Psalm 88 Part 5

How do you know God has not abandoned you? At the end of Ps39 God had turned His face away. At the end of Ps88 there was darkness. Losing God’s face, darkness; does that sound familiar to you? “At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.  At three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice…“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Matt27:45-46NLT. Heman thought he was in total darkness – no he wasn’t. Jesus got the total darkness! When Jesus went to the cross He WAS abandoned, really, not just subjectively. Jesus Christ actually got the wrath of God. Everybody abandoned Jesus: friends, disciples & the Father! Darkness really was His only friend, because He was taking the sins of the world upon Himself.

We deserve that darkness because we are sinful, but Jesus took the darkness so that when you believe in Him your sins are forgiven. Jesus Christ experienced darkness as His only friend so that when you experience darkness you can know He is your friend. Jesus was truly abandoned so that you will only feel abandoned & you can know that God is still there. He is not going to abandon you, no matter what you have done wrong, because of what Jesus Christ has done; He has taken the penalty, it all fell on Him. In the garden of Gethsemane, when He felt the darkness coming upon the world, He did not abandon us, He stayed with us in His darkness. So why would you ever think He would abandon you in your darkness.

This psalm tells us that darkness can happen to a believer, but it does not mean they are lost. This darkness can happen to someone who does not deserve it, after all, it happened to Jesus, that does not mean you have strayed. This darkness can happen at any time, as long as this world lasts, because only in the next world will such things be done away with. This darkness can happen without you knowing why. But there are answers, there is a purpose & eventually, you will know it. Postscript to follow…