The Hope in Complaining

Well, we are past the midway point of our 90 Days in the Psalms journey (you can still join in or watch all of the videos if you’re interested). I’m sorry I haven’t been posting as much as I had anticipated, but I’ll be back consistently when the journey is through. I haven’t stopped thinking about you all, though. In the midst of all of the loss, upheaval, and quarantining, I pulled aside some of my recent studies to post here.

I want to share Psalm 88, a dark and seemingly hopeless lament, today. I know, we don’t need any more depressing words thrown at us, but this Psalm is needed. It’s important because it not only shatters the idea that we must go to God with joy and a smile, but it also interrupts the notion that even in our cries we have to include words of adoration. I believe that we should try to include words of praise and reverence whenever we go to Him, but I also understand that desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Some of you may be grieving during this time, some may be losing hope, yet others may be trying to hold all emotions in in an attempt to maintain control. Perhaps you will find some sort of solace or alleviation, as I did, through this example of bringing it all, the good and the worst, to God.

1 O Lord, God of my salvation
    I cry out day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
    incline your ear to my cry!

3 For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am a man who has no strength,
5 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.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9     my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
    I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness,
    or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

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

Psalm 88 speaks only one positive about God - that in Him is salvation. Otherwise, this is a cry with no adoration, praise, or cheer. It seems to have no redeemable qualities, and one might even wonder why this Psalm would be included in the final compilation of manuscripts. The words almost put God in a negative light, with the composer (Heman the Ezrahite) blaming God’s wrath for his dark position, His rejection, and abandonment. Hopelessness is undeniably one of its themes. 

Yet, there is hope in this Psalm. You won’t find it in reading the words, though. The hope is found in the entirety of the poem - in the release of emotions and desperation through prayer. The action is the hope. At times when we feel we are at the end of our ropes, when we struggle to see any good, or even when it feels like God is punishing us, our hope in Him is displayed by the process of going to Him. We may be angry, despondent, frustrated, or dejected, but at the very least, we know that laying it at His feet is better than nothing; that perhaps God will hear and answer our cries. 

Sometimes, we are unable to package an immense hope in pretty wrapping paper with bows. In our darker times, hope can be more like a speck in the middle of some crumpled dirty newspapers. But, if that hope is in God, it doesn’t matter. Like faith, hope of the tiniest size still yields results. We shouldn’t allow our feelings, our dispositions, or even how we speak, no matter how bad, stop us from going to God. There’s NO condemnation or shame in approaching God imperfectly. It’s only when we stop going to Him, that we relinquish all of our hope.