“LORD, why castest Thou off my soul? Why hidest Thou thy face from me?” —Psalm 88:14
This is a rather unusual Psalm. Most Psalms that begin on a note of despair end at last on a note of hope or victory, suggesting that by prayer and meditation the soul is delivered from its distress. This one, in contrast, ends as mournfully as it begins. The only ray of light in the whole chapter is found in the opening phrase, “O Lord God of my salvation…” It is that confidence in the midst of despair that keeps the writer from drowning in his sorrow.
Spurgeon, in his “Treasury of David,” remarks, “If ever there was a song of sorrow and a Psalm of sadness, this is one,” and sees in it a reflection of the suffering of Job. However that may be, it seems to me that the direction to go to find an equation is to the cross. Certainly the time span of the Psalm is greater than that of the crucifixion, and some see in it a protracted illness. But the intensity of the agony expressed, as well as other aspects of this dirge send my thoughts to Him of Whom it is written:
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." [Isa. 53:3-5]
And again,
“…His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:” [Isa. 52:14]
We seldom give serious consideration to the fact that no suffering in the history of the race can compare in intensity to the sufferings of the Savior, and that is true in both the physical and mental sense. Infinite holiness coupled with a real humanity lays the foundation for infinite anguish of both body and soul. And on the cross, it was unrelieved.
There is another clue in the Psalm that justifies the suggestion that it foreshadows the sufferings of the Son of God. The writer declares, “I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer Thy terrors I am distracted.” (v.15) You may remember that prior to the crucifixion the Savior declared in the hearing of two of His disciples, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour [John 12:27, emphasis mine].” The cross was in His heart and on His mind “from [His] youth up.” Yet when the hour came, the agony of His judgment (in our behalf!) caused Him to be “distracted” and cry out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
Indeed, the most awful consequence of the atonement was not the intense physical suffering of the Son of God, nor His moral anguish in becoming sin for us, “Who knew no sin,” but the rupture for that terrible moment in time of the tender and affectionate relationship between the Father and the Son which had endured from eternity past. And it was a cost no less to the Father than to the Son! The Godhead absorbed in Itself the price of “man, the creature’s sin.”
Yet in all of this hope flickers, but it does not die. In his distress the Psalmist turns still to God: “O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee: Let my prayer come before Thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.” (v. 1-3) And in this one can hear the echo of the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross crying, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost [Luke 23:46].”
And, when there is nowhere else to go, and all seems to end in despair, He is still our "hope and stay." Hope survives in the midst of despair because God IS; and the committed believer, when he can see no other light in the darkness, sees still the "God of [his] salvation," and in Him hope beyond the grave. (See v.11)
It may be more than just coincidence that we come to this Psalm at this Easter season. Reflect on the whole Psalm, think of it alongside Calvary, and worship Him “Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by Whose stripes ye were healed [I Pet. 2:24].”
For His glory alone,
"Pastor" Frasier
Spurgeon, in his “Treasury of David,” remarks, “If ever there was a song of sorrow and a Psalm of sadness, this is one,” and sees in it a reflection of the suffering of Job. However that may be, it seems to me that the direction to go to find an equation is to the cross. Certainly the time span of the Psalm is greater than that of the crucifixion, and some see in it a protracted illness. But the intensity of the agony expressed, as well as other aspects of this dirge send my thoughts to Him of Whom it is written:
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." [Isa. 53:3-5]
And again,
“…His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:” [Isa. 52:14]
We seldom give serious consideration to the fact that no suffering in the history of the race can compare in intensity to the sufferings of the Savior, and that is true in both the physical and mental sense. Infinite holiness coupled with a real humanity lays the foundation for infinite anguish of both body and soul. And on the cross, it was unrelieved.
There is another clue in the Psalm that justifies the suggestion that it foreshadows the sufferings of the Son of God. The writer declares, “I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer Thy terrors I am distracted.” (v.15) You may remember that prior to the crucifixion the Savior declared in the hearing of two of His disciples, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour [John 12:27, emphasis mine].” The cross was in His heart and on His mind “from [His] youth up.” Yet when the hour came, the agony of His judgment (in our behalf!) caused Him to be “distracted” and cry out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
Indeed, the most awful consequence of the atonement was not the intense physical suffering of the Son of God, nor His moral anguish in becoming sin for us, “Who knew no sin,” but the rupture for that terrible moment in time of the tender and affectionate relationship between the Father and the Son which had endured from eternity past. And it was a cost no less to the Father than to the Son! The Godhead absorbed in Itself the price of “man, the creature’s sin.”
Yet in all of this hope flickers, but it does not die. In his distress the Psalmist turns still to God: “O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee: Let my prayer come before Thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.” (v. 1-3) And in this one can hear the echo of the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross crying, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost [Luke 23:46].”
And, when there is nowhere else to go, and all seems to end in despair, He is still our "hope and stay." Hope survives in the midst of despair because God IS; and the committed believer, when he can see no other light in the darkness, sees still the "God of [his] salvation," and in Him hope beyond the grave. (See v.11)
It may be more than just coincidence that we come to this Psalm at this Easter season. Reflect on the whole Psalm, think of it alongside Calvary, and worship Him “Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by Whose stripes ye were healed [I Pet. 2:24].”
For His glory alone,
"Pastor" Frasier
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