This is one of the more agonizing psalms in all of God’s Word. .
There are no worsip songs based on Psalm 88. No waving hands, or swaying throngs mirroring its stated emotions. Why not? Because this is a song of misery.
It expresses feelings of total despair written by a man scripture calls a seer, (1 Chronicles 25:5). A man placed in a position of trust by none other than King David. A man, called by the Holy Spirit, to write such a psalm.
One might think that, by the end, the song has turned its frown upside down—but no. It ends the way it begins with expressions of pain and despair.
The inspired title tells us that this is a maskil. Scholars believe this to be a song intending to teach. A psalm we should contemplate. Since we know that God Himself put it here, what are we to comtemplate? What are we to learn?
Written there, contained within the expressions of pure grief, is a sense of hope—a reliance on what the writer knows of the character of God. The psalmist rests on the hope that God does hear, that He does save, and that God, in His lovingkindness, will restore his joy. Until then, the author will continue to cry out to his Father in heaven.
Life in this sin-cursed world is like that. We can go from joy to sorrow in a moment. We live in the middle of an emotional roller coaster where our circumstances can wreak havok on our hearts. But yet God, in all His grace, mercy, power, and love, remains unchangeable. On this, we can rely. Our sovereign Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. And, He hears us. Hallelujah and Amen!