Regions Dark & Deep – Psalm 88

Many consider Palm 88 the darkest of all the laments in the Psalter. The last word of the song, in fact, is 'darkness' – describing the loss of all common sources of joy in this veil of tears. Like Job, even Heman's (the Ezrahite author) closest friends can be counted on to desert him in his desperate hour of need... more precisely, in his desperate life of affliction and sorrow. In the context of its time, it may well have been a fitting hymn for a leper. Someone in this condition, as it persisted, could connect with Heman's cries at every turn of phrase – imminent death, rejection of society, overwhelming sorrow and suffering, horrifying distance from the apparent favor of God. Yet like Job, there is nevertheless, a resolve revealing the un-severed sinews of faith woven through the Psalm in chorus-like repetition. This profound faith, while evident from the first phrase, only increases through the song. The more we read, the more impressive his conviction appears. The Lord God is his savior in spite of all the sorrows the Lord has commissioned in His bitter providence. The value of Psalm 88 is only magnified in a culture such as ours. This lament is medicine for the modern soul which most often deals with sorrow and suffering by means of temporal escape (drugs, amusement, meditation, vacations, virtual diversions, denial). For a culture corrupted by such delusions, Ps 88 reminds us how insidious our last enemy truly is (I Cor 15), and consequently how powerfully victorious our resurrected and ascended Messiah, Jesus Christ!