Gospel Reflections #1176: It is not a sign of unbelief

Psalm 88:1–3 ‘O Lord, my God, I cry out for help by day; by night I cry out before you. Let my prayer come before you; give ear to my cry.’

This is the opening passage of the ‘Psalm of Lament’, considered one of the darkest and most profoundly despairing passages in the Bible.

Whilst many of the Psalms of Lament shift towards expressions of gratitude and hope towards God as they progress, Psalm 88 alone offers no glimpse of salvation or resolution from beginning to end, concluding with the words, ‘Darkness is my companion’.

Due to serious illness and isolation from his youth, David found himself in an extreme state reminiscent of the shadow of death.

Despite feeling rejected and forsaken by God, David addresses the Lord as ‘my God of salvation’.

Although the situation is pitch black, this single phrase encapsulates an ultimate and desperate faith: ‘Even so, You alone are my Saviour’.

As it says, ‘By day I cry out, and by night…’, David continues to plead with God without ceasing.

This demonstrates the ‘authenticity of prayer’, in which he lays bare his suffering before God exactly as it is, without sugar-coating it.

In the Bible, ‘crying out’ to God without hiding one’s grievances or suffering is not a sign of unbelief.

Rather, it is precisely because he trusts God completely that he pours out all his emotions.

In verse 3, rather than a resolution to his suffering itself, he first seeks ‘for his prayer to reach God’ and ‘for God to listen to him’.

For him, the greatest fear—greater even than the suffering itself—was ‘a severing of his relationship with God (God’s silence)’.

That is why he is desperately pleading, ‘Do not ignore my voice’.

It is said that the darkness and cries of Psalm 88 are superimposed upon the figure of Jesus Christ on the cross in the New Testament.

When Jesus cried out on the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’, he experienced in our place the very same ‘darkness of being completely forsaken by God’ that David had endured.

Therefore, even when we fall into the deepest despair or loneliness in life and feel that ‘neither God nor hope is visible’, this psalm paradoxically conveys the quiet comfort that ‘Christ has already shared in that darkness and understands our groaning’.

Let us remember that Jesus has already experienced our suffering before us, and let us cling to God so that we may exercise our faith at all times.

God is the One who will never, ever forsake us!

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.