Through the Psalms

Old Testament

No Matter Our Affliction We Can Come Before God - (Psalm 88:15-18)

Daily Praise
I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught. Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off. They came around me all day long like water; They engulfed me altogether. Loved one and friend You have put far from me, And my acquaintances into darkness.

Reading Notes
Heman does not end this psalm on a positive note and that's ok because we must remember He is speaking to God. So even though his claims are that God has abandoned him, we know those are his emotions and not what he believes. We know this because through the Holy Spirit's influence Heman recorded his conversation with God. And had Heman truly believed God had abandoned him then this conversation would not have occurred in the first place. But this is the best place to start looking at these verses, because we know this fallen world we live in brings about disease and injury. We know that our sins or the sins of others can and do cause us harm. In addition, the spiritual warfare which goes on around us is meant only for our destruction. God is not the author of evil or disease. Mankind ushered that in when our first parents Adam and Eve, rebelled against God and brought sin, decay and death into the human race.

Moreover, God allows sin for now, in order to also allow for freewill. Without freewill God cannot be a loving God. Without freewill and the ability for us to accept or reject Jesus and therefore accept or reject a relationship with God, He cannot be loving toward us. And that's the key here. God has allowed sin for now in order for us to have the free will to come to Him willingly through Jesus. However, God will one day punish all sin and that one day is coming quickly and when that day comes all who have rejected Christ will be lost forever. In addition, we must remember this life we live now is the shortest, briefest moment of the eternity we will spend with God. As James tells us in his letter our life, "is like mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." Many Bible scholars from these passages think Heman may have had a life long illness or disease, or that in his old age he may have contracted leprosy. But we do not know for sure. However, from these passages and others like them, we know that no matter how bad the pain, or how deep the hurt we can come before God and speak honestly and openly with Him.

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