For Us (Psalm 88:6-12)

⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
⁸ You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
⁹     my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

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This psalm is a dark psalm, probably the darkest of all the psalms.  This is the prayer of someone in the depths of misery, and looking to God, not as the source of relief, but rather as the source of the misery itself.  Very dark indeed.

But in reading and meditating on these words this morning, I could not help but hear them as being prayed by Jesus as he approached the cross.  It truly was the will of His Father that Jesus go down to this “pit.”  His closest friends had abandoned Him; one had even betrayed Him.  How can there be hope in such misery?

But the point in hearing these words as the words of Jesus in agony is to appreciate the depth of His love in taking this on for me.   The love of God was declared in the grave on Easter morning for me.  Wonders will be shown to the dead when they are raised at His return.  Our spirits will rise up and praise the Lord who went to the cross for us.

So my prayer today is one of thanksgiving and worship for my Savior, who went to the pit and the cross and the grave for me.  All glory be to Him!

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