God assures us that His written Word is not only absolutely reliable, it is also profitable: “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable” (2 Tim. 3v16). All Scripture is profitable. Not some of it, not most of it, but all of it. This is wonderfully reassuring... until you read a passage like Psalm 88. Stop reading now and read the Psalm.
From beginning to end, Ps. 88 is unremittingly bleak. The Psalmist is “full of troubles”, he is a man with “no strength”, all his companions shun him, God’s wrath has swept over him, “Your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long”. The Psalm closes with the words, “my companions have become darkness”. What possible profit are we to gain from reading this sad and sorrowful litany? If Ps. 88 was your daily reading and you felt cast down in your soul, would it not be wise to jump to Ps. 89 with its exalted views of the covenant Lord? No!
It is often said that Ps. 88 is unremittingly bleak, that there are no glimmers of light anywhere. I think not. The Psalm begins with the words, “O Lord, God of my salvation”. As thick darkness all but consumes him, this man cries out “day and night” to the Lord. The interior darkness has not eclipsed his faith. He does not understand God’s ways with him, but in his perplexity he refuses to deny the Lord. He summons his remaining strength to “cry out” to the God of salvation. I wonder if there are any brighter examples of faith in the whole of God’s Word.
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