Psalm 88: The Winter of the Soul
(Image courtesy of birdsandblooms.com.) (Author’s note: I encourage you to open your Bible to Psalm 88, read it, and then read this article with your Bible still open.) During the winter season, sunlight dims and darkens; temperatures drop and winds howl; and precipitation comes in the form of ice. The whole world seems frozen and dead. There is a psalm in the Bible that is known as the most depressing Psalm. In it, the author feels deserted, desperate, as good as dead, and by the end he is in no better place than where he began. The Psalter (the collection of Psalms in the Bible) was meant to be sung in temple worship by the Jews. What is remarkable to me is that, presumably, Psalm 88 – that most depressing of all psalms – was written to be sung during temple worship. This song that ends with no hope and no answer from Yahweh was sung to the Lord by his people, to his praise and glory, and for the edification of the saints.