Like many followers of Christ I regularly read from the Psalms as part of my daily prayer time.  Since praying the scriptures has become the most meaningful part of my prayer life, the Holy Spirit uses the Psalms to direct some of my prayers.  Usually that works well.  Until I come to a passage like Psalm 88.

While I’ve experienced loss and hurt, my life has not been as “hard” as some people I know.  There have been painful moments, but the happy ones greatly outnumber the sad ones.

All 18 verses of Psalm 88 are filled with pain and questions.  The author indicates that he has been afflicted and at death’s door since he was a youth.  His has been a life of abandonment and isolation.  He prays constantly, but life remains “hard.”

I can’t relate to him.  Like I said, I’ve had “hard” moments but not a hard life.

When I read Psalm 88 – and others like it – how do I pray?  What do I pray?  What does God want to say to me?

Well, this morning I read and prayed through Psalm 88 as part of my time with the Lord.   It was good!  Here is what the Spirit led me to pray.

I thanked God for my life and all the good things in it.  This Psalm reminded me how blessed I’ve been and I asked God to help me not take those good things for granted.

I also thanked God for the people in my life.  The author of Psalm 88 said: “You have removed my acquaintances far from me” and “You have removed lover and friends far from me” (verses 8, 18).  I have family and friends.  Yes, I’ve lost some to death but most are still part of my life.  I’m not lonely.  So I prayed for the people in my life and thanked God for them.

Finally, I asked the Lord to strengthen me so that I would trust Him when the “hard” moments do come to my life.  In verse 13 the author said: “I, O Lord, have cried out to You for help, and in the morning my prayer comes before You.”  In verse 9 he said: “I have called upon You every day.”  I was struck by his constant trust in God despite his constant pain.  Thus I prayed for God to prepare me for the unknown painful events of my future.

If your life has been especially “hard” or you’re going through a really “hard” time now, you probably would pray differently than me when reading Psalm 88.  But if your life is more like mine, I want you to know that God can still speak to you when you read an unhappy Psalm like this one.

Here a few practical suggestions for reading and praying the Psalms:

• Read slowly
• Read out loud
• Pay attention to your thoughts
• Turn those thoughts in conversations in your mind
• Then turn those thoughts/conversations into a prayer
• Consider writing these in a journal
• Listen to the Holy Spirit. He will speak, but you must listen

Pastor Steve Hogg