Today we're in Psalm 88 and as you’ll hear in a moment, this psalm speaks of darkness and feelings of drowning, loneliness, and imprisonment... yet the psalmist persisted in praying to our God and did not abandon his faith. Let's read together:

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.

There are three lessons we can pull from this psalm:

That even in pain or depression, we can still come to the Father. That it's okay to tell the Father what we are feeling. That it's okay to defend your cause before the Father. Whether you’re a shepherd pastor, shepherd friend, shepherd parent, shepherd CEO, or Board member, KNOW that our God, the God of peace, the great shepherd of the sheep, is equipping you with everything good that you may do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

What is God speaking to you through this psalm?

And may you live deeply into your calling.