Psalm 88

Sorry I didn't post anything for yesterday's quiet time. I did it, just I didn't post anything about it. Anyway, today's quiet time was definately there for me. It is supposedly a Psalm of David according to my bible, but it is different from all of his other Psalms. Why? Because it never gives even a small ray of hope to cling to. It begins in despair and it ends in despair, and you guessed it, there is despair inbetween. So what is David's purpose for this? We know that obviously David's trust is in God, we can clearly see that in other Psalms. Perhaps this was a moment in his life where he had pushed God to the side. That can't be true however, because we see that continually he was praying to God through this situation. Why would God put this portion of Scripture in His Word when He wants us to trust Him completely and see the vastness of His mercy, grace and love for us? Well there are a couple reasons I think. And please don't count this as absolute truth, I am simply making observations and opinions. Check it out for yourself. One reason is that maybe this is one of those things like a movie that has a bad ending. you know, the ones where the bad guy wins and the movie ends (don't you hate that!). So now maybe we are supposed to look at that Psalm and let it cause us to think; did God let David down? Has He abandoned him? Of course not! This psalm perhaps is there to challenge our thinking and our perception of God. Does He let His children down? Never! So maybe that's one reason is to get us thinking and for the writer to not just say everything turned out okay, but for us to line it up with God's character. I hope I am making sense because it's hard to explain and to type out the thoughts I'm having. Another reason I think is for us to see the reality that we are not promised an easy life. In fact, God promises hardships to those that are committed to Him. The blessing however, is that we go through trials with God and He carries us through! So maybe it is there as sort of a wake-up call to say, HEY! Life is not always pretty. Maybe this Psalm isn't there for any of those reasons, but it applied to a situation in my life either way. Yesterday I found out that I wasn't chosen for a student leadership position at Word of Life. It was a hard thing for me to deal with at first. But, who am I to question God's sovereignty? I can let this situation end in dissapointment like the psalmist, or I can let God write the happy ending. What about you? Where do you turn in those dark times when there seems no hope? Are you letting God write your happy ending?