified by the idea of having lost the bond that keeps him alive under God's care and protection, terrified by the idea of dying separated from God. What gnaws most terribly at the psalmist's soul is to be counted among those who are cut off from God's hand, thrown into a in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep, far from God (v. 7). The abyss, darkness, depths, and prison are different representations of the realm of the dead (Sheol) found in this psalm.
What overwhelms the psalmist is that he suffers like the wicked, enduring the waves of God's anger and divine fury, which already crush him (v. 8; v. 16b-v. 19).
Derek Kidner notes that this anxiety about being counted among the wicked and rejected also seems to have troubled King David in Psalm 28:1-3. We read:
" To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. 3 Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. "
Although God heard and saved David in Psalm 28, for our psalmist the anguish of being led into the ruin of the wicked remains intense, since his supplications are not answered and, on the contrary, he seems to be suffering the same treatment as them.
We realize the deadly affliction that dominates his soul. This fear of being rejected by God is explicit in verse 15: O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?
From his sufferings, the psalmist recognizes God's sovereignty:
From here (verse 7), all his sufferings are explicitly attributed to God. Whatever the agents of these evils may have been, note that they are not identified in this psalm. We cannot say for certain whether these misfortunes came to him through his enemies, through illness, through guilt, or through some other means. We see only GOD in these troubles. Whatever the agents of his troubles may be, he looks only to God. From the depths of his afflictions, this man recognizes God's sovereignty over all his woes.
Like Jeremiah in his lamentations and like other psalmists in Book III*3 who also recognized God's sovereignty over their evils, the psalmist does not become proud and filled with indignation because of these afflictions, but on the contrary, he recognizes that God is sovereign and persists in calling on his help.
Is this not a remarkable attitude of humility and piety? I am personally struck by the degree of humility and faith required for such a reaction in such circumstances. Recognizing God's sovereignty in his affliction, the psalmist says:
The God of my salvation is always God in my torments.
The God of my salvation is always the one who can save me in my sufferings.
God is sovereign, so He is the one who can save me from my misfortunes.
How well must one know God to recognize His sovereignty and humble oneself before Him in the midst of terrible suffering?
The irony of death: the psalmist is perplexed:
Note also that in his lugubrious lament, the psalmist expresses no guilt, no repentance, and surprisingly does not seek to justify himself. Nevertheless, his faith is shaken by his suffering and by God's silence. Humbly and cautiously, he nevertheless questions the meaning or reasons for his misfortunes. Even though he recognizes God's sovereignty, this man is troubled by the fact that he receives no answer to his pleas and, on the contrary, suffers his terrors.
The only times he mentions God's attributes is to question his silence.
From verses 11 to 13, we see that the psalmist has not forgotten that God is powerful (to perform miracles), that God is good, that God is faithful, and that God is just. But perhaps he is so for the dead, the psalmist wonders.
Rhetorically, the psalmist reminds God that he is close to death and has not yet seen his help. Ironically, he tells God that if he delays a little longer, it will be from the realm of the dead that God's goodness and faithfulness will be proclaimed: that is, through silence.
Imagine a depressing musical interlude or total silence at verse 11 for the indication of “pause.”
11 Do you perform miracles for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you?
- Silence
Now let us see that in his affliction, the psalmist did not give up.
A prayer inspired by affliction
What do we know about the author of this psalm?
The heading of this psalm is quite detailed compared to most psalms. Among other things, it tells us that its author was Heman the Ezrahite.
The Bible tells us that Heman the Ezrahite was appointed by King David, along with Ethan the Ezrahite and Asaph, “to lead the singing in the house of the Lord, since the ark had a fixed location.” These musicians and singers, descendants of Korah and Levi, founded three choirs which they led for the service of praise in the tabernacle and then in the temple (1 Chronicles 6:16-32; 1 Chronicles 25:1-8; 2 Chronicles 5:12-14). In particular, regarding Heman, the Bible also tells us that he was a man full of wisdom (1 Kings 5:9-11) and that he was responsible for revealing the words of God to the king and exalting his power (1 Chronicles 25:5).
I would also mention that the instructions given to the choir director in the heading also indicate that this psalm was to be sung in a specific mode in the temple of God.
Let us now see how this great poem of suffering (as Frédéric L. Godet calls it) honors the Lord God.
A humble and persevering faith
First, we have already mentioned the perseverance and humility of Heman the Ezrahite in the midst of his misfortunes and anguish. All his lamentations are addressed to the LORD, GOD OF MY SALVATION and consist in fact of a persevering prayer despite the agony of his soul.
Sated with troubles (v. 4), Heman prays:
Lord, God of my salvation, day and night I cry out to you.
Worn out by suffering (v. 10), Heman persists:
Every day I call upon you, Lord, I stretch out my hands to you.
Suffering and dying from his youth (v. 16), Heman's faith endures:
And I, Lord, call upon you for help. In the morning, my prayer is directed to you.
Despite his physical suffering and spiritual agony—the shadow of death that persists—, Heman continues to pray to God, his Savior. His hope is persevering. He prays night and day, every day from morning until night, because he still hopes to be heard and rescued by God. Despite the darkness, he refuses to be separated from God. Who else could deliver him from the darkness ? His hands reach out to God and his mouth cries out from the depths of his soul in the morning: HELP ME! GOD OF MY SALVATION.
A song of affliction engraved in the Word of God
Then, from the woes he experienced in his life, Heman the Ezrahite as a singer produced a song that found its place in the book of praise through God's compassion. From his lamentations, his honestly expressed anguish, and his perseverance, God inspired Heman to compose a song that is still used today for meditation and praise in the temple.
There are times when believers see no end to their suffering, sometimes even unto death. This psalm encourages and prepares the faithful to persevere in faith in the face of all the dangers to which their souls may be and will be exposed. A sister from the community group this week shared with us that she was comforted and reassured by psalm of this kind because it puts into words our most discouraging feelings. W. Robert Godfrey puts it this way: "Psalm 88 reflects how we feel when the cross becomes particularly heavy and the struggle is at its peak. [...] We understand that we are not alone in our doubts, our lack of understanding, and our complaints. Not only have other believers felt the same way, but God has engraved these feelings in His Word. He did this to assure us that it is legitimate to feel them and to express them in prayer." - Learning to Love the Psalms, 2017.
Reading in God's Word the troubled, plaintive, and unhappy words of a man endowed with the wisdom of the Spirit reassures our hearts when our faith is so ardently tested. The believer sings with him:
in darkness and suffering, it is You, Eternal One, God of my salvation, whom I call upon for help.
God in our afflictions: divine compassion
Finally, although the last word of the psalm evokes darkness, God's compassion does not end there. God has not only accepted our anxieties and fears, but has engraved them in His Word and have compassion on us. God also shared our sufferings in order to heal us. Even more astonishingly, God experienced our anguish of dying, cut off from his hand, enduring his wrath, in order to deliver us from it.
A thousand years after Heman's life (personal approximation), a man suffered all the waves of God's wrath. He was an object of horror to men and to his friends, who abandoned him. He was seized with fear and anguish (Mark 14:33) at the thought of suffering and dying. His soul was sorrowful to the point of death (Mark 14:34) in anticipation of his suffering and death, from which he prayed three times to be spared. But he was burdened with our sufferings and our pains (Isa. 53:4) and died forsaken by God (Matt. 26:46). He was counted among the criminals, and his tomb was among the wicked (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:32-33), and his grave was with the rich man, even though he had done no wrong (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60).
The name of this man is Jesus—literally, “The Lord saves,” “The Lord delivers.”
Let us read the account of his death on the cross in Matthew 27:45-54
45Now from the sixth hourf there was darkness over all the landg until the ninth hour. 46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
[….47-49…]
50And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Soni of God!”
To quote Timothy Keller, Jesus Christ was forsaken by the Father so that we would not be forsaken by the Father.
A brother pointed out to the community group this week that when you read Psalm 88 without Jesus, it is terribly dark and sad. When you read it with Jesus, it becomes comforting and joyful. I want to rephrase his idea. When we go through terrible misfortunes hoping for a savior, the struggle is fierce. When we go through them with Jesus, we are comforted and supported by his compassions. He shared our fears and afflictions so that we might be delivered from darkness.
What comfort, what joy, what peace for the soul.
Glory be to Jesus—the Eternal One who saves, the Eternal One who delivers, through whom we can say: God of my salvation, you have delivered me from darkness! Amen!
I invite you to take a moment to thank God for delivering us from darkness through the sufferings of Christ. And if you do not know God this way, I invite you to pray that the Lord GOD who saves will reveal His salvation and His light to you.