September 22
13 But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbour—
darkness is my closest friend.
Psalm 88 has a unique characteristic in the whole range of the Psalms we have. While there are many which cry out in forms of lament (complaints to God or cries for mercy), Psalm 88 is the only one that ends in lament. The rest come to a resolution of praise. Recognizing God’s faithfulness and his certain answers. Here we end in lament.
All of us spend some time in this place. Many times recognizing that this is temporary and things will turn around. Knowing that God will be with us and restore us. Yet we have those Psalm 88 days. Days when it seems it is just too much. Whether it is because the physical pain of injury or illness holds us. We might sit in the place of despair from the struggles of mental health. We face end of life for ourselves or one close to us. There are times and places where we can just cry out to God and let it sit there.
Things don’t always resolve in a day, or in an episode of a sitcom. Sometimes things remain. Paul will speak of his thorn in the flesh, which he wanted removed, yet God left with him. For Paul the message was that God’s grace was sufficient. Not everyone who was blind, lame, deaf, leprous, possessed, or otherwise crying out, was healed when Jesus walked with his disciples.
I think it is important to see that in the gospel of Mark the last words we hear from Jesus are from a Psalm of lament, Psalm 22. And even though we can go back and see that Psalm end in praise, Mark leaves those lamenting cries of Jesus be the last words we hear from him. A gospel ending in wonder and grief. And then knowing that it brings us restoration in the cry of lament from Jesus as he is on the cross.
Today might be a great day of joy for us. It may be one of pain. Our world sees those conflicting realities right now. Whether it is in our own pain, or for the struggles of the world that deals with wars, famines, earthquakes, floods and droughts. We cry out to God for mercy and restoration in our prayer of lament today.
Song – How Long, Oh Lord
Prayer
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.
—Psalm 13, NIV