The Saddest Psalm

Psalm 88 is considered the saddest psalm because it has no resolution.

Most psalms that start with sorrow end with renewed hope in the Lord. But in Psalm 88, the psalmist's outlook is the same at the end of the psalm as it was at the beginning.

In this psalm of lament, a passionate expression of grief, the psalmist comes to the Lord “overwhelmed with troubles,” feeling his “life draws near to death.”

He feels as if God has put him “in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths,” having lost all friends and feeling as if God is hiding from him.

And he ends with this sad line: “darkness is my closest friend.”

Pretty heavy, isn't it? Have you ever felt that way? I admit I sometimes feel as if challenges and difficulties are burying me. That's when I need to pull the hope from this psalm. 

Even though the psalmist feels God has forgotten him, he comes to him with this declaration, “Lord, you are the God who saves me” (verse 1). He seeks the Lord daily (verse 9), every morning (verse 13). 

When we don't feel His presence and don't understand our circumstances, we should seek Him. And we should remember what Christ told His disciples after explaining that the future would be confusing and difficult:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 

If you're struggling, take heart!

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For more encouragement when suffering, see When Nothing Comforts and Faith Should Fuel the Engine, with Feelings in the Caboose. 

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