A moment in the pit

A Christian woman I know who is in a deep emotional pit sent me verses from Psalm 88 “proving” to me that the wrath of God is on her:

“Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves” (Psalm 88:7, ESV).

She was perplexed (and a little defiant) because we have been told that Jesus took the wrath of God in full measure, so that we are never under it.

Psalm 88 is an alarming piece of writing, much remarked on for being, of all others in the Psalter, the only one that ends on a bad note, as it were—without that expected leap of hope. How do we understand it? I take it as a snapshot of grief, a freeze-frame, the view from inside the tunnel, where the light at the end does not yet appear.

Why is this prayer of a man named Heman included in our prayer book? I can only guess, but I am able to imagine that some who find themselves bogged down might even find a strange comfort in it—in knowing that God knows full well our darkest times, and does not minimize them. His own Son is no stranger to the feeling:

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest” (Psalm 22:1-2, ESV)

And He devotes a whole Psalm to letting us vent our agony. He is not like the ham-fisted counselor who rushes us to the solution before he has heard the problem expressed in detail.

And yet, there is hope in this dark Psalm, if you have eyes to see. It is in the opening verse:

“O LORD, God of my salvation.”

Underneath it all, Heman knows whom he is talking to—the God who can save, who will save. This is the firm undergirding. The suffering petitioner will do OK as long as he keeps praying and pleading, and does not lose hope and does not start hanging draperies in his pit. For we are also solemnly warned of a condition for sharing in Christ:

“For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:14, ESV).

It would be a fearful thing to not take this warning seriously (which God repeats in Hebrews 3:6, and 10:23, and in various places throughout the Bible). But we must suppose that the psalmist Heman will do fine. And so will my friend if she “continues in supplications and prayers night and day” (1 Timothy 5:5, ESV). God will show the tunnel’s clearing in due time. He will do even better than that: He will “exalt” her for having hung in there, just as He promised:

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exaltyou” (1 Peter 5:6, ESV).