Seeking to Resolve Faith in God and Despair in Life (Part 2)

Psalm 88

This person knew who God was (is). Was this (a) a devout person in horrible circumstances, (b) a deeply repentant person, or (c) a person who formerly thought he was correct, but then knew he was terribly misguided?  Whoever this person was, he felt totally separated from God.  Sometimes it took knowing God’s seriousness to see God’s frankness.

This person was deeply distressed.  He felt nearness to death, nothing but weakness, as a forgotten corpse, cut off from God, as if he was in a dark and forsaken pit, and engulfed by God’s anger.  He felt in dire distress!

He was in a lonely, escapeless trap with no friends.  Remorse was ceaseless! Relief did not exist!

He did not understand.  How could his plight serve God’s purposes?  In his condition, how could he praise God?  How could his condition/situation honor God?

Yet, he would not stop pleading with God.  He did not understand why God rejected him and refused to answer him.  In spite of past rejection, he would continue to cry out to God.

He had been sickly from his childhood.  Right then he was helpless and desperate.  God’s anger terrorized and paralyzed him.  His life was like being engulfed by a flood.  He had no family or friends. 

His only close friend was darkness.  He was not talking about a sense of peace.  Darkness was filled with horrifying dangers.  However, the horrors of darkness were nothing compared to abandonment by God!

Two deceptions afflict human existence: (a) God is not serious.  (b) Willful rebellion never surpasses divine mercy.

February 26, 2014  *  Fort Smith, AR
 

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