One of the things I love about the Bible is that it’s not about sugar-coating anything. Christians sometimes (often) sugarcoat, but the Bible doesn’t. I was reminded of that while reading Psalm 88. It starts out, as many Psalms do, with a plea to God for help in trouble.

O Lord, God of my salvation,
   I cry out day and night before you.
Let my prayer come before you;
   incline your ear to my cry!
For my soul is full of troubles,
   and my life draws near to Sheol.
                                   Psalm 88:1-3 (ESV)

Now that’s not unusual. Many Psalms begin with such cries and end with praise to God.  The one that immediately comes to mind for me is Psalm 22, which begins in despair and ends with praise. Others include Psalm 3, 4, 6, 10, 13 . . . . I could keep going, but you’ve got the idea. However, Psalm 88 is a bit different. Here is how it ends.

But I, O Lord, cry to you;
   in the morning my prayer comes before you.
O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
   Why do you hide your face from me?
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
   I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
Your wrath has swept over me;
   your dreadful assaults destroy me.
They surround me like a flood all day long;
   they close in on me together.
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
   my companions have become darkness.
                                      Psalm 88:13-18 (ESV)

The psalmist is still in the dark, both in the sense of circumstances and in his understanding.

I see this as one of those places where the Bible gets very real and gritty. It’s a reminder that God does not promise a trouble free life to his people. He promises a joy filled life, a fulfilling life, but really also a trouble filled life. While he solves problems for us, he solves the ones he sees as beneficial to solve, and he solves them on his time. And, of course, his concept of beneficial is not always the same as ours. He left Paul with his thorn in the flesh for a long time.

This psalm is also a reminder that we must be faithful in crying out to God. The psalmist is in or at least near despair, but he cries out each morning. I find that very convicting. I have a few of those long-term prayer requests that God has yet to answer, requests that I’ve been praying over for 3-5 years. I think of these as the deepest cries of my heart, and they matter immensely to me. But after praying for a few years, I find myself occasionally missing a day of praying about them.

I also note that the psalmist is crying out to “God of my salvation.” Even in the dark, God is the source of salvation. He is, in fact, our only salvation. And we as Christ-followers have one huge advantage over the psalmist. We live in a time when we can know for sure that the darkness will end.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Are you in the dark right now? Will you commit with me to pray daily in that darkness and to trust in the coming light?

 

Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash