Reading: Psalm 88-90

QUESTIONS
  • Psalm 88: The Psalmist cries out to the Lord in his despair and loneliness. How does the Psalmist’s honest communication with God reflect his relationship with Him? Take a moment to remember God’s love for you and recall His promise to never leave or forsake you and consider what struggles in your life you want to bring before Him.
  • Psalm 89: Does this psalm redefine your understanding of God’s faithfulness? How? How does it inspire you to react when you witness injustice or broken promises?
  • Psalm 90: What is the overarching message of Psalm 90? How can this message influence the way you feel and your daily decisions?
DEVOTION

The psalmist in Psalm 88 seems hopeless as he thinks that he has been forgotten. He cries out to the Lord, senses that death is near, feels cut off from the Lord’s care, and states that he is in the darkest depth. He is much like Job in his sufferings.

He asks the Lord why he has been rejected, why he has suffered, and why his friends have been taken from him. He calls darkness his closest friend.

Have you felt this way in your trials and sufferings, or have you sat with someone who feels like this? It is hard, and pat answers are not helpful.

We still notice that the psalmist calls God “the God of my salvation.” He knows who alone can save him. Verses 6 and 14 remind us that the psalmist still knows that God is sovereign. God has brought him to this place, and he knows that God alone will rescue him. 

This psalm is included in the scriptures, so we are reminded to tell God about our hopelessness and to worship God in our despair. If we are not the one who is suffering, this psalm reminds us to pray for our friends who are despairing.

Psalm 89: Great is Thy Faithfulness!
The psalm praises God by recounting that the Lord has both power and supremacy. Who is like the Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty and your faithfulness surrounds you! The psalmist remembers God’s covenant faithfulness. After remembering that God’s promises are sure, the psalmist admits that he is disappointed. It seems that God has renounced his covenant with David, and the psalmist is perplexed by what appears to be God abandoning his people. The psalmist knows that life is short, and he says, “Remember how short my time is!” And, “What man can live and never see death?”

God’s sovereign plan is sometimes inscrutable to us but it is ultimately for our good and better than we can imagine. The psalmist ends by praising the LORD. Psalm 90 The Song of Moses! Psalm 90 is the only psalm authored by Moses, and he seems to have written it in his old age. He laments what we know – that life on earth is fleeting, and we suffer as we lose our loved ones to death. Moses reminds us to “number our days,” and that the Lord is our “dwelling place throughout all generations.”

This psalm is the basis for “O, God, our Help in Ages Past,” which includes these two verses:
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while life shall last,
And our eternal home.
Remember that God is your eternal dwelling place! You are his forever because, if you come to Jesus in repentance and belief, He has secured an eternal home for you. There we will be with him forever.

– Deb Holt