The Saddest Psalm

Psalm 88

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

LORD, you are the God who saves me;
    day and night I cry out to you.
May my prayer come before you;
    turn your ear to my cry.

I am overwhelmed with troubles
    and my life draws near to death.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am like one without strength.
I am set apart with the dead,
    like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
    who are cut off from your care.

You have put me in the lowest pit,
    in the darkest depths.
Your wrath lies heavily on me;
    you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
You have taken from me my closest friends
    and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
    my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, LORD, every day;
    I spread out my hands to you.
Do you show your wonders to the dead?
    Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
Is your love declared in the grave,
    your faithfulness in Destruction?
Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
    or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

But I cry to you for help, LORD;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Why, LORD, do you reject me
    and hide your face from me?

From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
    I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
Your wrath has swept over me;
    your terrors have destroyed me.
All day long they surround me like a flood;
    they have completely engulfed me.
You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
    darkness is my closest friend.

Where is the joy? Where is the hope? Psalm 88 is so utterly depressing. The writer of this psalm expresses complete dejection. Years of suffering have brought him to his knees. He draws near to death. His friends and loved ones have abandoned him.

He cries out to the LORD, but he seems to receive no answer. He pleads with God, “How can I praise you if I’m dead?” He feels overwhelmed, forgotten, drowned.

“Darkness is my closest friend.”

The psalms speak the words of the soul. Though the psalms, like the rest of Scripture, are God’s inspired Word, they speak from a different perspective. The psalms respond to what God has said. They dwell on the human experience. They give a human voice to the life of faith.

Psalm 88 might just be the saddest psalm. There are other psalms where the writer cries out for help, but most often, there appears an answer to prayer in that same psalm. Not this one. What this reveals to us is that for the believer, there may be times when everything seems hopeless. Faith in the gospel does not mean no bad experiences, situations, or feelings. Almost any believer could tell of a time when they felt “confined and could not escape.”

Where is the hope? We typically sing Psalm 88 once a year at our church. Do you know when? We sing it on Maundy Thursday, the night Jesus was betrayed. Yes, Judas marked him with a kiss. But all his disciples fled. Peter denied Jesus three times. “You have taken from me my closest friends and made me repulsive to them.”

The Psalm looks ahead to Good Friday. “I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like one without strength. I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.” “Your wrath has swept over me;  your terrors have destroyed me.” On that day Jesus had no one left. Even God abandoned him. “Why, LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” “Darkness is my closest friend.”

Not only does Psalm 88 express the deepest despair a believer feels. It points despairing believers to the One who suffered the depths of despair for them. Here is the hope: Christ was raised from his despair; in his time God will raise you from yours for his sake.