The Belt of Truth: Psalm 88

Psalm 88, the penultimate psalm of Book 3 (73-89) is the darkest psalm in the Psalter. It is the equivalent to being at the grave when the tomb closes shut, with the final word of the psalm being “darkness.” 

While there is no hope in this psalm, hope pervades and defies what is said in this psalm, and for good reason seeing that Jesus has died and is now alive forevermore. 

Being unique in the Psalter, Psalm 88 does not end with hope but with the finality of death, something that the Holy Spirit desires us to ponder in order to rightly view on life here and keep it into perspective. This is good, so that the finality of this psalm is not the end but we come to the hope of the resurrection.