Chapter Five: Lament That Does Not Turn

Most psalms of lament have a shape you can learn. The writer descends into the darkness, and somewhere in the psalm the direction changes. There is a shift from the cry to the declaration. The writer moves from "how long, O Lord" to "I will trust in your steadfast love." That turn is real and it matters.

Psalm 88 does not turn. Before I describe what that means, read the whole psalm. It is not long. Read it slowly.

O Lord God who delivers me, I cry out to you during the day and at night. May my prayer reach you! Pay attention to my cry for help! For I am filled with troubles; my life is at the brink of Sheol. I am considered among those who descend to the pit; I am like a man without strength, placed among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you no longer remember, and who are cut off from your power.

You place me in the lowest pit, in dark regions, in the watery depths. Your anger bears down on me; you overwhelm me with all your waves.

You cause those who know me to keep their distance; you make me an appalling sight to them. I am trapped and cannot get free. My eyes grow weak because of my troubles. I call out to you, O Lord, all day long; I spread out my hands in prayer to you.

Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and give you thanks?

Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave, your faithfulness in the place of the dead? Are your amazing deeds proclaimed in the dark realm, or your saving acts in the land of oblivion?

As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord; in the morning my prayer confronts you. O Lord, why do you reject me? Why do you turn your face away from me?

I have been oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth; I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. Your anger overwhelms me; your terrors destroy me. They surround me like water all day long; they join forces and encircle me.

You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance; those who know me leave me alone in the darkness. — Psalm 88, NET

That is the whole psalm. Read it again if you need to. Look for the turn. There is none. The writer goes down into the darkness and the psalm ends there.

Why This Is in the Canon

This psalm is in the Bible. The same editorial judgment that preserved Psalm 23 preserved Psalm 88. The community that assembled the Psalter knew this psalm was unresolved. They included it anyway — because there are seasons of the soul that do not resolve on a human timeline, and the person in that season needs to know that the canon has room for them.

God receives the cry that does not turn into praise. Honest speech before God does not require a tidy ending.

The person who tells someone in the middle of Psalm 88 that they need to get to the praise section is giving wrong directions. Sometimes the honest speech is the descent, full stop. Psalm 88 is the canon's testimony that God receives this too. It does not suggest that the person is in spiritual failure. It is the Spirit's word to the person who cannot yet turn: you are not outside the curriculum. You are in it.

Psalm 6 and the Different Resolution

Psalm 6 shows how a similar darkness can resolve differently. Read where it begins and where it ends:

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; do not discipline me in your raging fury! Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am frail. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! I am absolutely terrified, and you, Lord — how long? Relent, Lord, rescue my life; save me because of your faithfulness. — Psalm 6:1–4, NET

And then, without the circumstances having visibly changed:

Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my appeal for help; the Lord has accepted my prayer. — Psalm 6:8–9, NET

The resolution comes not from changed feelings or changed circumstances. It comes from a declaration of what God will do on the basis of who God is. Two different psalms. Two different endings. Both honest. Both in the canon.

If you are in Psalm 88 right now, stay there. God is not waiting for you to get to the turn before He receives you. The darkness is not evidence that something has gone wrong with your faith. It is honest speech before God — from wherever you actually are — and that is exactly what the curriculum is for.