Full Of Troubles

O LORD, God of my salvation,

I cry out to you by day.

I come to you at night.

Now hear my prayer;

listen to my cry.

For my life is full of troubles,

and death draws near.

I am as good as dead,

like a strong man with no strength left. Psalm 88:1-4

SOMETIMES we have sharp but short-term troubles with our kids. Other times we have deeper, ongoing, seemingly intractable issues —a chronic condition, an ongoing addiction, an unresolved conflict. And we get worn down. We can’t see any light ahead. We can find no reason for hope.

The writer of Psalm 88 seems to understand such weariness. “My life is full of troubles,” he says. No strength left. Seemingly forgotten by God. Alone. Trapped. Tearful. In the dark. Most laments in the Psalms let in a ray of sunshine, closing on a confident note of determination to trust God. But not this psalm. There seems to be no resolution. But that does not mean there is no genuine hope.

This psalm gives words to those who need to keep crying out to the Lord day and night —not to a powerless or uncaring God, but to the “God of my salvation.” Faith can be real even when it can’t be tied up into a tidy conclusion, even when it cannot articulate strong hope, even when it’s barely holding on, even when everything seems very dark.

Parents who take up this divinely inspired song are led to keep coming to the Lord, even when it feels as if he does not hear and is refusing to act. And though the light of redemption is faint in this psalm, it helps us recognize that the God of our salvation is the only one with the ability to pierce through the darkness of our difficult circumstances.

God of my salvation, save me from despair over what seems unbearable. Save me from my inclination to run away from you with all of this very real pain rather than to cry out to you. Save me from the voice inside my head that is telling me that you have forgotten, that you are angry, that you have turned your face from me. Enter into my darkness and illumine me.