MENTAL HEALTH IN THE PSALMS: 88
PSALM 88:1-18
#mentalhealth
INTRODUCTION 1 … POOR BISHOP HOOPER PSALM 88 (EVERY PSALM) youtube.com/watch?v=5n4vKXZ1b_M [5:29]
INTRODUCTION… People Talk about Psalm 88, bleacherreport.com/articles/913239-the-50-worst-teams
The Psalm that we will be looking at today has quite a bit talked about it and not much of it good because it is just sad. If Psalm 88 were a baseball team, it would be the Cleveland Spiders which is considered to be the worst team in any sport ever. In 1899, the Spiders went 20-134 and only ever had a winning streak of 2 games.
If Psalm 88 were a football team, it would be the 1934 Cincinnati Reds. Now I know you are thinking I messed up and said football and not baseball, but the Cincinnati Reds Football team played from 1933-1934 and set records for the lowest amount of points scored in a season with 38 points in 1933 and 37 points in 1934 and the team in 1934 had an 0-8 record.
Basically… just sad. People talk about Psalm 88 and that is pretty much the impression:
* “Psalm 88 is a song, yet a remarkably sad song, and is often regarded as the saddest psalm in the entire collection.” (David Guzik, Enduring Word)
* “Psalm 88 builds to an emotional climax and then an abrupt end which is ‘darkness is my only friend’ but provides no sense of closure.” (Daniel Estes, NAC Commentary, Ps 73-150)
* “The Psalm is almost without divisions and is a ‘slow unbroken wail’ expressive of the ‘monotony of woe.’ (The Pulpit Commentary, 1913 pg 230)
* “The person who wrote this was called to walk in darkness and had no light.” (The Pulpit Commentary, 1913 pg 232)
* “He does not speak of one kind of calamity only; but of calamities so heaped upon one another that his heart was filled with sorrow, till it could contain no more.” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Volume V, pg 409)
* “The prayer is a deeply piercing shout… here a loud cry for divine help. The psalmist shouts loudly to the Lord; hoping that He will hear.” (VanGemeren, Expositors BC, pg 565)
The tone of the Scripture that we will read is incredibly sad. More than sad.
The other background information we need to know about this Psalm before we read it is that unlike others we have read recently, this one was not written or composed by King David. This Psalm was written by Heman the Ezrahite. What do we know about He-Man? We know that his real name is Prince Adam and he comes from a planet called Eternia. The Sorceress gave him a magic sword and when Adam calls on the power of Greyskull, the power comes on him and transforms Adam into He-Man and he fights evil Skeletor. His toys were all the rage in the 1980s. No?
Ok, wrong Heman. The Heman who wrote this Psalm is most likely the one mentioned in 1 Chronicles 25:5 as being “the king’s seer” and one who sang worship and played instruments (1 Chronicles 6:33, 15:19, 16:41-42) and who is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible as being incredibly wise (1 Kings 4:31). This man was musically talented, led worship, and was considered wise. In many ways, it shocks us that this man wrote this Psalm.
TRANSITION
So, we have a very depressing and sad song as our Scripture today not written by David, but by a wise man we should very much call a prophet. Folks who say that the Bible does not address mental illness or emotional struggles or doesn’t have anything to say about depression or other struggles has never read Psalm 88 or any of the other Psalms we have been covering recently.
Folks who believe the Bible and mental health do not have anything to do with each other are not alone in their ideas. We may not think this is a worthy topic to address in sermons or from the Bible or in church. Mental health is not a topic that the Church (the big ‘C’ church) traditionally addresses well. Over the years, we Christians have left mental health to godless psychoanalysts and human-centered therapists to the detriment of generations of Christians. We divide mental health and spiritual health as two different areas of life to our detriment. Not everything a psychologist or psychiatrist may offer is terrible or even untrue, but God has much to say about mental health because our mind is an integral part of how God Almighty made us.
Our purpose in these sermons is to look at mental health in the Bible and to learn from the Scriptures what God says about mental health and emotional fitness and healthy patterns of thinking and feeling and living. We can do that because God already shares those truths with us. Let’s read Psalm 88.
READ PSALM 88:1-18 (ESV)
O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before You. 2 Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry! 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, 5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom You remember no more, for they are cut off from Your hand. 6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and You overwhelm me with all Your waves. Selah
8 You have caused my companions to shun me; You have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; 9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon You, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You. 10 Do You work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise You? Selah
11 Is Your steadfast love declared in the grave, or Your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Are Your wonders known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But I, O LORD, cry to You; in the morning my prayer comes before You. 14 O LORD, why do You cast my soul away? Why do You hide Your face from me? 15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer Your terrors; I am helpless. 16 Your wrath has swept over me; Your dreadful assaults destroy me. 17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. 18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
TRANSITION
As I looked over this Psalm, I saw two emphases immediately that brought me to an obvious question. So, as we take a look at sad Psalm 88, what are the two emphases and what is the obvious question?
SADNESS
The first emphasis Heman the Ezrahite makes is the sadness of his heart and he explains what is going on inside of him. In this way, he is like David and the other Psalms we have looked at. As I mentioned last week, the Psalms are often windows for the soul that help us put into words what we are feeling. Heman’s soul is sad and in despair and gloomy and full of very unhealthy patterns of depression.
Verse 1: “I cry out day and night”
Verse 3: “My soul is full of troubles”
Verse 4: “I am a man who has no strength”
Verse 5: “remember no more” and “cut off”
Verse 9: “my eye grows dim through sorrow”
I don’t want to re-read all the verses and share each phrase he uses to share his despair, but I think we get the point. Well, maybe. Maybe we get the point. Maybe we do not. If you were upset with the song I played earlier that the song just repeated over and over and over “sadness is my only friend” and the song droned on for over 5 minutes in complete sadness, then you do not get it. If you don’t see the need for this sermon series on mental health and you think mentally ill people just need to pray in faith a little more, then you do not get it. If you don’t see how depression impacts a person’s soul and body and mind and emotions and motivations and sex life and the way they spend money and sleep patterns and their self-concept and even their very important view of God, then you… do not… get it.
Psalm 88 is 18 verses about utter despair of the soul. We have a word for that: depression.
Psalm 88 is 18 verses about wanting to die. We have a word for that: depression.
Psalm 88 is 18 verses about living in a pit of hurt and pain. We have a word for that: depression.
DISORIENTATION: DEPRESSION [content: Gary Collins, Christian Counseling, 2007, pages 119-139]
The word “depression” covers a wide variety of symptoms and mental difficulties that vary in severity, frequency, duration, and reason.
Depression impacts feelings and brings about sadness, low self-esteem, self-criticism, hopelessness, shame, worthlessness, pessimism, and anger. It also impacts thinking. Depressed people have negative thoughts that seem as real as any thoughts they might have when thinking differently. Self-destruction, self-criticism, and trouble concentrating are the order of the day in the mind. Depression impacts behavior in that apathy is real as well as social withdrawal, neglect, and constant complaining. Depression also impacts physical health in that fatigue is common as well as sleeplessness or sleeping too much, and aches and pains.
Depression can come for a season. For some, depression can come in the winter months or can come in a particularly hard time of life when unexpected changes happen or when a loved one dies. Depression can also be something that is genetic with regards to brain chemistry and stays with a person for a lifetime. This is called chronic daily depression or dysthymic (diss-thigh-mick) depression that lasts for years and is often treated with medication and therapy.
Why do I share all of this with you? I share it because depression is real. It was absolutely real for Heman the Ezrahite when he wrote this Psalm by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that we could read and reflect on it today thousands of years later. Depression is real for the person whose life shifts and changes in unexpected ways and for a season their life is turned upside down and sideways and their heart reacts with sadness or a critical spirit rules them for a while Depression is also real for the person whose brain chemistry is ransacked by genetics or drug use or unhealthy patterns of living and the depression stays not for a season, but for years or decades of their life and many times for a lifetime.
Mental illness and mental health is a real issue for the person who deals with an eating disorder, OCD, ADHD, anxiety issues, panic attacks, PTSD, and a whole host of issues. These are issues that reach into a person’s soul and are extreme life difficulties… Christian or not. Yes, Christians can have these issues and it is not because their faith is faulty or they are irreparably broken or they aren’t really Christians deep down. Such things are part of the sin-brokenness of creation and we have to deal with them.
Heman the Ezrahite brings his sadness of soul to our attention and unfortunately, does not leave us with any answers. He is at a loss. He is in the pit. He is hurting. This Psalm, unlike all the other Psalms, does not end on a high note or a praise or a positive spin, but ends with him just sitting in his despair with no answers.
TRANSITION
I mentioned earlier that as I looked over this Psalm, I saw two emphases immediately. The first was the sadness that stacked itself up in this man’s heart and weighed him down so much so that he felt like he was in a pit dying. The despair and sadness and soul gloom is apparent. That is the first emphasis. The second emphasis was quite shocking and is a needed topic for us to discuss.
BLAME OF GOD
The second emphasis in Psalm 88 is that Heman the Ezrahite absolutely 100% without any reservation blames Almighty God for the despair in his soul. By my count, Heman blames God for what is going on with him 17 times in 18 verses.
Verse 6: “You have put me in the depths of the pit”
Verse 7: “You overwhelm me with all Your waves”
Verse 8: “You have caused my companions to shun me”
Verse 14: “O LORD, why do You cast my soul away?”
Verse 15: “I suffer Your terrors; I am helpless.”
Verse 16: “Your dreadful assaults destroy me.”
Wooooeeeee this fellow is mad at God and blames Him for his perpetual anguish! Heman has no idea of God’s rationale for setting such sadness and grief in his heart and he does not appreciate it. Not one bit. He blames God. Heman wants God to deliver him and save him and bless him and bring him out of the pit, but God doesn’t seem to be answering Heman’s prayers on this subject and Heman is not only full of despair, but also blame for God.
The NIV translates the last phrase in verse 18 to say: “darkness is my closest friend.” Do you know why he says “darkness is my closest friend?” Because God isn’t. Heman feels abandoned by God and justified in telling God for 18 verses that he is hurting and God did it.
The blame of God in Psalm 88 makes us a bit uncomfortable because we aren’t sure that blaming God is something that should be done. We know we do it, but we also have a great sense that blaming the all-knowing all-powerful God of the Universe for our problems may be blasphemy at the least and rejection of God at the most. And yet Heman blames God over and over and over again in Psalm 88.
There are three truths about blaming God that must be acknowledged. These truths may not help you, but they are three truths nevertheless.
First, blaming God is human nature. I would hazard to say that most people probably blame God for something somewhere at some time because God is an easy target for blame. God is all-knowing and all-powerful and in-charge of everything so if something is bent out of shape, it is obviously the Divine One’s fault. I know it is human nature to blame God because the very first human being did it.
READ GENESIS 3:11-12 (ESV)
“He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Please take note of who Adam eventually blames for his sin. God. Blaming God is human nature, which does not excuse it or make it right, but it does mean the sin of blaming God exists and is not unheard of.
Second, blaming God is about assigning fault to God which is dangerous in any way we look at it. The word blame means “to find fault.” Blaming God goes beyond acknowledging God’s rule and reign over our lives and steps into the idea that God messed up and that there is a fault to be found in Him. When we blame God, we make ourselves His judge and jury and stop believing in His holiness and righteousness and love and perfect will. We finite fleshly human beings have no right to pass judgment on the infinite divine Almighty. We do it anyway, but we have no right. Blame is very dangerous when it comes to God.
Third, blaming God is very dangerous because we may end up just sitting in the blame. A human soul that decides to just sit and blame God ends up turning away from God. That is simple spiritual truth that we must acknowledge. Blame God long enough, and it will wear away all believing loyalty one has towards God. Blame leads to rejecting God.
I wonder about Heman the Ezrahite. Was he totally committed to blaming God? Or was he just expressing his blame and he is struggling through it? To be honest, I can’t decide. On one hand, Heman does use words like:
Verse 1: O LORD, God of my salvation”
Verse 1: “I cry out day and night before You.”
Verse 2: “Let my prayer come before You”
Verse 9: “Every day I call upon You, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.”
Verse 12: “Your righteousness”
He is praying to God over and over and believes God to be His Lord and salvation and help and that the righteous God hears His prayers. On the other hand, Heman breaks with the tradition of this type of Psalm and does not end with praise or encouragement and simply ends with darkness and gives no sense of relief or hope.
TRANSITION
As I looked over this Psalm, I saw two emphases immediately: sadness and blame. Those two brought me to an obvious question: Is there an answer?
Is there an answer in Psalm 88 to mental health and wellness in the midst of despair?
Is there an answer in Psalm 88 for when we blame God from the depths of our being?
QUESTION: IS THERE AN ANSWER?
How we answer this question is very important; supremely important. How we answer it indicates whether or not we are fundamentally a person of faith to the core of our being or someone who plays at religion on Sundays and fakes it. How we answer this question shows us where our faith… our believing loyalty… really lays. Listen, I do not know how it turned out for Heman the Ezrahite after he wrote Psalm 88. I know how God wants it to work out for us.
The answer is that we must cry out and wrestle with God through the sadness and the blame. The Bible is full of people who faced tragedy and mental obstacles and spiritual struggles and those that maintained their faith in God. They did so by crying out to God and struggling through the sadness and blame with Him. They did not quit. They did not reject. They did not blaspheme. They cried out to a holy loving God.
Romans 5 encourages us that on the other side of suffering is hope in God:
READ ROMANS 5:3-5 (ESV)
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
We talked about 2 Corinthians last week which tells us that God works with us in our weaknesses and gives us grace and power and strength:
READ 2 CORINTHIANS 12:9-10 (ESV)
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
James encourages us to remain faithful and see God’s promises come true:
READ JAMES 1:12 (ESV)
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.
The answer is that we must cry out and wrestle with God through the sadness and the blame.
For some reason, we often think we have to do this alone. We do not have to struggle through sadness and blame of God alone. In answer to prayer, God has already given us believers around us who may be helpful when we feel like our heart is a mess. They can come alongside and listen and pray and encourage us. God has given Christian counselors and therapists to talk to and pray with. God has blessed human beings with inventive brains to create medicines as tools to relieve severe depression and can be helpful with some forms of depression that have their roots in physical causes.
CONCLUSION ‘Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life.’ Richard Baxter. Crossway 2018. Page 98
“Note carefully how much the Devil delights in confining you to sad, despondent thoughts. You may then easily see that such a focus cannot be your duty or in your best interests if it is so helpful and pleasing to the Devil! ... You have poor, low thoughts of the infinite love of God and are unfit to weigh it or perceive it. You are like someone with constant acid reflux, which causes constant bitterness in the mouth and hinders one from taking any enjoyment in eating. Your low thoughts of God prevent you from loving Him and incline you to hate Him or to flee from Him as from an enemy. Meanwhile the Devil misrepresents Him as hating you.”
CONCLUSION ‘Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life.’ Richard Baxter. Crossway 2018. Page 100
“My last advice is this: strive for the sure of your disease and commit yourself to the care of your physician and obey him. Don’t be like most depressed persons, who will not believe that medication will do them good, but who think it is only their soul that is troubled. Because understand this… it is the chemistry, reason, and mood that are unbalanced.”
PRAYER
