Unanswered Prayers (Psalm 88)
Who hasn't had an unanswered prayer? We've been studying prayers in the Bible. Today, I want you to imagine a man in the pit of despair. Something has happened to him that removed all joy from his life. He seeks God's help with everything he has and wonders why God hasn't come through for him. He repeatedly calls out for God, screams, and talks to God in a way that makes us uncomfortable. Is he cursing? He has doubts and questions that we need answers to. I want you to study this with me and try to understand what is happening here and why this Psalm is included in the word of God.
Oh, God Of My Salvation
As we open this Psalm, we notice something important for the rest of our study.
Psalm 88:1–2 (ESV) — 1 O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!
This man is not someone who is a new believer or someone who is barely faithful. He loves God and wants to praise him. He trusts in him for salvation. He relies on him in his time of need. The text tells us that he cries out to God day and night. Why? What is going on in his life that is pushing him to cry out like this?
Psalm 88:3–5 (ESV) — 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. 4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, 5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
Sheol is the place of the dead in ancient Near Eastern society. Heman is saying that he is on the verge of dying. Whatever happens is serious, and he needs God's help. Notice that his issue is internal and external. He says, "My soul is full of troubles." That means that he is having an internal struggle. What would that look like?
Well, have you ever gone through difficult times when you were trying to serve God faithfully? Did you think, "Doesn't God love me? Why isn't he answering me and helping me with this issue?" After all, we would expect a loving and all-powerful God to provide for his people. Shouldn't he give us an answer and help us experience joy?
Finding It Hard To Praise
It gets worse.
Psalm 88:6–9 (ESV) — 6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah 8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; 9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you.
In verse 6, he tells God he is responsible for putting him in this situation. Notice the accusations. He says, "You have put me here," "Your wrath," "Your waves," "You made them do it," and "You made me a horror." This guy is hurting badly. He recognizes that God is in control and blames God for the evil being done against him. Is it all God's fault?
Then, he asks God five questions. These questions show that he doubts God's power. He's struggling to believe that God can do things that no one has ever seen God do.
Psalm 88:10–14 (ESV) — 10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah 11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. 14 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?
He asks these five questions.
- Do you work wonders for the dead? (In his mind, the dead experience nothing.)
- Do the departed rise to praise you? (In his mind, the dead do nothing.)
- Is your steadfast love declared in the grave? (In his mind, the dead speak nothing.)
- Are your wonders known in the darkness? (In his mind, the dead know nothing.)
- Why have you abandoned me? (This is a concluding statement.)
Overall, these questions would eat at those who lived before the time of Christ. They often hoped and believed God would deliver them eternally, but they had no explicit promises after this life.
Notice how he brings in the idea of praising God. It was common for men to think that God desires praise. Heman wants to know what the point of his dying is. He cannot write a positive outcome to this Psalm if he dies. Dead men don't praise his name.
No Answer
The Psalmist doesn't turn around.
Psalm 88:15–18 (ESV) — 15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. 16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. 17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. 18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
At the end of the Psalm, he feels abandoned. He wants God to explain his actions, but God seems to bring more afflictions upon him. God doesn't give him an answer for what is going on. God doesn't solve his issues.
The Darkest Psalms
This Psalm is one of the darkest Psalms we read about in the Old Testament. There are only two Psalms with no hope: this Psalm and Psalm 39. Usually, Psalms end on a positive note. Either God comes in and rescues the Psalmist, or they end the Psalm saying that they will trust in God even though things are going wrong. Not this Psalm.
He has no joy or answer to his prayers. That's why his soul is full of trouble. When we have no speck of hope, something is seriously wrong. Amazingly, these types of Psalms are included in the Bible. God wants us to see that we can pray and live right but still be in darkness. He's not going to keep all the bad things from happening to you, and if you don't know enough about who God is, you won't make it out of the darkness. It's evident that Hamen trusts God but feels forgotten because God won't answer his prayer how he wants him to.
Why Do We Trust God?
At the heart of this Psalm is a burning question. Do we fear God because he gives us what we want? This is the question Satan asked about Job in Job 1:9. He felt that Job was only praising God because God did things for him, but the second all his stuff was taken from him, he would curse God. That's not how it went. Job lost everything and suffered tremendously but recognized God's worth and value.
Plenty of people want to trust and worship God because of what he offers, not because of who he is. One of the famous preachers of our day gives a prosperity message.
"God wants to increase you financially by giving you promotions, fresh ideas, and creativity." – Joel Osteen.
There is no Bible verse to back that up. Maybe he does want to do that for you. If you have experienced tremendous prosperity, by all means, give him glory for it. But God could just as quickly want to take all that away from you. This teaching ignores the pain and suffering of people like Heman, who trust God for their salvation and find no answer.
Job and this Psalm show us that bad things happen to good people, and it has nothing to do with God trying to punish people for something they have done wrong. On the contrary, those who go through dark times struggle, and there is a purpose behind their struggle. Job and the Psalmist aim to demonstrate faith in God to save. This Psalmist doesn't understand what's happening; he has enough faith in God's grace to be open and honest about what he doesn't understand, and he keeps calling for God's help.
When we look elsewhere for a Heman in scripture, one pops up in 1 Chron 15. It seems like he was appointed to be the leader of the musicians in Temple worship. He was the leader of the Kohathites! Can you believe that the leader of the Kohathites struggled like this? Can anyone grow to greatness without enduring struggles? Verse 15 tells us that this man has endured suffering from childhood. Suffering has led him to trust in God, and he endures.
What about you? Are you going through something terrible? Is life miserable for you? Has it always been? We can see in this that you are not alone.
The Answers Are Here
When we come to the New Testament, we discover that all of Heman's questions have answers. God has revealed them to us.
He shows us that he does work wonders for the dead. Those who trust in the Lord will be given a new body and a new home with life in the presence of God for all eternity.
We will rise and sing his praises forever. (Rev 15:2)
God's steadfast love will be our song (Rev 15:3-4)
There will be no more darkness because God's glory illuminates it (Rev 21:23). We will discover that God has not forgotten or forsaken the faithful. He was always there with them, allowing them to glorify his name by trusting him when things didn't look right.
The words we read in Romans 8:28 are true.
Romans 8:28 (ESV) — 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God does work all things together for the good. He lets the bad things happen in this life, but they turn good things. If they don't turn good in this life, they will be the ones to come. That's his promise.
Jesus Faced Darkness For Us
The good news for us today is that we don't have to live like Heman. Jesus has done something extraordinary for us. He has gone through the same type of sorrow to give us hope. In Matthew 26, we see that Jesus feels the struggle of Heman. He prays for God to find another way and free him from this upcoming trial. But God did not answer him.
He goes through the darkness of suffering and feeling abandoned for us. He could have given up hope and fought back, but instead, he chooses to remain faithful because he knows the answers to Heman's questions. He knows what's waiting on the other side of death.
This should give us the courage to face death and trust God no matter what comes our way. Our souls don't have to be troubled. They might be, but they don't have to be. We have the assurance Heman needed. We know that there is hope for us beyond this life.
Is there hope for you? Have you submitted your life to Christ?