Psalm 88

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Hey, hey, good morning and welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we get, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, thanks so much for joining me this morning. It's good to have you. Karen, hey, it's good to see you.
Why don't we go ahead and we'll have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the rich blessing it is to come to your word. Lord, we thank you for the openness that we can have before you. We thank you that we do not need to hide ourselves from you, but you know our frame, you know the states of our souls, and that you care for us.
In Jesus's name, amen. Well, today we have An interesting psalm, we are at Psalm 88. I'm going to go ahead and bring that up here on the computer for us, Psalm 88. And as we go through this psalm, I just want to kind of point something out. How wonderful it is that we have a God who can sympathize with us.
It's a cold, dreary day this morning. It might look like from the window that maybe it's nighttime or something, but no, it's just cold and rainy and wet. But the Lord hears us in all sorts of places in our lives, when we're at the mountaintops and when we're in the valley. Why don't we go ahead and turn into God's Word.
Psalm 88, a song, a psalm of the sons of Korah to the chief musician set to Mahalath Lanath, a contemplation of Haman the Ezraite. O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you. Incline your ear to my cry.
For my soul is full of trouble, so my life draws near to the grave. I am counted with those who go down to the pit. I am like a man who has no strength, adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, and who are cut off from your hand. You have laid me on the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths.
Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you have afflicted me with all your ways. Selah. You have put away my acquaintances far from me, You have made me an abomination to them. I am shut up and I cannot get out. My eyes waste away because of affliction. Lord, I have called upon you daily upon you. I've stretched out my hands to you.
Will you work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead be praised by you? Or shall the dead arise and praise you? Shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave or your faithfulness? in the place of destruction? Shall your wonders be known in the dark, and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
But to you I have cried out, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer comes before you. Lord, why do you cast off my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth, I suffer your terrors. I am distraught. Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. They have come around me all day long like water. They engulfed me altogether. Loved one and friend, you have put far from me and my acquaintances into darkness.
Have you ever been there in your life before? Have you ever been there where you feel like All your acquaintances are in darkness. Have you ever been there before, in the valleys of depression, in the dark lows of life, when God's hand seems heavy upon you?
You see, so often we get excited when we read Psalms like Psalm 86, and we get just so amazed and full of joy, and, God, you're so great, and I just want I just want to worship you, you're the only God, but there are also seasons in our lives where we know that this is also the truth of our souls. When we ask God, shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave or your faithfulness in the places of destruction? Shall your wonders be known in the dark and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
When we call out to God and we say, God, why am I suffering like this? You've brought me almost to the point of death. If I die, is it going to give you any praise? I can't praise you if I'm dead. When we just wonder, God, why? Why, Lord? My soul is hurting, God. Hear me, please. And this is where I want to talk to you who feel like you have no hope.
God's people have been there before. We want to act in Christendom like somehow I'm not a Christian if I get depressed or somehow maybe you're not as spiritual if your soul spends dark times in deep places where you feel like you can't shake off the affliction that's upon you. The Lord knows that. Jesus Christ felt these words. more truly and sincerely than any of us have. We sing Psalm 23. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Jesus walked through that valley of the shadow of death. Jesus felt that darkness. But God is not the God of the dead, but he is the God of the living. What does the psalmist do? In the morning, he prays to God. In the midst of the darkness, he lifts up his chin to the Lord. It's the Lord who promised that he would not allow his Holy One to see decay.
So maybe you're struggling. Maybe a family member, a loved one, a spouse, a child has died. and you still grieve. If they died in Christ, the dead do not praise God, because if they died in Christ, they are living. It's a beautiful thing that the Westminster Confession says that sinners do immediately pass into glory. Do immediately pass into glory. Moses, Elijah, Abraham, your loved one who died in Christ is more alive today than they ever were. Praising God, and we'll continue to praise him forever. This is the Christian hope. This is real life. This is hard. But yet the Lord understands. And the Lord cares for us and hears us even in our darkness. I pray you find comfort in that today. Let's pray now.
Father, we thank you that you are not a God who stands aloof and far off, unsympathetic and unempathetic. But Lord, you sent your only begotten Son to die upon that cross, to feel betrayal, to feel affliction, to know hardship, to no pain. Lord, we thank you for your care and your love for us. Father, we pray that we would follow after you and that we would find comfort in your presence.
In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the God of peace give you all peace today. May he strengthen your heart, even if you are in times of darkness. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Bye. And thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.