A Cry Of Despair To God

(Psalm 88:1-18)…..O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You. ² Let my prayer come before You; ^]Incline Your ear to my cry. ³ For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draws near to the grave. ⁴ I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength, ⁵ Adrift among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And who are cut off from Your hand. ⁶ You have laid me in the lowest pit, In darkness, in the depths. ⁷ Your wrath lies heavy upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah

⁸ You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out; ⁹ My eye wastes away because of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You. ¹⁰ Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah

¹¹ Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? ¹² Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? ¹³ But to You I have cried out, O Lord, And in the morning my prayer comes before You. ¹⁴ Lord, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? ¹⁵ I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught. ¹⁶ Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off. ¹⁷ They came around me all day long like water; They engulfed me altogether. ¹⁸ Loved one and friend You have put far from me, And my acquaintances into darkness.

I want you to notice that Heman seems to be a very defeated, discouraged, and depressed man. Maybe you have felt that way at times. Certainly in the times we are in, there are many who feel this way. It is sad that so many today are in a place of no hope, not realizing that what they need is Jesus Himself. But on to Heman, here is how he sees his life.

1. He believes that he has no future – he’s going to die – that he will be subject to the wrath of God and forgotten – (88:3-7) – to be without hope is devastating
2. He believes that God is the reason for his loneliness (88:8,18) 

• Remember – the Christian is never truly alone – (Matthew 28:20) (Hebrews 13:5)

3. He believes that God doesn’t care about him at all – (88:9,12)

• He feels that all his reaching out to the Lord for help has been in vain
• As a result Heman is is very discouraged, feeling hopeless (88:15)
• How many feel like Heman?
• Notice, “distraught” means agitated with doubt
• Is any of us in a place in life where we are doubting that God cares about us

Despair Defined

According to the dictionary despair is defined as the loss of all hope, to be overcome by a sense of futility or defeat, complete loss of hope. Despair is a loss of hope which brings about a state of hopelessness, despondency (very low in spirit), and discouragement which brings about a loss of courage and ambition. But really despair is sin. It was grounded in the sin of the Israelites who railed against Moses (Exodus 14:11-12). It was grounded in the sin of the ten spies who upon returning from Canaan gave a bad report (Numbers 13:32). It was grounded in the sin that led Esau to forfeit his birthright for a bowl of stew, believing he would die if he did not eat (Genesis 25:32).

Despair is also faithlessness, it is an accusation against God that His arm is too short to save and His ear too deaf to hear (Isaiah 59:1). The person wallowing in despair by his attitude calls God a liar when he/she thinks contrary to God’s promises (1 Corinthians 10:13). The individual in despair does not say “I have no refuge but God,” but rather, “I have no refuge in God.” This can be seen in (Mark 4:35-41). These have given in to despair so much that they not only forgot Who was with them but accused Him of not caring. How many troubled people find themselves in the same place, convinced that God doesn’t care?

What can we do to overcome despair in our lives? We can look for hope, but not just any hope, but hope that is anchored in Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2) (Hebrews 6:13-20) (1 Timothy 1:1) (Colossians 1:27). Jesus provides hope for the hopeless through His…..

1. Teachings – (Matthew 6:30) (Matthew 7:11) (Matthew 10:29-31)
2. Promises – (John 6:35) (John 10:10) (John 14:1-3)

Through faith in Jesus Christ the Christian has the hope of salvation as a “helmet” to protect our minds (1 Thessalonians 5:8). The Christian can rejoice in hope regarding the glory to come (Romans 5:1-2). However, hope does not come easily, it follows tribulation (Romans 5:3-4). But this kind of hope never disappoints (Romans 5:5), not even in the darkest of days. Hope means trusting in God even when we cannot plainly see deliverance on the horizon. It means relying on an invisible God to provide rescue that may yet be unseen (Romans 8:18-25) (Hebrews 11:1,6). Those who are in Christ (who belong to Christ by way of salvation) have every reason to hope and  should not succumb to despair but stand alongside what Jeremiah said in (Lamentations 3:22-24)

We are charged to hold fast to our hope – (Hebrews 3:6) (Hebrews 10:23) (again – Hebrews 6:19).