Psalm 88:1-18
Q.1. How might some of the descriptions in this Psalm apply to Jesus in His sufferings? – (Ps.88:1-8 & 13-18)
Section three of the Psalms (Chapters 73-89) are like Jeremiah’s book of Lamentations. Much of it comes from the time after the exile. Here the Psalmist speaks of being alienated from men and God. Jesus clearly would have identified with this – 7 Your wrath has rested upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. 8 You have removed my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an object of loathing to them; I am shut up and cannot go out. 9 My eye has wasted away because of affliction; I have called upon You every day, O Lord; I have spread out my hands to You (Ps.88:8-9 c.f. Mt.27:46). Jesus experienced being abandoned by God, so could understand the Psalmist, who wrote – O Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? … Your burning anger has passed over me; Your terrors have destroyed me (Ps.88:14 & 16 c.f. Ps.22:1). It is crucial to see Christ in all the Scriptures. The Psalmist even predicted what Jesus would suffer from His friends and loved ones – You have removed lover and friend far from me; My acquaintances are in darkness (Ps.88:18).
Q.2. What argument did the Psalmist present in his plea to God for deliverance from his many trials? – (Ps.88:1-6, 9-12)
The Psalmist started his song with a declaration of his faith in God, regardless of his dire circumstances – 1 O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You. 2 Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry! (Ps.88:1-2). His situation could not have been more perilous. He contemplated his death (Ps.88:3-6). He prayed for God to restore him so that he might again give praise to God – 10 Will You perform wonders for the dead; Will the departed spirits rise and praise You? 11 Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon (i.e. the place of departed spirits)? 12 Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? (Ps.88:10-12). He longed that the Lord would once again answer him and appear out of His invisibility. That is certainly how we can feel at times.