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Psalm 88: The Black Psalm

Ben Zornes on March 14, 2017

INTRODUCTION:

In a certain sense, all the psalms are Messianic, all of them point to Jesus. Because this psalm is
particularly dark, some might want to argue that perhaps it is less the case here. But I think we
should go the other way. This psalm is dark, but consider the darkness Jesus went through for us.
There may be lesser applications for us—wherever the Head is, the body is not far away—but we
will consider this psalm as preeminently fulfilled in the moment when Christ was abandoned for
our sake.
THE TEXT:
“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 . . .” (Ps. 88:1–18).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT:
This dark psalm begins with the cry of faith—“God of my salvation” (v. 1). He is in great anguish,
crying out day and night (v. 1). He wants his cry to come before the Lord because his soul is full
of trouble and he is on the brink of death (v. 2). He is reckoned among those who descend to
Sheol, or the pit (v. 3). He is counted among the dead (vv. 4-5). He is in the pit because God has
put him there (v. 6). The wrath of God rests upon him, and all the waves of God wash over him
(v. 7). His friends and acquaintances have scattered (v. 8). He has called out to God daily, but to
no effect (v. 9). Will the dead praise God (v. 10)? Will God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness be
declared in the grave and underworld (v. 11-12)? He continues to cry out to God (v. 13). Lord,
why do you cast me off? Why have you forsaken me (v. 14)? He has been ready to die from his
youth on (v. 15). The fierce wrath of God overwhelms him (v. 16). God’s terrors envelop him like
water (v. 17). God has ripped away from him those who are dear to him (v. 18).
THE CENTRAL DARKNESS:
At the creation of the world, darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit moved on the
face of the waters (Gen. 1:2). At the dying of Jesus, darkness covered all the land for three hours
(Matt. 27:45), and at the death of Jesus the veil in the Temple was ripped in two (Matt. 27:51). Jesus
cried out in utter abandonment, “My God, my God . . .” (Matt. 27:46). In this moment, there was
nothing attractive about Him (Is. 53:2). “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the mystery
of propitiation, where the wrath of God is fully poured out—and anticipated here in this psalm.
LORD GOD OF MY SALVATION
The only words of hope in this psalm are in the very beginning of it. There is this expression of
hope at the start, and it is all downhill from there. The psalm ends by driving into the brick wall
of black despair. The first verse is Jesus setting His face to do what must be down. He sets His
face like flint to go to Jerusalem (Is. 50:7). Lord God of my salvation. He prays that the will of
the Father be done, and not His own (Matt. 26:39). Lord God of my salvation. He, for the joy
that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb. 12:2). Lord God of my
salvation. What the Lord Jesus knew in the light, He held onto in the darkness.
DOWN TO THE PIT:
A number of words are used to describe the realm of shadows, the realm of the dead. One He-
brew word for it is Sheol (v. 3), with the Greek equivalent as Hades. Another word is bor, or pit (v.
4). Then there is qeber, or burial chamber (v. 5). And the deeps (v. 6), also associated with Sheol.
Another word is destruction, or Abaddon (v. 11). The cry here is one of rhetorical despair, with the
implied answer of “no one will hear in the land of forgetfulness.”
But even here, God answered prayer. Jesus descended to the lower parts of the earth (Eph. 4:9).
He preached to the spirits who had been disobedient at the time of Noah (1 Pet. 3:18-19). God
did not abandon His soul to Hades (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:27, and so when He came back from the
dead, the righteous dead came with Him (Matt. 27:51-53). He then led captivity captive and gave
gifts to me (Eph. 4:8).
TRUE PROPITIATION:
Jesus experienced the full wrath of God (Rom. 3:25; 1 John 4:10). It was all poured out upon
Him. And as we see from the expressions of this psalm, He did not experience it as a “theologi-
cal truth.” Jesus cried out in actual despair, and in that cry of despair He reconciled the world to
God. “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19). “Thy
wrath lieth hard on me” (v. 7). “suffer thy terrors” (v. 15). “Thy fierce wrath goeth over me” (v. 16).
And why? All for you.
TRUE FRIENDS:
Jesus calls us His friends ( John 15:15), and He felt the abandonment by his disciples acutely (Luke
22:61). It is a significant part of this lament as well. God as put away His acquaintance far from
Him (v. 8). God has made Him an abomination to them (v. 8). Lover, and friend, and acquaintance
have been removed (v. 18). They have gone into blackness.
And what was it all for? Why did this psalm have to end in this way? So that we would not end
in this way. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: In the midst of the congregation will I
praise thee” (Ps. 22:22).
He died in shame so that He might receive eternal glory. He died without a people so that He
might have a people. Jesus died friendless so that He might have friends forever.

Psalm 86: A Token for Good

Ben Zornes on February 26, 2017

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Introduction:

In this world, it is not possible to be a friend of God and not be in trouble with the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, James tells us (Jas. 4:4). It goes the other way also. Friendship with God means that you will be constantly and regularly at odds with the world. This provides you with material to pray about.

The Text:

“Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: For I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee . . .” (Psalm 86:1–17).

Summary of the Text:

The text divides into three sections, with an expression of confidence or gratitude at the conclusion of each (vv. 7, 13, 17). This psalm is a prayer of David, with God being addressed directly with petitions throughout.
The petitioner is poor and needy, and asks God to bow down to hear (v. 1). He prays that God would deliver him with his innocence and trust in view (v. 2). God, be merciful, because the prayer is offered every day (v. 3). The soul is lifted up to God so that God might pour joy into it (v. 4). God is good and ready to forgive, and full of mercy to those who call upon Him (v. 5). God, please listen (v. 6). When the psalmist is in trouble, he will call upon God and God will answer (v. 7).
None of the other gods are like God at all, and their works are not like His (v. 8). The nations will all stream to Him, and will glorify His name (v. 9). God is great, and does wonderful things (v. 10). Teach me to obey; integrate my heart (v. 11). I will praise God with everything I have (v. 12). God’s mercy is great, and He has delivered me from the very worst place, the lowest hell (v. 13).
Here is my trouble—proud and violent men are after me (v. 14). By contrast, God is full and overflowing with compassion, grace, patience, and abundant mercy and truth (v. 15). God, give me strength—I was born in your house, the son of your handmaid (v. 16). Show me a token for good, so that those proud men who come after me might see that You are with me and be ashamed (v. 17).

The God Who Reveals Himself:

In this psalm, David echoes in several places what Jehovah had declared to Moses when He passed by him at the second inscription of the Ten Commandments. “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Ex. 34:6).
All prayer carries within it an assumption of what God is like. Faithful prayer is that which echoes God’s self-revelation of what He is like.
All Nations Bow Down:

David is praying for his own deliverance. He looks forward to his rescue by God. But at the same time, he marks his deliverance in the context of a much larger deliverance. All nations that God made will come before Him and will acknowledge it (v. 9). The coming salvation will gather up much more than David, much more than Israel. The coming salvation encompasses all nations.

Charles Spurgeon commented on this verse this way: “Earth’s sun is to go down amid tenfold night if some of our prophetic brethren are to be believed. Not so do we expect, but we look for a day when the dwellers in all lands shall learn righteousness, shall trust in the Saviour, shall worship thee alone, O God, ‘and shall glorify thy name.’ The modern notion has greatly damped the zeal of the church for missions, and the sooner it is shown to be unscriptural the better for the cause of God.”

Proud Men Gather:

Proud men are wolves and they hunt in packs. It looks as though it will all go their way. Violent men gather in their assemblies. They assume it will all be theirs because they do not take God into account. This is because proud men serve false gods, and yet among the gods there is none like our God. Their works of accusation and persecution are not like God’s works of triumph and deliverance.

A Token for Good:

The prayer is not just for deliverance. The prayer is for a very public deliverance. David does not just want to be delivered from his enemies; he wants his enemies to see him being delivered. He wants them to see him getting away.
The token for good might be the deliverance itself. On the other hand, it might be a down payment on the deliverance, placed there in the middle of the troubles, in such a way as to make his enemies think uh oh to themselves. It could be either or both, and one commentator suggests that the token for good might be found earlier in v. 4. When the psalmist lifts up his soul to God, and God pours out His joy into it, that joy in the midst of the trial may be the token for good. A peace that passes all understanding, given in the midst of great trial, is something that can only be explained in terms of the presence of God.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6–7).

A Savior Who Loves:
So come back to what God revealed of Himself to Moses (and to David). Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, loves you and loves to deliver you. Assuming you are in Christ at all, God could not love you more than He does. He could not desire your well-being with greater intensity than He has. He could not have done more for you than He has done. Remember the cross, and remember the resurrection. Remember your forgiveness, your salvation, and your justification.

Sermon #1952: Psalm 80

Ben Zornes on August 14, 2016

KINDLY PRODUCED BY CANON PRESS

Introduction:

As with others of the psalms of Asaph, this is likely either in the tradition of the school of Asaph, or by another Asaph downstream from the father of that tradition. The events described here are not what we see in the time of David and Solomon, so it is either written later, or it is prophetic.

The Text:

“. . . Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved . . .” (Ps. 80:1-19).

Summary of the Text:

We will divide this psalm into three sections, each one concluding with the refrain turn us again. Each refrain builds on the previous one—turn us again, O God, then turn us again, O God of hosts, and finally turn us again, O Lord God of hosts. The first section is the invocation (vv. 1-3). The second section is a brief lamentation over Israel’s condition (vv. 4-7), and the third section is a more detailed lamentation using the extended metaphor of Israel as a ravaged vine (vv. 8-19). This is a mournful psalm.

God is the Shepherd of Israel, and He is asked to “shine forth” (v. 1). He is asked to stir up His strength for salvation before the sons of Rachel (v. 2). Turn us, O God, and we will be saved (v. 3). How long will God be angry with the prayers of His people (v. 4)? What does He give them but tears (v. 5)? It is God who has made His people a laughingstock among their enemies (v. 6). In one way it shouldn’t matter, but it still does. Turn us, God of hosts, and we shall be saved (v. 7). God brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it (v. 8). It flourished there, filling the land (v. 9). The vines covered the cedars, the way kudzu might (v. 10). She expanded to the sea to the west, and the river (the Euphrates) to the east (v. 11). She was greatly blessed. And so then the lament sets in. Why has God broken down the hedges of her protection (v. 12)? The boar has wasted the vine, which is something a boar can certainly do (v. 13). Return, O God, and visit your vine (v. 14). After all, You planted it; You made it strong in the first place (v. 15). It is burned, wasted, and it perished at the look of God’s countenance (v. 16). God, let your hand be upon the man of your right hand (v. 17), let your hand be upon your Benjamin. In order that we not fall away, “quicken us” is the prayer. Then we will call upon You (v. 18). And the last prayer is offered for the third time—turn us again, O Lord God of hosts. Cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved (v. 19).

A World of Hurt

When God is judging a people, they smart under it. Being in that condition, they cry out for deliverance. But there is a Catch-22 involved. Because they are under chastisement, they pray. But also because they are under chastisement, God is angry with their prayers. “How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people” (v. 4)?

Make Your Face Shine:

As the plea to “turn us” is offered up three times, other expressions come in alongside it. Two times God is referred to as the God of hosts, which is to say the “God of armies.” When the God of armies turns you back to Him, the reason is that He has victory in mind. And three times, the expression “cause your face to shine” is used. When that happens, the end result is deliverance and salvation.

The expression makes you think instantly of the great Aaronic blessing. “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Num. 6:24–26).

Turn Us:

When we turn to God on our own steam, our prayers for deliverance just add to the offense (v. 4). When we repent autonomously, our repentance requires repenting. We don’t know how to return to God without wandering off from Him. We do not know how to repent any more than we know how to do anything else right. If we “turn us,” we will not really be turned. But if God gives the gift of repentance, it really does the work.

“Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old.” (Lam. 5:21).

“Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).

“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentanceto the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25).

Repentance is not the coin that we come up with to put into the vending machine of God’s forgiveness. All of it is the gift of God. Not just the salvation afterward, but the repentance and faith that receives the salvation.

The Son of His Right Hand:

The tribe of Benjamin is mentioned earlier in the psalm, along with the other (grand)sons of Rachel. Benjamin is alluded to again later in the psalm, with a strong messianic statement.

Remember this is a call for deliverance in the midst of mourning. And what does the psalmist call for? He calls for this:

“Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself” (Ps. 80:17).

Who is the man of God’s right hand? These expressions apply in their fullness to Christ. Christ was made to sit at God’s right hand (Ps. 110:1; Heb. 1:5). And the next phrase, son of man, is applied to the Lord Jesus constantly. As one scholar notes, it is used of Christ in Scripture 71 times. Of those instances, 67 were from Christ Himself. Daniel uses it once, Stephen once, and twice by the apostle John in Revelation.

Let your hand be upon Christ, let Him be seated at your right hand. Let your hand be upon the son of man, the man you have strengthened for your own glory. What will be the result? Then we shall be turned. Then your face will shine. Then we will be saved.

Bedrock Discipleship IV: Prayer

Joe Harby on July 5, 2016

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Psalm 70: On Telling God to Hurry Up

Joe Harby on September 9, 2012

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Introduction

There are two fundamental approaches to God, as far apart as Heaven and Hell. One sees the Lord God Almighty, high and lifted up. The other is the domestic animal approach to God, where the ostensible worshipper keeps a god on hand, the way you might keep a cow, for the milk. We know the former is the way to go. But then we don’t know what to do when the Lord, high and lifted up, tells us to ask for anything. We act like Ahaz, and in the name of a high view of God, refuse to obey Him (Is. 7:12).

The Text

“Make haste, O God, to deliver me; Make haste to help me, O LORD. . .” (Ps. 70:1-5).

Summary of the Text

This psalm is a shorter version of Psalm 40, with some changes—YHWH for Elohim, for example. The psalmist is in trouble, as he frequently is, and he cries out to God. He beseeches God to get a move on (v. 1). Not only does he want God to come quickly, he knows what he wants God to do when He arrives. He wants Him to shame and confound the adversaries of his soul (v. 2). Those who desire his hurt he wants to be turned all around and put to confusion (v. 2). Those who taunt the godly, saying aha, aha, need to be turned around as recompense (v. 3). By way of contrast, those who seek God should be blessed—let them rejoice and be glad in the Lord (v. 4). Let those who love the salvation of the Lord be continuous in magnifying the God of Heaven (v. 4). The psalmist is poor and needy, and this is the argument he uses to plead for God’s need to make haste (v. 5), God is his help and deliverer, and so he urges God again—do not tarry (v. 5).

Hurry Up, O Lord

The psalmist urges divine haste four times in this psalm. He begins with it, repeating himself, and he repeats this twice at the end as well. But this is not the command of a superior, commanding a servant to get the lead out. He knows his condition—he is poor and needy— and that is the basis for the urgent plea. Praying this way magnifies the Lord. When He delivers us, we boast in His mighty works.

It is not a high view of God to magnify a pristine definition of a God of the philosophers. The triune God of Scriptures sent His Son down to earth in order that He might have His diapers changed. You think this irreverent? If that is irreverent, who is less reverent of His majesty than God? Who redefined reverence forever when that same boy grew up to be a man, a teacher of upside down things, who offended the religious elite (the reverent), had His skin shredded in a brutal flogging, and who was then nailed to a cross of wood? Reflect again. What sort of religion is this?

It does not reflect a high view of God to refuse to do what He says, or to refuse to think about Him in the categories He gives us. To throw yourself upon His mercies in urgent desperation does not dishonor Him. When we are concerned to magnify the Lord in accordance with His Word, that is what we will do.

To Plead in Faith

Be that as it may, how can we know if we are out of line? Can this teaching not be abused? Of course it can! But why should that even slow us down?

What kind of prayer honors God, and what kind of prayer dishonors Him? The answer of the Bible is constant from beginning to end—without faith it is impossible to please Him. Urgent faith pleases Him. Urgent unbelief just sins faster. Urgent unbelief that wants to be something else pleases Him (Mark 9:24).

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark11:24).

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Faith arises in response to what God has said. Are you doing what He invites you to do? Are you running ahead with the health-and-wealthers, or lagging behind with the Reformed? Do all your prayers meet the building code requirements for emergency egress? “O God, if it be thy will, which we all know it isn’t”? We often want deliverance from the burden of asking God for things more than we want deliverance from our troubles.

Note the context of the promise. On one side of it we have prayers of imprecation—the fig tree of Israel was cursed. And if you say to this mountain, be cast into the sea, it will be. What mountain? The one they were standing on at the time, this mountain. On the other side of the promise, there is the requirement to forgive all of the slights and sins committed against you. So there it is—pray for God’s judgments first, forgive all your enemies second, and then shoot the moon.

Aha, Aha

The petty and vindictive spirit that the psalmist complains about reaches its zenith in the account of the crucifixion.

“And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, Save thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe” (Mk 15:29-32).

When Christ was condemned by the Sanhedrin, the motion was made, seconded, and entered in the minutes. The rules were scrupulously followed, down to what account the blood money went into when Judas returned it. But the whole thing was a sham, a farce. When the nails went in, the malice could not be contained, and out it came like hot lava.

The veneer of hypocrisy is not thick enough to cover everything it needs to cover. Dogs will bark, roosters will crow, and haters will hate. In our day, the haters of righteousness have tried preemptively to seize the high ground, so that they could be the peace and love faction —but the realities remain what they are. They wanted to define what hatred was (differing with them), but it has not come close to working. It is striking how the slightest provocation is sufficient to bring out the vitriol. So for us, believing the propaganda the enemy produces would be a bad move. In Proverbs, Wisdom declares that all who hate her love death (Prov. 8: 36). This is a reality that cannot be undone; God has fixed it in stone. However much they strive to redefine righteousness, the secularists are just polishing turds.

So when we come to the crux of the matter, which is of course the cross, there are only two ways to go. There are only two options. You either trust in Him for the salvation of your everlasting soul . . . Or you mock Him. Which is it? Which will it be?