Psalm 88: When the Darkness Doesn’t Lift

Core Theme: For when you have prayed and prayed, nothing seems to change, and you feel shut in, worn down, and alone

(Related Theme: This psalm also speaks to When God Feels Silent — see verses 13–14 below.)

Background

Psalm 88 was written by Heman the Ezrahite, who was one of the most respected men in Israel. Scripture names him among the wisest men of Solomon’s day (1 Kings 4:31), and he served as one of the chief singers King David appointed to lead worship (1 Chronicles 15:19). This was a man who had spent his life leading others in praise, and yet he wrote the darkest psalm in the Bible.

The heading calls it “A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah,” set “upon Mahalath Leannoth,” a phrase whose exact meaning is uncertain, and a “Maschil,” a psalm meant for instruction. That last word matters. God included this psalm in Scripture to teach us something, and one of its lessons is that even faithful believers can walk through long seasons of darkness.

Psalm 88 is unusual because it does not end with a turn toward praise. Nearly every lament in the Psalms finds its way to hope before the final verse. This one ends with the word “darkness.”

Psalm 88 (KJV)

1 A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:

2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.

18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

The heart of it

Psalm 88 is the prayer of a man who has suffered a long time, perhaps since his youth (verse 15), and who sees no light ahead. He feels near death, cut off from his friends, and crushed by what feels like God’s anger. He has called on the Lord every day, stretched out his hands, and prayed through the night, and the heavens seem silent.

It may seem strange that God would put a psalm like this in His Word. But it is one of the kindest gifts in the whole book. It tells every believer walking through a long, dark season that they are not the first, that their honesty does not offend God, and that a lack of quick resolution is not proof that God has abandoned them. Not every trial is resolved by the end of the chapter, and Scripture does not pretend otherwise.

Heman also describes feeling the weight of God’s wrath. Our feelings in deep darkness are real, but they are not the final verdict on where we stand with God. For the believer, that verdict has already been given: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1). The darkness may tell you God is against you. The cross says otherwise.

Walking through it

Verse 1: “O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:”

Notice how Heman begins. Before he pours out a single complaint, he calls God “the God of my salvation.” This is the one bright thread running through the whole psalm, and it is placed right at the start. Everything that follows, the pit, the darkness, the loneliness, is spoken to the God he still claims as his own. Heman’s feelings tell him he is forgotten, but his words of address tell the truth: he belongs to God, and God is still the One who saves him. Faith in the dark does not always feel strong. Sometimes it simply refuses to stop praying.

Verses 10–12: “Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.”

Heman asks a series of questions he expects to be answered “no.” Will God do wonders for the dead? Will His lovingkindness be declared in the grave, or His wonders be known in the dark? From where Heman stood, the grave looked like the end of praise. But we stand on the other side of an empty tomb. The answer to his questions turned out to be a glorious “yes.” God did show His greatest wonder to the dead when He raised His Son, and the Lord Jesus declared, “…I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). Heman’s darkest questions find their answer in Christ.

Verses 13–14: “But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.”

To prevent [come before, go ahead of] means Heman plans to be up before dawn, praying before anything else happens in his day. He keeps coming back to God every morning, even though he immediately asks, “LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?” For anyone in a season when God feels silent, this is what faithfulness can look like: not answers, not feelings of nearness, but simply showing up before God again, morning after morning, and telling Him the truth.

Verse 18: “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.”

The psalm ends with the loneliest line in the Psalter. Heman’s loved ones and friends are far away, and darkness is his only companion. There is no resolution, no turn to praise. But the darkness that surrounds us is never dark to God: “Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee” (Psalm 139:12). Heman could not see God in his darkness, but God saw him perfectly in it. And the Lord Jesus Himself entered that kind of darkness and abandonment on the cross, crying, “…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), so that no believer would ever truly be forsaken.

Carrying this forward

If the Lord has already brought you out of a long, dark season, you know that the darkness did not have the last word, even when it felt as if it would. Remember what it was like to pray without seeing anything change, and remember that He was holding you the whole time. As the light returns, it is easy to drift and forget how much we leaned on Him. Keep your focus on Him, and be gentle with others who are still in the dark. Do not rush them toward a happy ending; sometimes the most Christlike thing you can do is sit with them, as God sat with Heman, and keep praying.

If you are in the dark right now, and you have prayed every morning and every night and still feel unheard, Psalm 88 is God’s way of telling you that you are not abnormal and not abandoned. You can bring Him your rawest words. Keep calling Him “the God of my salvation,” even when it is the only hopeful thing you can say. And if the darkness has grown so heavy that you have begun to wish you were not alive, please reach out today to a pastor, a trusted friend, or a crisis line such as 988 (call or text, U.S. only). God often sends His help through other people. Heman’s psalm ends in darkness, but his story did not, and neither will yours. The darkness is not dark to Him, and you are held in His hands even when you cannot feel them.