READ Psalm 88:10–18. 10 Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do the spirits rise up and praise you? 11 Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction? 12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion? 13 But I cry to you for help, LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you. 14 Why, LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me? 15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death; I have borne your terrors and am in despair. 16 Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me. 17 All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me. 18 You have taken from me my friend and neighbor—darkness is my closest friend.
SATAN DEFEATED. This is one of the few psalms that end without some light, without an expression of hope and trust. Why did God include this psalm in his Scripture, where it would be recited and sung for thousands of years? First, it teaches us that sometimes periods of spiritual darkness can last a long time. Also, it shows us what to do in such periods: tell God about our hopelessness. We can worship God even with our despair. And such prayers in the dark are more victorious than they look. Satan told God that no one serves him unless they are getting something out of it, but here we see a man praying and serving God for nothing (Job 1:9). So Satan is defeated.
Prayer: Lord, I praise you that you are a God who understands what it is like to be human! That you understand what it is to be hopeless in the dark. That you have been tried and tempted in every way, as we have. So when I struggle I can go to you, my wonderful counselor, in my need. Amen.