I’m in the thick of reading the Psalms. There are 150 Psalms in the Bible, and at a surface-level reading, they could seem rather repetitive. Many of the same words, phrases, and sentiments show up, psalm after psalm. The more I study them, however, the more unique I find them to be. Psalm 88 recently caught my particular attention with a stunning display of encouraging faith I want to share today.
Psalm 88 is categorized as a lament, an earnest and urgent petition to God, from an individual’s point of view. In this mighty Psalm, the faith of choosing to continually cry out to God, pray to God, and call upon God, even in the depths of trouble—weakness, feeling distant from God, overwhelmed, being shunned, sorrow, affliction, suffering, and destruction—stood out to me. This distinct Psalm has no statement of confidence that God will bring deliverance or relief, as all the other Psalms have. Psalm 88 expresses the unwavering faith of the individual, as they simply come before the Lord in prayer, “Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you” (Psalm 88:9b). They pray faithfully, even as they are experiencing absolute misery, darkness, and sorrow day after day, to the point of feeling abandoned by God Himself; “O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 88:14). This psalm has a unique display of love for and trust of God, without confidence that He will change the singer’s circumstances.
When I realized the level of desperation the singer of this Psalm was in, the fact that they still expressed faith by seeking God in prayer using such connected and passionate language gave me pause. It is a beautiful example and reminder. There are occasions or seasons when we too may not feel or sense any sort of reply from God. We may feel abandoned by God, as expressed in Psalm 88; yet that doesn’t give us an excuse to stop acting on and praying in faith, even when we don’t see hope in sight. Continuously bringing our situation to God no matter how we may be feeling, as in this Psalm, shows incredible faith. God desires for us to have faith in Him and what He did for us (John 3:16, John 12:46, John 14:1, Acts 16:31). By including Psalms such as this one in Scripture, He has told us we won’t always feel connected, hope-filled, or happy. Feelings don’t surprise Him. They don’t change the reality: God set the foundation of steadfast love and faithfulness for us (Psalm 89); He paid the penalty for sin through Jesus; He has authority over all the things that seek to discourage us or steal our joy or destroy us. We are asked to believe and trust Him by faith, and not to give up believing, no matter how we feel or how dark things may become.
The depth of the faith shown in Psalm 88 goes deeper still, “You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves” (Psalm 88:6-7). The singer attributes their difficult situation to God Himself. They don’t shy away from telling God how they feel as a result. They acknowledge that God has authority over the situation they are in, that He Himself allowed it, if not caused it, and that He also has the ability to get them out of it. Again, the Psalm makes it clear that the singer feels distant, shunned, and in increasing internal pain. Yet, they still express faith that God has control and that relief is in His hands.
Hearing God’s Word—the Truth—strengthens our faith. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17); this is what Psalm 88 did for me. It was such an encouragement to see such gritty, unrelenting faith in the middle of the Psalms this week. Faith is fundamental to following Jesus. In the Word, we are commanded to believe in Jesus, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (1 John 3:23-24). Faith in God is so important to pleasing God and doing His will. I’m realizing that maybe faith is not as mysterious as it’s sometimes made out to be; faith comes by hearing the Truth, and it is a gift that God gives to all those who ask Him for it.
In Romans, Paul writes about the importance of believers doing what they do in faith, “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23b). Faith is foundational to walking in step with God, to walking in love, and abiding in Him.
May we continue to seek out and hear the Word and to pray for strong, unwavering faith as we endure until the very end. Amen.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
“And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
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