WHEN

DARKNESS

IS MY

ONLY

FRIEND

~ PSALM 88

image: Nathanael Boehm

Today’s Scripture

Page 494 in our guest Bibles.

Psalm 88

image: Nathanael Boehm

WHEN

DARKNESS

IS MY

ONLY

FRIEND

~ PSALM 88

image: Nathanael Boehm

1 The Honestyof True Lament

2 The Doggednessof True Faith

Be on the lookout for...

O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry

PSALM 88:1-2

out day and night before you. Letmy prayer come before you; inclineyour ear to my cry...!

For my soul is full of troubles,

PSALM 88:3-5

and my life draws near to Sheol.I am counted among those who godown to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, like one set looseamong the dead, like the slain that

...lie in the grave, like those whom

PSALM 88:3-5

you remember no more, for they arecut off from your hand....

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff

they comfort me.~ Psalm 23:4

You have put me in the depths of

PSALM 88:6-9

the pit, in the regions dark and deep.Your wrath lies heavy upon me, andyou overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah.You have caused my companions

...to shun me; you have made me a

PSALM 88:6-9

horror to them. I am shut in so that Icannot escape; my eye grows dimthrough sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out myhands to you....

Do you work wonders for the dead?

PSALM 88:10-12

Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah. Is your steadfast lovedeclared in the grave, or your faith-fulness in Abaddon? Are your won-ders known in darkness, or your

...righteousness in the land of

PSALM 88:10-12

forgetfulness...?

But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the

PSALM 88:13-14

morning my prayer comes beforeyou. O Lord, why do you cast mysoul away? Why do you hide yourface from me...?

You hid your face, and I was dismayed.

~ Psalm 30:7

“True believers may have the ASSURANCE of their

salvation shaken, diminished, or temporarily

lost in various ways …

“True believers may have the ASSURANCE of their

salvation shaken, diminished, or temporarily

lost in various ways … by God’s withdrawing the LIGHT of his countenance and allowing even those

who reverence him to walk in DARKNESS and have no light.”

~ 18.4

Afflicted and close to death from my

PSALM 88:15-18

youth up, I suffer your terrors; I amhopeless. Your wrath has sweptover me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me likea flood all day long; they close in on

You have caused my beloved

PSALM 88:15-18

and my friend to shun me; my com-panions have become darkness.

Lament is not a denial of true faith but a

dogged expression of it.

Lament is not a denial of true faith but a

dogged expression of it.

/ˈdôgid/dog·ged

marked by stubborn determination;persistent, tenacious, obstinate

LEARN THE

LANGUAGE

OF LAMENT

1

image: Josh Kenzer

“It seems to me that we do not need to be taught HOW to lament. What we

need is simply the assurance that we

CAN lament.”

DON T FORGETTHE GOSPEL

2

image: Flood G.

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a

loud voice…, ‘My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?’”

~ Mark 15:33-34

image: Christopher Brown

“I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you.’

~ Hebrews 13:5

“Is everything sad going to

come untrue?”

Nathanael Boehm: http://www.flickr.com/photos/73978954@N00/455160673/

Josh Kenzer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36908075@N03/4329432316/

FLood G.: http://www.flickr.com/photos/97223988@N00/6732863457/

Christopher Brown: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/

flickr images courtesy of: