August 8, 2018 (Wednesday)
This is a psalm by someone that was ill since he was a child. It may have been Heman himself, or someone that Heman knew. It is the saddest of the psalms. He prays, but God does not seem to listen. So he feels that he is already in Sheol. Sheol was a dark place under the ground. The Jews believed that people went there when they died. The worst bit of Sheol was the Pit. People that went there never came out. But nowhere does the psalm say that the writer had done something very wrong. Yet God was attacking him, doing very bad things to him. Why? God gives no reason. Yet Heman still says “every morning I pray to you”, verse 13. That is what the psalm teaches us. If things get bad … pray to God every morning!(Gordon Churchyard in the Easy English Bible).
Cambridge Bible Commentary
1-8. The Psalmist appeals for a hearing, supporting his appeal by a pathetic description of the chastisements by which God has brought him to the very edge of the grave.
9-12. Again (cp. Psalm 88:1) he pleads the constancy of his prayers. His strength is failing. He will soon be dead; and in the grave he will be beyond the reach of God’s love and faithfulness. Cp. Job 10:20 ff; Job 17:11 ff.
13-18. Death brings no hope. Will not God then listen to his prayer and grant him some relief in his extremity of suffering and solitude?
Psalm 88
New International Version (NIV)
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music.
According to mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
I. I AM OVERWHELMED WITH TROUBLES (1-8)
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 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.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
II. MY STRENGTH IS FAILING (9-12)
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
III. I HAVE NO HOPE (13-18)
13 But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor–
darkness is my closest friend.
This Psalm shows us what some people believed before Jesus came to reveal more to us. I stumbled upon a web site that offers a simple and clear idea of what we Christians believe today. Jesus is the full and and complete revelation of God; he gives us vital information about life and death. Here is a quotation (with slight editing) from that web site:
(In stark contrast to the pre-Christian hopelessness of Psalm 88), this is what Christians believe about life and death:
Firstly, there is a God.. (who) not only has power, but has love and goodness. And God can be known..
..Christians believe that God always intended human life to be the climax of a vast plan, driven by love and goodness. He didn’t intend humans to make such a mess of the planet and their own lives – that is something men and women have done by their own choice.
Two thousand years ago God showed the absolute extent of his love for human beings. A man called Jesus gathered around him a crowd of supporters in the part of the world that is now shared by Israel and Palestine. At the height of his popularity they numbered thousands.
Broken people found hope, suffering people experienced healing, brutalized people saw the possibility of justice, and for three glorious years there was wonder in the air.
But the popularity that led people to want Jesus as king was threatening to political and religious leaders. It led to an end that seemed inevitable – arrest, trial and execution.
But something unprecedented happened. Within days, the followers of Jesus announced that, despite witnessing his death, they had subsequently met with him. They believed that their leader had been raised in a unique way from the dead. What’s more they proclaimed that, in Jesus, God himself had been walking among them as a human. They began to worship him. They were following Jesus, and Christianity had begun.
For two thousand years the followers of Jesus have found that their lives have improved as a result. They have a restored relationship with God, and it transforms life.
When they know they have done wrong, there is someone to go to for forgiveness.
When life is inexplicably full of wonder, there is someone to thank.
When life is at its lowest point, they know they are not dealing with it alone.
All this is because the universe is at this moment full of the Spirit of God – very much alive and active.
When they face death, Christians have a credible hope that it is not the end. They believe this because of what Jesus has done. Jesus said, ‘Follow me,’ and his followers do so in life, through death, and into eternity with God. Love and goodness will be made perfect in God’s presence. Christians trust this is so because we have a God who knows the way out of a tomb.
Jesus promised that his followers’ lives would have a real sense of purpose. He said memorably, ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ That’s why it all matters so much!
(The paragraphs above are quoted from https://christianity.org.uk)
One more quotation. In verse 10, the psalmist asks a rhetorical question: “Do you show
your wonders to the dead?” The implied answer is “No!” The presence and power of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts enable us to think differently about “the dead.” Be thankful as you read this edited quotation from my dear friend, Johnny Melton:
As sad as it might seem as one passes from this life, the truth might well be that passing was actually a setting free. The Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians and spoke of his joy and heartache as he anticipated what the future might hold for him. He wanted to continue reaching people with the Good News, yet he looked forward to one day being with the Lord in Glory. .. He said that upon passing into the next life, he would gain a new body, a new song, a new heart, a new home.