The Most Depressing Psalm

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Darkness is my only companion?

When we open the Bible, we are stepping into a conversation that began long before we arrived. The words were first spoken into very real moments. So whether desert or palace, exile or homecoming, we understand that the Bible was not written to us, but it was written for us. Which means there is much for us to glean from its pages.

There is one notable exception: the Book of Psalms.

In the Psalms, the voice shifts. Instead of God speaking to us or through history, we hear the prayers of God’s people rising back to him. Somehow these ancient poems manage to sound like our own hearts. They give language to what we often struggle to say ourselves.

The Book of Psalms served as the prayer book of Israel. The people recited these prayers to God in every season of life—the good and the bad. There are psalms of thanksgiving, praise, lament, and wisdom. Among these prayers is Psalm 88, a psalm of individual lament. And it stands apart from the rest for a striking reason. It is the darkest psalm in the Psalter—the only one of the 150 psalms that ends without a turn toward praise or hope. While other psalms may begin in anguish and move toward trust in God, Psalm 88 ends where it began: in deep darkness.

We do know a little about the psalmist: Heman was wise, talented, and accomplished, and yet clearly had suffered—as this dark psalm communicates.

Psalm 88 begins with the psalmist recognizing the salvation he’s received from the Lord and placing his trust in God’s saving power. But as the psalm continues, so the psalmist unravels. He pleads for God to hear him, but the prayer quickly unravels into anguish. Friends have disappeared, companions are gone, and he feels buried in darkness. Day after day he cries out to the Lord, yet no relief seems to come. 

What can be gained from such a dark psalm?

Surprisingly, quite a lot! Psalm 88 offers several quiet gifts to those who find themselves walking through darkness.

Validation of unrelieved suffering 

“Is something wrong with me?” The devil is notorious for attempting to isolate us in our pain or make us believe we are the only ones going through a hard time. So we conclude that there must be something wrong with us if we do. There’s something wrong with us if we can’t see the bright side or find the silver lining in our suffering. Whether the suffering we experience is at the hands of others or the result of our own sinful choices, we can gain so much from engaging with Psalm 88. Not every conflict is resolved. Not every illness is cured. Not everything broken is restored on this side of eternity.

Some things end in tragedy and sometimes people die. The unlikely, worst case scenario plays out with no relief or end in sight.

The Bible is filled with examples of people who really do experience the worst things and this psalm is proof of that. It ends with the line, “darkness is my closest friend.” Talk about a downer! But is it not helpful to read something from God’s Word that validates the suffering in life, rather than minimize it? God doesn’t gaslight you. He doesn’t roll his eyes. He makes space for the deep hurt and deep lament—just like we read it Psalm 88.

And if Psalm 88 validates our suffering, it also does something equally important: it gives us permission to speak honestly about it.

Permission to be honest with God

One of the beautiful gems hidden in the psalm is permission. Permission to be honest with God. Sometimes church can feel like the only place in our lives where we can’t fully be ourselves. Where we must slap on a plastic smile and express the carefully rehearsed party lines of, “I’m good, just busy.” It’s unfortunate that our non-believing coworkers or gym buddies see more of the “real” versions of us than church folk do. 

Somewhere along the way we thought we had to clean ourselves up before coming to God, rather than coming to God to get cleaned up. So when a prayer like Psalm 88 makes the cut in our biblical psalter, we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing we have full permission to be honest with God just like the psalmist, too.

Persistent prayer in despair

“Doesn’t God get sick of me complaining about this?”

The quick answer —NO!

The [attempt at an] explanation is this: Even though God may be allowing the suffering in your life because of the free will he has given to humanity in our fallen world, it does not mean he is pleased with it. Our prayers are a delight to him, even if they’re not all rainbows and roses all the time. Even when our prayers sound more like a groaning than gratitude, they remain a delight to him. He delights in giving good gifts to his children. And even when our persistent prayers go unanswered in the ways we would like, his presence and love are unchanging. Darkness is not, in fact, our only companion, as the psalmist says. For God is always with us and always ready to receive our persistent prayers with love.

And persistent prayer reminds us of something else the psalm quietly teaches: we are not as alone as we feel.

Solidarity in darkness

“I’m completely alone. All my friends have left me. Even God has abandoned me.” A prayer like Psalm 88 recognizes that there is solidarity to be found even in the darkness. This is confirmed by Psalm 139 when David writes,

“7 

Where can I go from your Spirit?

    Where can I flee from your presence?

8 

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

    if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 

even there your hand will guide me,

    your right hand will hold me fast.

11 

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

    and the light become night around me,”

12 

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

    the night will shine like the day,

    for darkness is as light to you.””

It’s a paradox, you see. That God, who is light and good and holy could be drawn to us even in darkness. We are not alone in feeling alone, and we are not alone in reality either. God is there. He is always there. And our feelings of anguish are not only met by God, but by a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, too.

Identify with Jesus as Jesus identifies with us

“What if God was one of us?” We don’t have to wonder. Jesus did, in fact, become like one of us. “The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.” (John 1:14). Psalm 88 is considered a prophetic, messianic prayer. Many of its verses, such as being abandoned by friends, bearing the wrath of God… were fulfilled in Jesus' final night and on the cross, identifying God himself as one who enters into human suffering. 

If we step back for a moment, we begin to see how closely our suffering mirrors the suffering of Jesus. The suffering he entered into of his own volition, in order to save us from it. So that the worst we experience on this side of eternity will be forever eclipsed by the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Age to Come. 

Jesus came to identify with human suffering so that we in our human suffering can identify with him. If nothing else, this should fill us with tremendous hope and inconceivable peace in our despair. 

So, what do we do with a psalm this dark?

Psalm 88 never turns the corner toward praise. It ends in darkness. And yet the psalm itself is a prayer—which means even in the darkness, the psalmist is still speaking to God. Perhaps that is the quiet hope hidden within the psalm. Not that suffering disappears, but that even when the night feels endless, our cries are still heard by the One who never leaves.

What’s in the Ears

This is the part where I share a song or podcast I’m currently into. Y’all know how much I love Poor Bishop Hooper and the song titled, Psalm 88 based on the darkest psalm in the psalter beautifully expresses the anguish of the psalm. Let me know if you check it out. 

If this stirred something in you, share this post with a friend or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what small step you’re taking towards the flourishing life today! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

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