PSALM 88 Reading Guide

PSALM 88 Reading Guide

PSALM 88 2 PSALM 88 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. 4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, 5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. 6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah 8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; 9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you. 10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah 11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. 14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? 15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. 16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. 17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. 18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

PSALM 88 3 DAY 1 Read through Psalm 88 once writing down what you find interesting, what you find helpful, and what you don t fully understand. According to the introductory notes on Psalm 88 in the ESV Study Bible, This is an individual lament, suited for a person who is so overwhelmed with troubles that even his friends shun him, and who wrestles with the dread that comes from suspecting that the Lord has shunned him as well. The psalm does not specify the troubles, only that they feel like expressions of God s relentless wrath; this allows the psalm to be used by the faithful for a wide variety of hardships. Most laments let in a ray of sunshine, usually closing on a confident note; Psalm 88 is distinct from all the rest in that there is no explicit statement of confidence... The faith of this psalm cannot be separated from the faith expressed in the rest of the book, and it helps its singers to see that faith can be real, even when it cannot arrive at strong hope after prayer. Read through the notes on Psalm 88 in the ESV Study Bible. Write at least one paragraph highlighting what you learned from the study notes. Reread Psalm 88, personalizing the Psalm as your own prayer. Write out that prayer. DAY 2 Write a few sentences describing the Psalmist s feelings as he writes this Psalm. Jeremy Casella wrote the song Last Chance based on Psalm 88. It expresses similar feelings. I am alone in fear, Entrenched by death I m stranded here, There is no sun up in my sky; I m pounded by your every wave, Your anger s like a silent cage, Well people say your love has passed me by. I m standing my ground, Though I m living out on the edge of hell, Have I been swallowed by the night? For crying out loud You re the king of the angels in the sky, I m feeling your rage at every side

PSALM 88 4 Do my words even matter at all? Can you still hear me when I call? Are you as deaf as I am blind? All alone with the trouble I m in Darkness is my closest friend, Even my love left me behind. You are my last chance, Through the fire and the falling rain; You are my last chance, When I m lost, you re my way back again. Jesus himself experienced similar feelings. When thinking about his death he said, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death (Mark 14:34). And then just before he died he cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Mark 15:34). Though we may at times feel abandoned by God just as the Psalmist did feeling abandoned by God is the closest we will ever get to truly be abandoned. In fact, because Jesus was truly forsaken by God, he can say to us: I will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5) and I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Write out a prayer of thanksgiving to Jesus, thanking him for being forsaken by God so we will never be forsaken by God. DAY 3 Describe a time when you experienced similar feelings. Such feelings of despair are not unusual for followers of Jesus. Paul writes of such a time in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. Paul goes on to say that experience was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead... On him we have set our hope (2 Cor. 9-10). Psalm 88 is written by a man who is trying to set his hope on God (verses 1-2), but doesn t feel like God is giving him any reason to hope (verses 13-18). So, when you feel a similar way, Psalm 88 gives you words to use for your prayer. It encourages you to be honest with your feelings before God. It encourages you to be honest with your deepest feelings, especially the ones you try to keep hidden. If you currently resonate with the words of Psalm 88, use those words to start your prayer to God, honestly telling him what you are feeling. If you don t currently resonate with the words of Psalm 88, ask God to help you remember the Psalm when you do feel that. End either prayer saying, On you, God, I have set my hope.

PSALM 88 5 DAY 4 In the introductory notes to Psalm 88 in the ESV Study Bible we read that those who aren t suffering like the Psalmist can pray this psalm on behalf of those suffering. Think of a friend who is suffering. Read through Psalm 88 again, imagining them praying it. Write out a prayer for your friend based on Psalm 88. DAY 5 Read through Psalm 88 twice. Write out at least two paragraphs reflecting on what you ve learned about God, yourself, and others from Psalm 88. Write out at least one thing you hope to apply to your life from Psalm 88. Spend at least 15 minutes sharing what you wrote with a trusted friend or family member. If they read Psalm 88 this week, ask them to do the same. End your time in prayer, thanking God for what he taught you this week. * Purchasing an ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2008.) will aid you in your understanding of the Psalms. The first day s reading each week assumes you will have access to the notes in the ESV Study Bible. The ESV Study Bible is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published. It will help you understand not just the Psalms, but also the rest of the Bible in a deeper way. You can either buy the Bible (amazon.com, search: ESV Study Bible) or purchase online access to the notes at www.esvbible.org. Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2014 Elliot Grudem.