Text: “O Lord God of my Salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee: Let my prayer come before Thee: incline Thine ear unto my cry; for my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh to the grave.”
Psalm 88:1
Good morning, sound Christian in deep
grief! You are going through a time of
heartbreak and trouble; grief of heart and grief of your very soul. You have continually cried out in prayer to
the Living Lord God Who has saved you through the Cross of Christ – yet you
receive no answer from God, and it seems as though the Heavens are made of
brass unto you; and you feel tangibly isolated, depressed in spirit, and
totally ALONE.
If this describes your state this morning,
beloved brother/sister in Christ, my heart goes out to you – for I have been
where you are in that terrible place, and would not wish what you are
experiencing on any other soul. Yet, if
we are to survive in faith while this period of testing/trial continues, we
must always bring to our remembrance the full Sovereignty of our Holy and
Almighty Lord God, and the Word of His promise revealed in our Bible.
“…I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee.” (Hebrews 13:5) Read on, dear troubled soul.
Much of what we have revealed to us in the Book
of Psalms is written to prepare us for such times of profound soul grief and
troubles. It assures us that, although
the Lord, in His Divine wisdom and foreknowledge of all things, seems to leave
us destitute for a season of sore testing – in the end we shall once more
rejoice in His Salvation promises, and come through victorious in Christ’s
complete Victory at Calvary’s Cross.
Only believe, grieving Christian.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword?... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. For I am
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature (including our often-foolish selves!), shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)
Hallelujah!
“Title: “A Song or Psalm for the sons of
Korah.” This sad complaint reads very
little like a song, nor can we conceive how it could be called by a name which
denotes a song of praise or triumph; yet perhaps it was intentionally so called
to show how faith ‘glories in tribulations also’. Assuredly, if ever there was
a song of sorrow and a Psalm of sadness, this is the one.” (C.H. Spurgeon,
Treasury of David, page 367)
Note: Heman the Ezrahite is the named
author of Psalm 88 in the Old Testament. The
title to this psalm notes, “A song. A psalm for the Sons of Korah. For the
director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A maschil of Heman the
Ezrahite.
A Maschil: A
Hebrew word of uncertain significance that appears in the headings of some
thirteen psalms, (Ps 32, Ps 42, Ps 44, Ps 45, Ps 52, Ps 53, Ps 54, Ps 55, Ps 74, Ps 78, Ps 88, Ps 89, and Ps 142). Some current versions of the Bible leave the word
untranslated, while others, in accordance with its apparent root meaning of “understand”
or “ponder,” translate it as “instruction” or the
like. Scholars have suggested that maschil is possibly a technical term
relating to the manner of a psalm’s performance or a class of composition. The
latter hypothesis is supported by the Psalter’s use of other apparent class
names in parallel fashion as well as by the appearance of the word in (Amos 5:23), where it may designate such a class.
(HarperCollins Dictionary online)
The Book of Psalms is clearly not a mere
book of Hebrew songs and poems, but inspired by the Lord God, and written by
His selected people with a view to instruct us, ‘His people’ in Spiritual
wisdom and to share with us the Spiritual experiences of many other servants of
God, in order to prepare us to deal with life lived as the servants of God, in
Christ Jesus.
“Now all these things happened unto them
for ensamples (examples): and they are written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the world are come.” (1
Corinthians 10:11)
By reading, and meditating on the grief
of soul, and troubles of other servants of God in Psalm 88, and other Maschils
contained in canonical Scripture, you and I are instructed and encouraged that
our present sorrows, afflictions, and grief are not uncommon, and shall be
overcome by the ‘…faith once delivered unto the saints…’ (Jude 3)
Verse 1. O Lord God of my Salvation. While a man can see God as his Saviour, it is not
altogether midnight with him. While the living God can be spoken of as the life
of our Salvation, our hope will not quite expire. It is one of the characteristics of true
faith that she turns to Jehovah, the saving God, when all other confidences
have proved liars unto her.” (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 367)
Genuine Christian souls going through
such a ‘midnight’ of painful oppositions are drawn like magnets to metal in
continual prayer to the Lord God they love and seek to serve.
Verse 1. “…I have cried day and night
before Thee. Day and night are both suitable to
prayer; it is no work of darkness, therefore, let us go with Daniel and pray
when men can see us; yet, since supplication needs no light, let us accompany
Jacob and wrestle at Jabbok till the day breaketh. Evil is transformed to good when it drives us
to prayer.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of
David, page 367)
When Satanic, or worldly powers surround
us with woes, and depression of spirit; and dark frustrations of mind – let us
retire to the place of personal prayer to the Living Lord God, for it is there,
in His Presence, we shall find peace, and strength renewed, to continue on in
Christ’s service. Hell trembles with
fear when the weakest Christian cries out to his/her Heavenly Father for help.
“Satan trembles when he sees, the weakest
saint upon his knees.” (William Cowper, 1731-1800)
“It was the hymnist William
Cowper who wrote – “Satan trembles when he sees
the weakest saint upon his knees.” No doubt Satan trembles because
he knows that there is nothing you and I can do that is more powerful or
effective than to pray. Yet so often we do not pray. Why are we so negligent in
this important matter? Perhaps it is because Satan is constantly doing all that
he can to keep us from it.” (Seeds of
Faith, online)
Serving Christians, active in the work of
the Living Lord God, shall always be a target for Satan’s oppositions; his
servants’ hindrances; and even the faltering weaknesses of our own Adamic
flesh, the old nature. We are engaged in
a ruthless Spiritual war as the soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our weapons are not carnal, physical, of this
world – but Spiritual, mighty to the pulling down of strongholds, and one of
our mightiest weapons is the power of fervent prayer to God. (2 Corinthians
10:3-5)
Thought: Sound Christians in deepest
grief – are drawn closer to our Rock of Refuge.