Today’s Devotional Thought:
“You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves.” (Psalms 88:6-7 ESV)
Experts are telling us that this will be one of the darkest weeks of COVID-19. Many people will test positive for the virus and many will die. So how can we comfort friends, family, and neighbors in the midst of this pandemic? How can we comfort ourselves? Well, Psalm 88 is a beautiful roadmap.
As the inspired “hymnal” of Scripture, the Psalter has many different genres. There are psalms of lament, praise, thanksgiving, celebration, and so on. But most psalms of lament follow this pattern: they start with an expression of pain, confusion, or sorrow before pivoting to hope and confidence in God (see Psalm 13). But Psalm 88 has the distinction of being the “darkest Psalm” in the Bible. It sits in pain, lamentation, and suffering without ever moving to hope. And in the original Hebrew, the final word of Psalm 88 is literally “darkness” (מַחְשָֽׁךְ).
Now, I love many modern hymns. But as a whole, I find great poverty in so much contemporary Christian music (CCM). What ever happened to Christian lamentation? We never give believers an outlet for true lamentation like Psalm 88; everything has to be “positive, encouraging, KLOVE.”
But we can learn so much from Psalm 88 as modern people. We shouldn’t share hope like a hit and run attack, where we toss shallow “hope” at people and move on with our day. Instead, we shouldn’t be afraid to sit in darkness with our friends and family.
But we also shouldn’t leave them in Psalm 88 forever. At some point, we need to move on to verse 1 of the very next psalm: “I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations” (Psalms 89:1). Then we can move on from there to the the hope of the entire Bible, rooted in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for sinners like you and me.
So Christians should be the very best comforters in the world (though sadly, we seldom are).
On the one hand, we can sit with people in darkness. We don’t have to retreat to shallow answers. We don’t have to put shallow bandages on gaping spiritual wounds. Instead, we can be realistic about pain and suffering. And if you think about it, Psalm 88 is really a “Good Friday” psalm because it takes us all the way to the pain, darkness, lamentation, and agony of the cross.
But on the other hand, we can lead people out of darkness into a living and abiding hope. Because atheistic materialism or agnosticism can only sit in darkness. They can never offer real hope because we only come from nothing and return to nothing. But the Bible can take us from the sorrow and pain of Good Friday to the the joy and hope of resurrection life on Easter morning.
So during COVID-19, let’s pray Psalm 88 passionately, while never leaving others in darkness forever. And may the Lord grant us wisdom to know when it’s appropriate to lament, and when our lamentation can give way to shouts of joyous praise.
Ways to Pray:
Help me to sit in darkness with others this week.
Don’t let me be too quick to speak or too slow to listen. Give me wisdom to proclaim hope at the right time.
Help me to offer hope to others in this national crisis. Don’t leave us in darkness—show us Christ who is the Light of the World!
Monday through Friday: Written by Pastor Stern
Saturday and Sunday: Written by Jonathan Hatt