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Psalm 87-88 Depressed? Should You Read This Then?
posted Monday, 29 June 2009
There's something compelling about Psalm 88. It's been called the saddest psalm in the Bible. I have to remember as I read it that, again, the writer did not have the more complete revelation of God and Jesus that we enjoy. My commentary says, "To a Jew living under law, death was a perplexing region of oblivion where nothing constructive ever happens."
Some of the things the writer noted were:
"My life is full of troubles...I am like a man with no strength ... whom You don't remember anymore, cut off from Your care. You have brought me close to death. You have been very angry with me ... You have taken my friends away from me and have made them hate me. I am trapped and cannot escape. My eyes are weak from crying.... But Lord, I have called out to You for help; every morning I pray to You. Lord, why do You reject me? Why do You hide from me? .... You have taken away my loved ones and my friends."
So why would it be in the Bible? J.N. Darby said, "At one time, this was the only Scripture that was any help to me, because I saw that someone had been as low as that before me."
A doctor would surely say that this person is suffering from depression, and he would probably prescribe a drug to deal with it. But something about this just doesn't seem quite right. I think back to Job, and how his wife's best advice was for him to curse God and thus bring on his own death! But Job didn't do it. Instead, Job's words found their way into the praise song that gives me all the hope I need: "You give and You take away, but still my heart will say, Blessed Be Your Name."
In the darkest hours I've faced over the years, my question to God in those times has become, "Okay, God, where do we go from here?" For I believe that He carries me THROUGH seasons such as this to grow me spiritually, so that I will trust in Him no matter what.
And I wonder, for those who feel like the author of this psalm, whether they've kept that truth alive in their hearts, or whether they've bowed to the hard times in life, expecting them always to continue, and whether they've given up on God's spiritual support, content to endure life, aided by pharmaceuticals instead of trusting in the One who created the world and everything in it -- the One who knows all of the potential pathways life could take based on how we live each moment, and who has planned and mapped out for all of those endless possibilities a way back to Him that will grow us immeasurably by living out those moments rather than floating by them.
My hope will be placed in You, Father. I choose to look at every circumstance, whether good or bad, as Job did. You have given me wonderful blessings -- more than I could ever deserve -- and how can I not stick with You in those times when, in Your sovereignty, You choose to take back part of what You've given me? I love you, Father!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
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