Psalms

Psalms 88: Calling God through unrelieved darkness

Begin in prayer

Before we hear this prayer from unrelieved darkness, let us remember the name with which it begins, the God of salvation. Pray through Jesus to the God of salvation, asking Him to hear suffering people when darkness remains.

Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.

Daniel 9:17

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word, and help us to see Christ. Show us that the God of salvation may be called upon even while His suffering people remain in darkness. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Heman cries day and night to the God of his salvation, asking that his prayer reach His presence. His life seems already among the dead, without help or the remembered care he longs to know. He traces the lowest pit, the weight of wrath and the loss of friends to God's own hand. Through dimmed eyes he keeps calling, asking how God's wonders and faithfulness will be praised when he is gone. Morning brings another prayer and another question about God's hidden face. Afflicted from youth and engulfed by terrors, he ends with loved ones far away and his friends in darkness.

As you read Psalms 88, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The God of salvation is the One His suffering people call upon when darkness remains and comfort is unseen.

Heman's address to the God of his salvation gives the prayer its direction while the rest of the song describes unrelieved distress. Being counted among those going down to the pit pictures a living man already treated as belonging with the dead. Heman names God as the One who has laid him low and directs his hardest complaint toward the hand that holds his life. The waves of wrath describe affliction arriving without a place to stand, and lost friends deepen the isolation he traces to God's hand. His questions about the grave plead for God's wonders, kindness and righteousness to be declared while he still lives. He continues to pray in the morning even while asking why God's face is hidden from him. Trouble reaching back to youth gives the cry a long history, with terrors that leave him distracted and unable to escape. Lover and friend remain far away, leaving God's suffering people words to pray while comfort stays out of sight.

How does Psalm 88 show us that the God of salvation is the One His suffering people call upon when darkness remains and comfort is unseen?

God's suffering servant brings his darkest trouble into His presence.

Heman calls the Lord the God of his salvation while describing life at the edge of the grave. He names God as the One whose hand has laid him low. That same hand remains the one to which he directs his prayer.

God's suffering people can keep calling through unrelieved sorrow.

The singer prays through the night and again in the morning. He asks hard questions about God's hidden face and his approaching death. The song closes with friends far away, leaving his continued cry before God within the darkness.

Memorise

Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry.

Psalm 88:2

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what sorrow do I need to bring honestly before Jesus today?

Heman prays, “Let my prayer enter into your presence.” His song ends with separation and darkness while his cry is still directed toward the God of his salvation. There is no report of relief at the close.

Our own sin deserves the holy God's judgment. Mark 15 verse 34 records Jesus crying out while forsaken on the cross. He bore the punishment of His people's sins and gave His life to save them. God raised Him from death. His saving work has fully secured His people's forgiveness and lasting acceptance before the Father.

Turn from your sin and bring your needy heart to Jesus in faith. Everyone who comes to Him receives pardon. You may tell Him the grief you cannot explain and ask Him to hear you. Christ's finished work gives His people lasting hope through darkness, sustaining believers' prayers when present comfort remains unseen.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the God of salvation may be called upon even while His suffering people remain in darkness. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Bring honest sorrow to the God of salvation and thank Him for the finished work of Jesus. Bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

John 11:32

God of salvation, please hear the sorrow we bring before You. Lead us to Jesus for the forgiveness His death and resurrection have secured. Remember those whose grief has lasted through many nights and whose friends seem far away. Give Your people words to pray when comfort is hidden, and help our home listen patiently to those who suffer. Amen.