What Should Believers Do When God Seems Distant?

Good morning everyone. Today we will meditate on Psalm 88. It’s one of the one of the darkest Psalms or portions in the entire scriptures. And before we read passage, I want to ask you a question. As we know that the Lord allows various pains and sufferings in our lives, with some lasting for a short time and others for a lifetime, we know that some people go through a very long period of

As redeemed believers, we must view our sufferings through the lens of the scriptures and avoid dwelling in or value in self-pity. Instead we should learn through God’s grace and His word to live for His glory even in suffering.

In Christ, even suffering becomes a ministry opportunity. It’s not a glitch in our beautiful lives. It’s an opportunity to grow. It’s an opportunity to mature. chore it’s all it’s an opportunity to draw closer to the Lord and to experience the grace of the Lord. And it’s opportunity also to be a blessing to others. My question to you this morning is, how do you deal with your suffering? Whatever suffering that God has allowed in your life, take a moment to reflect on your suffering in life, whether it could be illness, it could be, you know, some kind of persecution or depression, marriage problems or something else. Consider how you are responding to these challenges in your life. Think for a moment. It’s your time now. Think about all the challenges that

you are facing in your life or have faced in your life and how you respond to them. How have you responded to them and how are you responding to them? Think of that for a moment and then we’ll get into the… Why are you grumbling? Why are you complaining?

What were you doing? You praying? You pray? Do you cry to God? What do you do? You want to die in your life? What are your thoughts? Where does, how, where does God come into picture when you suffer? In 1967, a 17-year-old girl, when diving with our friends — it was a shallow water, a brook — and she misjudged the depth of that water body and she took a dive. She hit her head, which resulted in an accident that broke her neck. Joni Eareckson Tada became paralyzed from the shoulders down and was confined to a wheelchair

for life. And during her first two years of rehabilitation, she faced thoughts of anger, frustration, depression, despair, even suicidal thoughts, and questioned half her faith, questioned God. And over time, as she studied the scriptures, as she was ministered by other people, she became convinced that her condition was part of God’s plan. She realized that she couldn’t do anything to change her circumstances, but she thought that even in that situation she could live for God’s glory. She realized that God didn’t, did not intend for her to resent her situation, but to accept, embrace and utilize our condition for God’s glory. And this insight led her to establish Joni and Friends, a ministry dedicated to serving people with disabilities since past 48 years.

And she has authored numerous books, spoke at many conferences, shared gospel with many. And her life has been a source of blessing and also an inspiration to many people who are disabled. It depends how you view your suffering, how you deal with suffering and your thoughts about God and your confidence in God’s grace and his word. Let’s turn our Bibles to Psalm 88. The title of today’s sermon is “What should believers do when God seems distant?” Psalm 88. Let’s… from verse 1. A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah for the choir director.

According to Mahalath Leannoth, a maskil of Heman. That is right. O Lord, let’s read it together. “O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry. For my soul has had enough troubles, and my life has drawn near to Sheol. I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength, forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, and they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the depths. Your wrath has rested upon me, and you have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah. You have removed my acquaintances far from

me. You have made me an object of loathing to them; I’m shut up and cannot go out. My eye has wasted away because of affliction. I have called upon you every day, O Lord; I have spread my hands to you. Will you perform wonders for the dead when the departed spirits rise and praise you? Selah. Will your loving kindness be declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon? Will your wonders be made known in the darkness, and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O Lord, have cried out to you for help, and in the morning my prayer comes before you.

O Lord, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer your terrors, I am overcome. Your burning anger has passed over me; your terrors have destroyed me. They have surrounded me like water all day long; they have encompassed me all together. You have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in darkness.” Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you, Lord, that you have recorded this experience of your servant in the scriptures to speak to our life for father and to learn from it, to be instructed by your, by the psalm. Lord, we pray

and we confess that our responses to our life circumstances are not pleasing to you. Many times we failed you, we grieved your Spirit, we doubted your love and your care. We failed to trust in your sovereignty and your providence. Oh, you forgive us and help us learn from the Scriptures, from your servants, from your people of the Word, and also from the history, O Lord, to live life that is really pleasing in your sight. Please sanctify our hearts and help us see through your Scriptures how we ought to live when we suffer in this world. In Jesus Christ name we pray, amen. Here

we see that the psalmist is named as Heman. We hardly hear about him or read about him in the Bible, but his name is mentioned a couple of times in the book of Kings and Chronicles. Heman was one of the Levitical singers.

He comes from the line of Korah, the sons of Korah, and you see that from Psalms 42 till 49, all those Psalms were penned by the sons of Korah and also a few other Psalms in the entire book of Psalms. And this Psalm is called, if you read the superscription there, this Psalm is called as a maskil. Maskil, maskil. Yeah, so which is intended to, which means that, which is intended to instruct us with wisdom to live life purposefully. And the term there, the choir director, indicates that this Psalm was used for corporate worship. And when the designation here, the Ezrahite, we don’t know what it means.

but some people think that probably he was under exile and was under the influence also of Ezra. We do not know. Yeah, but if you ever read Psalms, you know, they are a great encouragement to our souls, right? And whenever I was personally going through anything, I would run to Psalms. I used to make them as my own prayers. And you observe that most of the Psalms, they begin in sorrow or pain and end in exuberant joy and praise.

But this Psalm is an exception. This could be the only Psalm that ends without any expression of joy and hope. This Psalm begins with these words, “O God of my salvation,” and ends with darkness. And after these four words at the beginning, “God of my salvation,” there seems to be no break in the monotony of grief and despair. Yet this Psalm is important because it’s recorded in the Bible. The psalmist seems to be pressed down by an unknown, immense sorrow and distress. We do not have light into his situation, but his suffering seems to be unbearable. His grief seems to be like that of Job, as he expressed in Job chapter 19. Maybe Heman was undergoing some sickness or

maybe he was in exile when he penned the Psalm, and God seemed to him very distant. We do not know the reasons; we are just speculating the reasons. And he must have been going through these for a, for a long time or some time. And this is not a mere a passing depression or some kind of temporary discouragement. This is the cry of a soul who is in a prolonged period of agony. How long? Look at verse 15, look at verse 15. He says, “I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on.” From a very young age. Probably it must be some terrible

sickness. He must be in a lot of pain, and he has likely been praying for a long time. And his, and his friends and loved ones may have thought that he must have committed some terrible sin to deserve such misery, like Job’s friends treated Job, and which is why they might have abandoned him. He says that. And to, towards the end he says that his lover, even his lover, probably his wife or his fiancée, we don’t know, but he says his lover, he even, even that person deserted him, similar to Job’s situation. Psalm 88 stands as one of the most and disturbing passages

in all of Scriptures. And the psalmist is in deep agony, but even in his deep distress he doesn’t stop spreading his hands to the sovereign Lord. He’s crying to God, but there is no response to him. What do we do in such situations? You pray day and night, but God doesn’t seem to respond, or God doesn’t seem to do what you are expecting to do, the, that he would do. Heman’s words reminds us that even the most faithful believers, even the most theologically sounded believers, can experience seasons of overwhelming darkness. And this Psalm presents both a challenge and

a profound theological treasure that illuminates the deep realities of human experience under God’s sovereign rule. There are many preachers out there who would preach that by believing in Jesus one will not face sickness. If you believe in Jesus, there’s no, there’s not going to be trouble, all problems vanish in the air. They teach that the sickness can be bound, and they say that if you’re praying and if you’re still sick or still having a problem, they often say it’s because you lack enough faith. People, if you’re listening to such preaching, is just crap. It’s crap. It’s not from the Bible. The Psalm

this Psalm is part of the biblical canon. It is inspired Scriptures. How do you answer Heman or Job or anyone in the Bible who had ever suffered? How do you answer them? I want to hear a prosperity or a Word Faith movement preacher preach this passage.

I wonder what heresy they would come up with. Here is a man who is in deep agonizing pain and finds God distant. He feels like he's are uttered in into some void. It's a tough place to be, feeling abandoned. And when you're in such moments of life, how do you respond? Do you feel like giving up on faith? Do you feel like giving up on God? How will you respond when you feel abandoned and feel hopeless? How will you respond when God seems distant? Will you abandon God, or will you cry day and night to God and still live with hope? As I mentioned, this psalm is a maskil, which means it's an instruction. It instructs us how to live with wisdom in such life circumstances. Many people

become cynical about Heman when they read this psalm, but they're there. But as you read them carefully, you will find a lot of implicit answers hidden in this psalm. You're not speculating this psalm, or you're not speculating those answers, they're — We will see that. Firstly, from verses 1 till 9, the first part of verse 9, you see a deep anguish. Look at verse 3. It says, “My soul, for my soul has enough, has had enough troubles.” Troubles. Yes, he says full of troubles, but troubles are an understatement here. The actual word means misery. My life is full of misery, my life is full of adversity, afflictions. It is pain that causes deep anguish of the soul and which leads to continual lament. And to describe this situation he uses

various images here look at verse 3 to his yen he says that he uses a word she all the place of the dead the pit versus four and six it's a it's a synonym to shield she all here and verse 5 the dead and the slain he's actually is not actually drawn to show here which is the place for the dead he uses his words and phrases to express the situation look at verse 4 he says I am counted or I am reckoned among those who go he is counted as a man without strength look at verse 5 like the slain who

lie in the grave.” You know, these statements imply that he is in a death-like situation, and that's not the end, it only intensifies. Look at verse 6 till 8. He says that “you have put me in dark places, your wrath has rested upon me, you have afflicted me with your waves, you have removed my acquaintances, you have made me an object of loathing.” Such was his anguish. And he says in verse 9, “my eye has wasted away because of affliction.” In other words, he's saying that my eye is growing dim by waiting upon you for deliverance. My anguish of the soul is only

building, is only building, it's only piling up. What does the psalmist do with this anguish, if he feels abandoned, rejected, right? What does he do with his anguish? He brings to the Lord and hopes in him. Look at verse 1. He says, “O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before you. Let my prayer come before you, incline your ear to my cry.”

In his deep anguish, Heman looks to the Lord. In our English Bibles, it is in the uppercase, L-O-R-D, Lord. The name is exclusive to the God of the Bible, the one true God. As we have heard this morning, it is Yahweh. He is the God who bound himself by covenant to the descendants of Abraham. He has made a covenant with his people, and Heman appeals to God based on this covenantal relationship that God has established with his people. And God, and he knows that because God has made a covenant with his people, God is faithful. He will be faithful because he has covenanted with his people. He knows that God cannot be unfaithful. God will have mercy on his people only because he has made

a covenant with his people. Heman believes that Yahweh is sovereign. He calls him God of my salvation. He believes that God has the power, all power, all authority to save him from his painful and agonizing situation, even though the rescue is not immediate. He cannot see, he cannot anyone, he cannot see anyone capable of rescuing him. He could not think of any other power who could rescue him from the situation. He couldn't run to anyone else because he knows that there is only one God, one Yahweh. The idea of abandoning God doesn't come to his mind because he knows that there is no other

besides Yahweh. No matter what your pain is today, you cannot abandon God because there is no other helper. Try to understand how you can live in your pain for the glory of God. And there is an implicit truth hidden in these texts. There is another truth. One truth is that Yahweh God is the only God, is the only Savior, he's the only helper, right? And another implicit truth that we see here in this text is that in verses 6 to 8 he says, “you have put me, your wrath as a part is as rested upon me, you have afflicted me, you have removed my

acquaintances, you have made me.” You know, at first reading you may feel that he is blaming God, is accusing God. But as you read these verses in the context, I think he is not accusing God of his situation but is acknowledging God that he is in control. He wouldn't call Yahweh the God who saves him and the very next moment, I, I don't think he will accuse him. Here is a man in deep pain and is grappling with this question, how can I live, how can I live? And these words come from someone who sees suffering as under God's control. It is allowed for our

sanctification and for his purposes. God allows evil people to inflict pain on us. He doesn't stop them. In the case of Joseph, you remember, God allowed the evil plans of his brothers to succeed. What they intended for harm, God used for good. But God is not the source of the, that evil plan. God allowed the evil plans to succeed, but he used those plans to accomplish his own purposes. But Joseph had to endure the audio. God's, God sometimes allows even good people to misunderstand us and abandon us, and he will not correct their misunderstandings of us, and he can, he can use all of this

for his purposes, and in midst of all, and in the midst of all of it all, God is doing something beautiful in us. Heman recognizes that nothing, including his dark trials, happens outside of God's sovereignty. Job experience a really tough time too. He lost all his children. Imagine the sight. He lost all of his children, his wealth, and then he was inflicted with painful sores. Imagine yourself in such situation. How would you respond to God?

his wife also left him she his wife saw her faith in God as something transactional and many Christians are like that their faith is transactional what do I mean by that I'll worship God only if he blesses me I'll give to him only if he gives to me and this kind of thinking is actually very common quite common among God's people wonder if God isn't answer if God isn't answering my prayers why should I even bother going to church job to verse 9 job's wife said to him after she saw all these things because our understanding of God is transactional if he does

something, but now he does, now he allowed something evil to happen, so our faith in God is no longer there. She says that, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity?” And she says, “Curse God, curse God and die.” This is from the evil one. But Job responds in verse 10, “You speak as one of the foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Brothers and sisters, true faith in God is not transactional. It is based on God's merciful covenant that he has made with undeserving people.

We tend to complain a lot because we think that we deserve, we deserve. But God's covenant is very clear. He has made a covenant with his people, but there, those people are undeserving. And as a true worshiper of God, you will realize that there is none like God, no one, nor the God besides him. Abandoning God is choosing eternal misery. And what does the psalmist do in his misery? He has a solid theology, brothers and sisters. He has a solid understanding of who God is. He knows that he alone is God, he alone is sovereign, he is in absolute control of everything. And he reminds

himself of these deep theological truths. And he knows that he is a covenant-keeping God, he's a faithful God who has all power to save his people, and no one can thwart his plans or his purposes. He also remembers that whatever he's facing is entirely under God's sovereign control. So what does he do with this knowledge? What does he do with his knowledge? Brothers and sisters, this is important for even for us. What do we do with the knowledge of God that we have? Look at verse 1. It brings to, brings him to his knees. Probably he was on his face ground, crying to God,

probably is on his bed unable to move, crying to God. He out by day and in the night before you. “Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.” With all that knowledge of God, he is crying to God. He is only crying to God. Days together, days together is simply crying to God with great expectancy. This man even in his deep anguish is walking by faith. There is anguish, there is pain, this turmoil in his heart, but he is walking with faith. He's pleading and begging persistently before God. Brothers and sisters, do you have such faith? What do you do? How

do you respond in difficult times, difficult times? Everyone sings hallelujahs in good times, prosperity times. But what if trouble hits you, sickness hits you? What if that is there for a long period of time? How do you respond? How have you responded? It you sulk in self-pity, wallow in self-pity? Are you in deep affliction? Have you been crying out to God? Does God seem distant? Do not worry, you are not alone. We have the psalmist here, we have Job for company. We have many saints in the Bible and over the history in company. They consistently cried to God.

And all true saints of God express that. There is sweetness of God's grace even in difficult times, though the pain never vanished. But there is the sweetness of God's grace that sustained his people. Christ, our eternal high priest, can sympathize with our sufferings. He experienced abandonment on the cross as he was hung there for us, since his friends abandoned him. The Heavenly Father manifested his fierce wrath on Christ, which was burning against our sins. Christ became the object of God's displeasure because of our sins. God laid our sins on Jesus, and it pleased the Father to crush Jesus under his severe wrath. Dear friend, if you do not know Christ, understand that only Christ has, only what Christ has accomplished on the

cross can atone for your sins, can save you from your sins. If you're not in Christ, let me tell you that you will become the object of God's wrath, God's anger. And the next thing that we see here in verses from the second part of verse 9 till verse 12, we see that he wrestles with God.

Second part of verse 9, he says, “I have called upon you every day, O Lord. I have spread out my hands to you.” As Heman's anguish continues to grow, he recognizes that God allowed this in his life and sees that only God can rescue him. He cries out to him every single day, spreading out his hands with hope. And he wrestles in prayer.

all his feelings, all his fears and the contemplations of his heart before God. He knows that God will judge him. He brings all that he’s feeling and he’s venting it out in the presence of the Lord. That is true lament, brothers and sisters. That’s how our prayer life should be. The psalmist anguishes, he laments, he questions, but he does all not in some void or in some self-pity, but he does that before the Lord. He does that at the throne of His grace. God expects honest lament before Him. We can bring our feelings of hurts, our complaints, doubts

deep pain and trouble and travail in the presence of God. Psalm 88 teaches us that lament is a necessary and legitimate form of worship. If you’re bringing all your heart before the Lord, the Lord is glorified, the Lord is pleased. The essence of biblical faith is that you persist in prayer when you have doubts. John Calvin said, “Even our ability to cry out to God in distress is itself a gift of grace.” The psalmist asks a series of rhetorical questions. What is a rhetorical question? The question that assumes an answer. The answer is implicit. So he asked this series of rhetorical questions in verses 10

to 12. He says, “Will you perform wonders for the dead?” The answer is yes or no? “Will the departed spirits rise and praise you?” Selah, say, like, you take a deep pause when you have these questions, you’re, when you’re, when you’re battling with these questions, you take a deep pause and think about God’s ability. “Will your loving kindness be declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon?” Verse 12, “Will your wonders be made known in the darkness and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” Some people interpret these questions as sarcasm, but we must see that these questions are desperate pleas. These questions

reveal the psalmist understanding that only God can help is not, his hope remains anchored in the sovereign Lord, even though at times his hope might feel like futile. The psalmist is not questioning God but asking God to act now because it’s too late. I like what Jim Hamilton said. There are some underlying presuppositions in these questions. Look at verse 10. “Will you perform wonders for the dead?” So the question is assuming some things.

What is that? It assumes that God does wonders for the living. The living witness God’s wonders, not the dead. So he is asking the Lord, let me live so that I can see your wonders demonstrated, the wonders of your God’s grace, because I knew I’ll be useless if I’m dead. I won’t witness your glory. That’s the heart of the psalmist here. The next question answers us the why of the first question. “Will the departed spirits rise and praise you?” The psalmist here longs to be delivered from his death-like situation and his constant anguish so that he can praise God for his wonders. Beneath this, these questions lies a passion to live for God’s glory. The following

few questions intensify that passion. Look at verse 11. “Will your loving kindness be declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon? Will your wonders be made known in the darkness and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” Will the loving kindness, God’s faithfulness, his wonders and his righteousness be proclaimed among the dead? His plea before God is, oh Lord, let me live so that I may proclaim your glories among the living, for if I die Lord, I won’t be able to do that. I’m not useful after I die, Lord. So let me live, let me use the days of my life for the proclamation of

your faithfulness and your gratefulness and your greatness. These words remind me of also the words of David. Probably David was in some situation like that, and in Psalm 30 verse 9 he said, “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it declare your faithfulness?” The words of this psalmist give us the motivation for our lives, which we must honestly examine. Our motivations — are you presently motivated in your life to live for the glorification of God? Are you motivated to proclaim the goodness and mercies of the Lord? What are you living for? What

are you living for? You must ask this question. Only to make a big career, to have a three BHK apartment or whatever, give a comfortable life to your family and praise God once in a while, right, stuck to your YouTube and listen to whatever podcast or whatever? What is the motivation for you in your life? What is the purpose of your life? What are you for? The psalmist here teaches us, it’s a muscle, it teaches us to have right motivations in life. Civilla Martin was a gospel hymn writer who lived in the Newark with her husband while

they were early 1900s, they did, they developed a deep friendship with another God-fearing couple, Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle. Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle. Mrs. Doolittle was bedridden for more than 20 years, and her, yeah, Mrs. Doolittle was, she was bedridden for 20 years, more than 20 years, and has, and her husband Mr. Doolittle was crippled for life and was on his wheelchair. He used to go to his work, his business, on his wheelchair, come back and attend to his wife. And the Martins, who developed this deep friendship with this couple, saw that this couple were a happy couple, hopeful couple, never complained, never grumbled,

they were always happy. One day, on their visit to the Doolittles, Mr. Martin asked about their secret to living a hopeful life, a happy life, even in much trouble. To that Mrs. Doolittle replied, he said these words, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.” These words deeply moved the Martins. That inspired Civilla Martin to write this popular song. Why I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?

Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is He. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me. Brother and sister, why are you living your Christian life? What motivates you? What is your confidence? How are you dealing with your own trouble? How are you dealing with your own pain, your suffering? Where is God in all of this? Thirdly, finally, verses 13 till 18, the psalmist persists even more in his anguish, in his utter desperation, to live for the glory of God. In verse 13 the psalmist resumes his cry, and after his cry the psalmist resumes to complain to God of his situation. Look at verse 14. He

says, “Lord, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?” You know, again there are some implicit answers to in these questions. Two questions begin with why. He’s inquiring about the purpose of whatever ordeal is going through. What is more troubling to the psalmist is that is not experiencing God’s grace here. Another word face here, word face, it signifies the blessing of his presence. He feels rejected. He feels that he’s distant from God’s presence, is he’s not experiencing his presence. And out of his deep anguish, he’s praying this, “Lord, why do you hide your face from me?”

Why am I not experiencing your grace and your presence? Dear people, dear people of God, do you long for God’s presence and the sweetness of his grace? Do you even have time for such soul-searching questions? Did you ever ask God, “Lord, why did you, why do you hide your face from me?” When was the last time you asked that? We are satisfied with our five-minute devotions, right? And hurried prayers. How is your prayer life? How is your word life? How do you meditate upon God’s word? Your five-minute devotions or your hurried prayers speak a volume about your walk with the Lord. The following verses show that is overwhelmed with all these experiences of anguish and abandonment. And the last word in

the psalm is darkness. Darkness versus companion. There is no resolution to the problem in this psalm. The psalm ends without praise. Without hope expressed. But you see that there are a lot of implicit expressions here. He expresses that the God himself is the Savior. Alone the Savior, and this is remarkable in Scripture and deeply instructive. How is it instructive? God allows periods of soul-wrenching, agonizing, anguishing times in believers’ lives. There are no answers for that sometimes. The psalm teaches us that we must not go by our feelings. I don’t feel like doing

this. I don’t feel like trusting God. I don’t feel like reading the word. I don’t feel like praying. The psalm teaches us that we must not go by feelings. Feeling says God has abandoned us, but Scripture says Yahweh is the only Savior. He’s old is he is the only sovereign one. The scripture says that. Nothing happens outside of his control. He is in very much control. Scriptures say that. So don’t allow your feelings to control you. Let the scriptures inform your mind. And be controlled by the scriptures.

The scriptures teaches us that God is a faithful God. He is a covenant keeping God. He will never forsake His covenant. He will never be unfaithful to His covenant. He will never forsake His people. So let the scriptures inform you and control you, not the feelings.

There is a purpose for God allowing dark periods in your life. What should God’s people do when God seems distant? We must make room for honest expression of pain. We must learn to lament in the presence of God. We must bring all our feelings of pain, rejection, hurt, disappointment before God. We must let the scriptural truths inform our being so that our feelings will not control us but God’s truth control us. Laments our prayers of faith based on God’s Word in times of deep pain and agony. In times of laments you remind yourselves of God’s Word. You contemplate with God’s Word and your feelings and you pour out before God’s Word before God. You’re genuinely

pouring out your feelings before God, and at the same time you’re contemplating on God’s scriptures, on the scriptures, on his promises. You’re crying out those promises to God. You’re telling God of his character and praying of the Lord. And we must continue to cry out to God even when he seems silent, even the help is not immediate. Remember, we can be faithful to God even in deep agonizing times when we cultivate the habit of lamenting in the presence of the Lord.

While Psalm 88 ends in darkness, it does not end in despair. The very fact that this Psalm is preserved in the scriptures, that God inspired these words and included them in the collection of Israel’s worship songs, testifies to their value and purpose. Sometimes the most profound worship is found not in triumphant praise but in persistent crying out to God from the depths of a suffering heart. If you are in a dark season today, let Heman’s word, let Heman’s example encourage you. Keep crying out, keep praying, keep believing that the God who allowed this psalm in the scripture or preserved the scripture understands your pain and he hasn’t abandoned you.

The psalm may end with the word darkness. But the story does not end there. The story continues in the Bible. As the story of the Bible progresses, we see that at a specific point in time the darkness was conquered on the cross. The psalmist may not have known the full story of what God was writing. His question in verse 10, “Will the departed spirits rise and praise you?” That question did not anticipate future resurrection. For those who are in Christ, the darkness of Psalm 88 is not the final word. Resurrection is a final word. Resurrection is where all tears will be wiped away and the

purposes of God’s sovereignty in our suffering will be revealed in their full glory where God announces the adoption of his sons. All who are dead in Christ will rise one day and will praise Him. For the believer, we know that every dark psalm finds his ultimate answer in the gospel. Christ entered our darkness, experienced forsakenness, and emerged victorious so that we might have hope even in our darkest times. Christ died on the cross not to, not to take away dark periods from our lives, but even in those dark periods in our lives we can hope in God and rest as your office grace even

genuine believers can suffer such deep emotional pain like Heman, and at times he can have, we can have difficulty hoping in Christ. It is very important to understand that our salvation does not rest in our feelings. It rests on what God has done in Christ on the cross. He suffered for our sins and paid for them fully. He suffered a painful death. Our salvation rests on the resurrection of Christ. Our hope is in the promises that God has made, not on how you feel in the pain, in times of pain. I want to close with another story. William Cowper, an 18th century hymn writer, was pastored by John Newton, the one who wrote the hymn, “Amazing Grace.”

William Cowper lost his mother at a very young age. And he was told that his mother went to a far place. She will come back soon. For many years, he lived with that hope that his mother would come back. He loved his mother dearly.

unable to cope with the loss, William’s father sent away his son to a boarding school. He was troubled by many of his peers and his older boys there, and he was badly abused by other people. In depression, as he grew up, he came back home. He wanted, he liked a girl and the girl liked him. He wanted to marry her. He went to her father to ask her in marriage, and father reject, her father rejected, and he was, it was so rejected, or he was so dejected, and so that he never married in life. He never loved his wife. His father forced him to get into a, the profession of being a lawyer. He, his heart was not in that. He wanted to write. He was a beautiful writer. He rewrote many poems, but his father forced him to become a lawyer, and he studied law, and he as

an apprentice, he was under immense pressure by his superiors, and he many times in a rehabilitation center he heard the gospel. He believed in Christ, and then he was pastored by John Newton, the one who wrote “Amazing Grace.” But William Cowper never actually overcame his melancholy. He suffered with depression, but at the same time he wrote many hymns. He wrote more than 350 hymns, and one of the famous hymns is like “A Closer Walk with God,” “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” and “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.” I want to read a stanza from the hymn

“God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” he says. You can see his melancholy in these, in his writings. “Oh fearful saints, new courage take. The clouds that you now dread are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.”

You know, frowning providence is a metaphor. It means that whatever you ask, you don’t receive it immediately. But you know that our God is a God of providence. If you’re walking through your own Psalm 88 season today, know this: your lament is heard, your tears are seen. Though the answer may not come when or how you expect, God has not abandoned you. Keep praying, keep believing, keep holding fast to the God of your salvation. There is no other God besides him. Let’s pray. Father, we pray, help us, help us know who you are, and help us understand your greatness and your abilities. Give us grace, Father, to

understand that your God even in our bad times, and help us see that you allow those times for your own glorious purposes and for our own good. Father, shape our lives through these scriptural truths, and in Jesus Christ name we pray, amen.