Daily Devotions
Praying When There Is No Light
Title: Praying When There Is No Light
Reading for June 20: 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 of Psalms. The entire psalm, from beginning to end, has a feeling of hopelessness and despair. The psalmist is in a deep, dark hole and can't find a way out of it.
However, we should not conclude from this that the psalmist lacked 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 hope of getting out 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 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 many have come to love this psalm so much. This is the way life is. Sometimes answers to life's problems are not easy or simple. Sometimes there is no light to be found at the end of the tunnel. But there's always God. And no matter how dark life gets, we can always be honest with God 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!
