Daily Devotions
How To Pray When There Is No Light
Reading for June 20th: Psalms 81-88
But I, O Lord, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me?
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.
Psalm 88:13-18
In most psalms of lament there is normally a turning point where the grief and sorrow are turned to expressions of joy and praise and confidence in God's future deliverance.
Not in this Psalm. This psalm is perhaps the darkest in the whole book. The entire psalm, from beginning to end, has a feeling of hopelessness and despair. He is in a deep dark hole and doesn't seem to see a way out of it.
However, this is not evidence of a lack of faith. On the contrary, he opens the psalm by calling on God as the "God of my salvation" (v 1). Though he can't see the light at the top of the pit just yet, he knows that God is the only one who can pull him out. That's why he's praying. He is trusting in God. As dark as his life has become, he hasn't given up on God. He cries out "day and night" to him (v 2). Each morning he begins by looking up to the only one who can save him (v 13).
That's why so many have come to love this psalm so much. This is the way life is. Sometimes there are no easy answers to life's problems. Sometimes there is no light to be found at the end of the tunnel. But there is always God. And no matter how dark it gets, we can always be honest with him and cry out to him when we feel this way.
Father, incline your ear to those who are in a pit of despair and grief! Hear their cry to you and respond to their needs!
