Psalm 88 Devotional

Praying in the Dark

“But to You, O LORD, I cry for help; in the morning my prayer comes before You.”Psalm 88:13 (BSB)

Psalm 88 is the darkest prayer in the book. Heman cries out day and night to the LORD (88:1). His soul is full of trouble; he feels counted among the dead, laid in the deepest pit, overwhelmed by God's anger like waves (88:3-7). God has taken his friends away (88:8). He asks whether the dead can praise God, or whether his loving devotion is spoken of in the grave (88:10-12). He asks why God rejects him and hides his face (88:14). And the psalm ends there, with darkness as his closest friend (88:18).

There is no turn to praise, and none should be invented. Yet the psalm is still a prayer. Heman keeps calling, every day and again in the morning (88:9, 88:13). His first words name the LORD as the God of his salvation (88:1). Even in the dark, he speaks to God rather than walking away. Its place in Scripture shows that even honest despair can be brought to God. Sometimes faith looks like nothing more than refusing to stop talking to him.

To think about: If your prayers feel unanswered right now, what would it look like to keep bringing them to God honestly anyway?