Prayer In Desolation

"My eyes have grown dim with grief; spreading out my hands to YOU, I call upon YOU everyday, O YAHWEH.

Are YOUR wonders meant for the dead?  Will ghosts rise to give YOU thanks?

Is YOUR love and faithfulness remembered among those gone to the netherworld?

Are YOUR wonders known in the dark; YOUR salvation, in the land of oblivion?

But to YOU, O YAHWEH, I cry for help; every morning I pray to YOU.

O YAHWEH, why do YOU reject me; why do YOU hide YOUR face?"

- Psalm 88:10-15

(This psalm ends in an incomparable sad note.  The psalmist seems very dejected, frustrated and helpless.  One is so used to hearing him complain about his 'enemies.'  When he does not, his silence is audible.  The complaint is directed to GOD, but if GOD is an enemy, what hope is there?  In this psalm, there is no ray of light.  It is a cry in the dark.  The inhuman enemy is sickness in a lonely old age: only GOD, whose messenger it is, can make the message bearable.

It would seem that knowing CHRIST, we couldn't sink into despair.  There are, however, days when heaven is closed for us, as it was for JESUS in HIS agony.

The 'why?' of the psalm is heard on the cross [cf. Matthew 27:46].  The answer will come at dawn [cf. 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Corinthians 15:54].  This supplication of a dying person can  be sung by all those who are dying or live in the silence of GOD.  Let's not forget that, at dawn, our supplication will rise up to meet GOD.)

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