Sing of the Lord's Great Love

I was reading Psalm 88 today. It's a rather discouraging psalm, actually. Heman the Ezrahite wrote it, I think, and the whole psalm talks about how he feels abandoned by God. Some of the descriptive words he uses:

• Cry out
• Soul is full of trouble
• Like a man without strength
• Set apart with the dead
• Put in the lowest pit
• In the darkest depth
• Overwhelmed
• Repulsive to his closest friends
• Confined
• Eyes dim with grief
• Rejected
• Afflicted
• Suffered God's terrors
• Darkness is his closest friend

Have you ever felt like Heman described above? Perhaps in times of deep despair, when you lost someone close to you, when life suddenly became overwhelming? I know I have. As I read, I wondered if the psalm would resolve itself at the end, as some of the others so nicely do. It didn't, though. Then I carried on reading into Psalm 89.

Psalm 88 describes a person in despondency, someone who feels rejected by God and his closest friends and family. This person doesn't see why he should keep living and when he cries out to God for help it seems like God is hiding His face from him. Psalm 89, however, paints a completely different picture.

• Great love
• Faithfulness
• Establish his line forever
• Make his throne firm
• Mighty
• Rule over the surging sea
• Strong arm
• Founded the world
• Strong exalted right hand
• Righteous and just
• Love
• Glory and strength
• Crush his foes
• Appoint him as firstborn

In the times when we feel most alone, we can choose to sing about God's love, to speak about His faithfulness, to remember how He has created good in our lives in the past, and to claim His promises of love and strength.

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You, who walk in the light of Your presence, O Lord. They rejoice in Your name all day long; they exult in Your righteousness. For You are their glory and strength, and by Your favor You exalt our horn. ~Psalm 89:15-17