Greg Austen

Have you ever been so overwhelmed by your troubles that even your friends shunned you? Have you ever wrestled with the dread that maybe God has shunned you too? If so, you might want to stop now and read all of Psalm 88 and not just the excerpts above.

A lot of people are surprised to know a psalm like this is in the Bible. As a young Christian, I learned about it through the writings of the quadriplegic Joni Ereckson-Tada. Psalm 88 is part of a larger collection that one writer calls “the lost language of lament.” As an individual lament, it’s unique, however, in that there’s a lot of hopelessness and perplexity in it and it doesn’t have a happy ending. It’s definitely, as another writer refers to it, a “wintry landscape of the soul.” And, although some may see it as an embarrassment to conventional faith, the fact that it’s part of the Canon is evidence that God and saints of old view it as part of a robust, full-orbed faith.

Why is it important to look at, internalize, and treasure a psalm like this? I’d like to suggest at least four reasons:

1. It’s a reminder that faith can still be real even when we don’t feel strong hope after prayer. As a former professor of mine points out, “The prayer is addressed to God and the speaker assumes that God hears the complaints:”[1]

• O Lord, God of my salvation, at night, when I cry out before you, let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry. (1-2)
• Every day I call on you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you. (13)
• But I, O Lord, cry out to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. O Lord, why… (13-14a)

2. It helps guard against shiny, happy fundamentalism. As such, it’s a reminder that life is full of uncertainty and questions—even profound brokenness at times. We need to keep things real, and this includes appreciating sacred laments like Psalm 88 and even modern ones like this one by one of my favorite Irish artists, David Clements. In it, he calls shiny, happy, “La-La Land” versions of life Hollywood. Here’s an excerpt:

I wish I lived in Hollywood…

Different happiness and different sorrow

The ones we love won’t leave us

The ones that did they will return

I am a lost believer

I have love without the feeling now…

Hollywood by David Clements

By the way, speaking of shiny, happy things, I did get the idea for the title of this blog from the new documentary Shiny, Happy People on the Duggar family. Especially if you were caught-up in or were a victim of “purity culture” or Gothardism you will find it very insightful; albeit, tragic as well. As a follow-up to watching it, I also recommend this excellent discussion of the documentary by David and Nancy French on the Good Faith podcast.

3. It helps us be more empathetic. Again, who of us hasn’t felt overwhelmed by our troubles at times or shunned by our friends? And, if we’re honest, who among us hasn’t wrestled with the dread that maybe God had shunned us too? The truth that shiny, happy Christianity denies or is uncomfortable with is that sometimes God is silent and can feel like our enemy. Notice how the psalmist describes God’s actions toward him:

• You have put me…

• Your wrath has come down on me…

• You have squashed me…

• You have caused close friends to stay away…

• You have made me repulsive…

• Your wrath has swept over me…

• Your terrors have annihilated me…

And even if we aren’t in a place where we feel like this right now, we can pray this psalm on behalf of others. Moreover, there’s a good chance Christ himself prayed portions of this psalm while he hung on the cross for the sins of the world, which brings us to our final reason…

4. As a backdrop of truth, it gives us a greater appreciation for other parts of Scripture and all that Christ has done for us. The late Old Testament Scholar Marvin Tate reminds us: “The silence of God will not last forever. Our memory stirs and we recall a line from another psalm: ‘Even the darkness is light to thee/the night is bright as the day,/for darkness is as light with thee (139:12, RSV). Or perhaps, we leap ahead and remember that ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkens has not overcome it” (John 1:5, RSV).”[2]

Thank God for this and it’s one of the reasons I wrote this piece a few weeks ago on the Archimedean point of Christ’s death. Indeed, there is no ultimate hope for any of us or this world outside of Christ. It’s also why I will continue to expose the veneer of shiny, happy Christianity and advocate for authentic expressions of faith that are less shiny– even dark– like Psalm 88, or imperfect like Clement’s Hollywood which continues:

Can’t forget my sin

It gets inside your skin…

And if I get to heaven, will they still let me in

Just let me talk to Jesus, think he’ll remember me

God knows I lost the feeling, God knows I still believe…

Hollywood by David Clements

[1] Marvin Tate, Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51-100. (Dallas, TX: Word, 1990) 404-405.

[2] Ibid.