WHEN
DARKNESS
IS MY
ONLY
FRIEND
~ PSALM 88
image: Nathanael Boehm
Today’s Scripture
Page 494 in our guest Bibles.
Psalm 88
image: Nathanael Boehm
WHEN
DARKNESS
IS MY
ONLY
FRIEND
~ PSALM 88
image: Nathanael Boehm
1 The Honestyof True Lament
2 The Doggednessof True Faith
Be on the lookout for...
O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry
PSALM 88:1-2
out day and night before you. Letmy prayer come before you; inclineyour ear to my cry...!
For my soul is full of troubles,
PSALM 88:3-5
and my life draws near to Sheol.I am counted among those who godown to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, like one set looseamong the dead, like the slain that
...lie in the grave, like those whom
PSALM 88:3-5
you remember no more, for they arecut off from your hand....
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff
they comfort me.~ Psalm 23:4
You have put me in the depths of
PSALM 88:6-9
the pit, in the regions dark and deep.Your wrath lies heavy upon me, andyou overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah.You have caused my companions
...to shun me; you have made me a
PSALM 88:6-9
horror to them. I am shut in so that Icannot escape; my eye grows dimthrough sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out myhands to you....
Do you work wonders for the dead?
PSALM 88:10-12
Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah. Is your steadfast lovedeclared in the grave, or your faith-fulness in Abaddon? Are your won-ders known in darkness, or your
...righteousness in the land of
PSALM 88:10-12
forgetfulness...?
But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the
PSALM 88:13-14
morning my prayer comes beforeyou. O Lord, why do you cast mysoul away? Why do you hide yourface from me...?
You hid your face, and I was dismayed.
~ Psalm 30:7
“True believers may have the ASSURANCE of their
salvation shaken, diminished, or temporarily
lost in various ways …
“True believers may have the ASSURANCE of their
salvation shaken, diminished, or temporarily
lost in various ways … by God’s withdrawing the LIGHT of his countenance and allowing even those
who reverence him to walk in DARKNESS and have no light.”
~ 18.4
Afflicted and close to death from my
PSALM 88:15-18
youth up, I suffer your terrors; I amhopeless. Your wrath has sweptover me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me likea flood all day long; they close in on
You have caused my beloved
PSALM 88:15-18
and my friend to shun me; my com-panions have become darkness.
Lament is not a denial of true faith but a
dogged expression of it.
Lament is not a denial of true faith but a
dogged expression of it.
/ˈdôgid/dog·ged
marked by stubborn determination;persistent, tenacious, obstinate
LEARN THE
LANGUAGE
OF LAMENT
1
image: Josh Kenzer
“It seems to me that we do not need to be taught HOW to lament. What we
need is simply the assurance that we
CAN lament.”
DON T FORGETTHE GOSPEL
2
image: Flood G.
“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a
loud voice…, ‘My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?’”
~ Mark 15:33-34
image: Christopher Brown
“I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you.’
~ Hebrews 13:5
“Is everything sad going to
come untrue?”
Nathanael Boehm: http://www.flickr.com/photos/73978954@N00/455160673/
Josh Kenzer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36908075@N03/4329432316/
FLood G.: http://www.flickr.com/photos/97223988@N00/6732863457/
Christopher Brown: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/
flickr images courtesy of:
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