Father God, thank You for this new month! Lord God, thank You that You are in control. Lord God, thank You that You know our needs even more than we do. Lord, I ask that You strengthen this reader. Lord God, I ask that You meet the physical, financial, emotional, mental and spiritual needs of this reader. Lord God, thank You that You provide for us even when we do not see or feel it. Lord God, help us to become more like Jesus.
Father God, I ask that You give all nations and governments wisdom when it comes to how they handle COVID-19. Lord God, be with all people who are working day and night to serve and help others in this time. Lord God, may all people everywhere, exercise wisdom and common sense when it comes to being out in public. Lord God, helps us to be agents of peace and patience. Lord God, help us to draw closer to You. Teach us to discern Your Truth from all the lies and fear that are bombarding us.
Lord God, I specifically pray for East Africa. Lord God, be merciful on our East African brothers and sisters as they deal with the coronavirus and locusts. Lord God, impress on Your people, for those who have abundance, to consider the plight of those all over the world, even and perhaps in their own backyard who are suffering.
Lord God, teach us to value the things that You value. Teach us to love how You love. In all things may we seek to bring You glory. Thank You Jesus for the ability to pray in Your Name. Holy Spirit, lead us and guide us this day and in this new month. Triune God, thank You for who You are and for all the ways that You are working. Amen.
88 A SONG. A PSALM OF THE SONS OF KORAH. TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO MAHALATH LEANNOTH. A MASKIL OF HEMAN THE EZRAHITE.
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 (ESV).
This psalm is an individual lament. This psalm is also an anomaly in that it does not end in praise nor confession of confidence in the Lord. Verse 18 can also be translated darkness has become my only companion or darkness is my closest friend (NIV).
Robert Alter makes the observation that “the psalm deploys an unusual abundance of synonyms for the underworld” (The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary, 2019, pp. 210-211) such as: Sheol (v. 3), the pit (vv. 4, 6), the grave (v. 5), the land of forgetfulness (v. 12).
In Old Testament thought “the Lord does not involve himself with the dead…so the psalmist feels cut off from divine care” (D. Estes, Psalms 73-150 NAC, 2019, p. 154). The Psalmist has been suffering pain and affliction, being close to death since his youth (v. 15). Even though the Psalmist is suffering and feels cut off from God, he still trusts the God of “[his] salvation” (v. 1).
It may be significant that the Psalmist states that he takes his prayers to the Lord in the morning, as this is when the Lord most often intervened on His people’s behalf (see Pss 30:5; 46:5; Isa 37:6). “The psalmist suggests that for him prayer is the first item on his daily schedule. Prayer is not his last resort but his first impulse” (Estes, p. 156).
The Psalmist is unapologetically raw, sincere and vulnerable in expressing how he feels about his circumstances and the Lord’s silence. However, the Psalmist “does not accept his pain with stoic apathy because, as VanGemeren notes, ‘True faith is not an apathetic acceptance of whatever comes to pass. True faith lies in wrestling with the Lord in prayer'” (Estes, p. 155). The Psalmist “just casts the problem into the hands of the Lord, in effect challenging him to rectify the situation by his faithfulness and righteousness” (Estes, pp. 157-158).
“Psalm 88 teaches that the life of faith at times includes experiences of raw pain and desperate loneliness, but even in the blackest of nights those who trust in the Lord can and should take their frustrations to the Father (cf. Ps 139:12)” (Estes, p. 159).
That quote is what strikes me the most about this psalm. The Psalmist does not complain to his family, friends or anyone else who is willing or in earshot to listen. The Psalmist takes his laments, rhetorical questions and grief directly to God; crying out to Him. The Psalmist still has faith in the Lord even though He is silent.
When I first started typing this my title was “The Darkest Psalm.” While this psalm is indeed dark and bleak, Psalm 88 reveals that it is all right to ask God why even when he does not choose to answer the questions that we bring before Him. Psalm 13 and Job “As both Psalm 13 and the book of Job manifest, the Lord’s silence does not mean his absence, and his silent presence is enough for those who trust in him” (Estes, p. 159).
In this time of COVID-19 may we take our laments and personal grief before our Heavenly Father. May we trust Him when it comes to dealing with this new normal. Dear reader, please know that is okay to cry out to God, to ask Him questions. While your questions may be met with silence like this Psalmist, I pray that you will still trust Him.
Father God, I ask for You to strengthen Your people. Help us process and reconcile things that we have never seen before. Thank You Father for those who have training in how to deal with infectious diseases and outbreaks. Thank You Father for those who are calm. Lord God, help us to discern truth from error in regards to the news that is being presented to us. Lord God, may we be reminded that You are NOT the Author of confusion and chaos. Lord God, make prayer our impulse and default mode rather than our last resort. May we take our grief to You and have You help us with our grief before broadcasting our fears, troubles and anxieties to an already dark and anxious world. Lord God, I ask for Your Hand of mercy to be upon all Your people with small children, new babies and babies in the womb as life has changed from what it once was. Thank You Jesus for allowing us to pray in Your Name. Amen.
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”
(John 20:18 ESV)
Father God, thank You for raising Your Son Jesus from the dead! Thank You, Jesus for giving us new life, reconciling us to the Father! Father God, thank You that for those who are believers in Jesus’s Name that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, thank You for pointing us to Jesus, for convicting, teaching and guiding us! Holy Trinity, may we meditate and savor this Easter with more awe, reverence, devotion, love, respect and wonder this year. Thank You Jesus that You are among the living and NOT the dead!
Lord God, thank You for this reader! Lord God, I ask that You manifest Your presence and power in his/her life in a way that they know that it is You! Lord God, may our lips be filled with praise for who You are and what You have done. The more we praise You and meditate on You, the less we think about ourselves and our situations and circumstances. Thank You Jesus for giving us new life!
Lord and Master Jesus, thank You for loving us. Thank You that we are able to see You in Your Word. Thank You for preserving Your Word. Thank You that no matter what this world does to us and future generations, it cannot kill nor destroy the Truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Jesus, I ask that You help us to respond to You and Your Work by loving others in a way that pleases and glorifies the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Holy Trinity, praise You for Easter. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.
