Adventures is Drearyland
The problem with much of Christian publishing is that it always has to be positive, uplifting, or come to a happy ending where the lost person is finally redeemed. It's just not always true to life.
Psalm 88 is a Psalm of complete despair. From beginning to end, the Psalm offers no light at the end of the tunnel nor a happily ever after. Not a single note of hope or anticipation that things will work out in the end.
It begins:
Psalm 88:1–3 (ESV) 1 O Lord, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
It ends...
Psalm 88:18 (ESV) You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
But we need to be thankful this Psalm is in the Bible. It's there to remind us that sometimes things in life doesn't end the way we want, no matter what we do or hope. We can also be thankful, this is the only Psalm in the book like this! We do normally have hope and joy in the fulfillment of God's plans and purpose, but sometimes, every once in a while, we're going to see despair up close and personal.
If Christians want to relate to people who need hope, perhaps we need to be more open about the times when we don't have it. Because we all do. Whether in a relationship, a job situation, a sickness or death, Christians will experience the gamut of human conditions. We rob our witness to pretend otherwise or manipulate art to promise something that life doesn't 100% deliver.
Thankfully, we can approach God like this Psalmist does as well. He hears, and He listens and He's there. Sure, you can deny God exists in the face of overwhelming circumstances and pain. But where doest that leave you? Your pain is still there and what's worse, you have no one with WHOM to work it out! But this Psalmist has someone he can cry out to "day and night" without fear of retribution.
God listens to our pain... and through it as well.
And for that we can still be thankful.
Psalm 88 is a Psalm of complete despair. From beginning to end, the Psalm offers no light at the end of the tunnel nor a happily ever after. Not a single note of hope or anticipation that things will work out in the end.
It begins:
Psalm 88:1–3 (ESV) 1 O Lord, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
It ends...
Psalm 88:18 (ESV) You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
But we need to be thankful this Psalm is in the Bible. It's there to remind us that sometimes things in life doesn't end the way we want, no matter what we do or hope. We can also be thankful, this is the only Psalm in the book like this! We do normally have hope and joy in the fulfillment of God's plans and purpose, but sometimes, every once in a while, we're going to see despair up close and personal.
If Christians want to relate to people who need hope, perhaps we need to be more open about the times when we don't have it. Because we all do. Whether in a relationship, a job situation, a sickness or death, Christians will experience the gamut of human conditions. We rob our witness to pretend otherwise or manipulate art to promise something that life doesn't 100% deliver.
Thankfully, we can approach God like this Psalmist does as well. He hears, and He listens and He's there. Sure, you can deny God exists in the face of overwhelming circumstances and pain. But where doest that leave you? Your pain is still there and what's worse, you have no one with WHOM to work it out! But this Psalmist has someone he can cry out to "day and night" without fear of retribution.
God listens to our pain... and through it as well.
And for that we can still be thankful.
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