The air thickens as the light drains away, until every sound feels swallowed by an unseen void, and a silent vacuum surrounds. Shadows press in from all sides, heavy and suffocating, you stand alone as if the world itself has forgotten you exist.

This is the atmosphere of Psalm 88. It is perhaps the darkest psalm in the Bible. Most laments eventually turn to hope or praise, but not this one. Instead, it ends with the chilling words: “my companions have become darkness” (verse 18). A darkness and loneliness that we cannot even fathom.

Yet for some of us, this description seems painfully familiar. Seasons of sickness, depression, broken relationships, loss, or loneliness made it feel as though God has hidden His face. Prayers seem unanswered. Friends feel far away. There was nothing to lean on and nothing to grasp. Life feels more like a dark endless pit than a pathway.

And yet, even in this darkness, Psalm 88 is an act of faith. The psalmist never stopped crying. The psalm began with the psalmist acknowledging Yahweh as God of his salvation. The psalmist cries out to God day and night, and earnestly asks God to listen to his prayer. The psalmist does not stop praying. Even when he feels suffocated, alone, down in the pits, abandoned, he still addresses God as his salvation. His words may be raw, desperate cries, but they are words spoken to God. That is faith, in its most stripped-down form. At his lowest, he was still on his knees.

Why would God include such a bleak psalm in Scripture? Perhaps because He knows we need permission to pray this way. We are not required to pretend everything is fine, nor to tie every struggle up with a neat bow. God invites us to bring our real, messy, unresolved pain to Him. Psalm 88 assures us that He can handle our cries of anguish and anger, our questions, and even our despair.

And while the psalm itself ends in darkness, the bible does not. God’s storyline tells us that centuries after the psalm is written, Jesus, Son of God, Himself entered the deepest darkness where he was betrayed by His closest friends, and finally abandoned to death. On the cross, He prayed the ultimate lament: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Because Jesus went into that darkness for us, we can know that even when we feel forsaken, we are not truly abandoned. His resurrection is proof that the dark endless pit is not the end.

Whenever you find yourself surrounded by darkness, when you feel abandoned to an endless pit, take heart from Psalm 88. God does not despise your tears. Your unanswered questions are not faithless and they may be the most honest prayers you will ever pray. Bring them to God, because He listens to your anguish cries. Bring them to God, because He knows each one of us. Know that beyond the darkness, there is a Savior who knows you and who holds you fast.

Prayer:

Lord, You are the God of my salvation, even when I cannot feel Your presence. Teach me to keep calling out to You even when I am in the pits of darkness. Hold me close when I feel forgotten, and remind me that Jesus has already walked through the darkest night for me. Help me to trust in You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.