When Living Feels Like Dying

This study is a quick look at Psalm 88, arguably the most depressive passage in the Bible. Read it, meditate on it, and by God's grace may this be a beacon of light when the darkness does not lift.

Psalm 88 

1 O Lord, God of my salvation,
    I cry out day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
    incline your ear to my cry!

3 For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9     my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
    I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness,
    or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But I, O Lord, cry to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
    Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
    I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
    your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
    they close in on me together.
18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
    my companions have become darkness.

Questions from Psalm 88

1. What is your first impression of the Psalm?

2. Can you think of what the psalmist might be going through when he wrote this?

3. What does the psalmist think is God’s role or involvement in his suffering? Do you see any similarities/differences in how you approach God when you suffer?

4. Psalm 88 is different from all other psalms in that it does not contain any note of rescue/help/comfort. It ends on a bleak note. What can we learn from this?

5. On a scale of 1 – 10, how closely do you identify with what is described in the psalm? Share a past experience if you are able.

6. Think of the sufferings of Jesus. How much of this psalm is reflected in what Jesus went through toward the end of his life? (eg., cf. v.14 with Jesus’ cry on the cross)

7. Is it a comfort to you that Jesus suffered? Why/why not?