Psalm 88, the darkest of the dark psalms.
In his famous taxonomy of the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann describes psalms of orientation, disorientation and reorientation. Psalms of disorientation are more commonly called "lament psalms." Complaint, distress, and doubt are expressed to God.
Practically all the lament psalms are characterized by what Brueggemann calls the plea-to-praise movement. After crying out to God (the plea) the psalm ends with an expression of trust (the praise). As Brueggemann describes, this quick shift from lament to doxology is one of the most jolting transitions in Scripture, and I've used it in my published research to describe the experiential cross-currents of the Winter Christian experience.
Psalm 88 is noteworthy in that, of all the lament psalms, it alone never makes the turn toward praise. The psalm sounds a note of complaint all the way through to the final, shattering line: "the darkness is my closest friend."
The other aspect that makes Psalm 88 the darkest psalm concerns the nature of its compliant. Most Biblical lament cries out to God for rescue from "the enemy." This third person in the drama--the enemy--is the antagonist. The enemy is oppressing, tormenting, lying, taunting, or hurting. In the face of this attack, God is being called upon to intervene.
Sometimes, however, Biblical lament dares to name God as the antagonist. My pain isn't coming from the enemy but from God. God is the one hurting me, directly so. Psalm 88 is an example of this risky, direct confrontation:
You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,
in the darkest places, in the depths.
Your wrath weighs heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah
You have distanced my friends from me;
you have made me repulsive to them.
Notice the You, You, You. You, God, have done this to me.
Those two things, no final turn toward praise and direct accusations toward God, make Psalm 88 the darkest of the dark psalms.
And we're glad for this. To be sure, a steady diet of Psalm 88 would be unhealthy. But sometimes you need to go there. Darkness is a part of the human experience and the poetry of the Psalms descends to that nadir to give it voice. That's what the darkness needs. The darkness putrefies if hidden, repressed, closeted, or secreted away. The darkness needs air. The darkness needs to be spoken aloud. The lament of Psalm 88 is the first step back into the light.
