Psalm 88:1-3 O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
The Psalmist feels as though he has hit rock bottom. He has sunk so low that he even despairs of life itself. Although everything seems bad, he can tell it all to God. No matter how low we feel, we can always take our problems to the Lord and express our anguish to Him. He cares. He listens. He answers.
”In the midst of life we are in death.” We die daily. Every day we come closer to our actual death, while we experience “little deaths” often. Our souls (mind, will, and emotions) are full of troubles. And our bodies experience the pain, too. But we can still cry out and pray to the Lord, for He listens to our pains and problems. It helps to tell it to God.
We have sinned and deserved death and punishment. But the Lord, in love and caring mercy, sent His only Son to die in our place and rescue us from sin and death. Our faith response to the Gospel promise is to cry out and pray to the Lord who is listening. We do so day and night for our sin and its consequences are always with us. But so is the mercy and life-giving power of God’s love in Christ. He will never, ever, forsake us, no matter how low we feel. So we go ahead and cry and pray and tell it all to our God who listens. He has done something about our misery in Christ, and He continues to come and remain with us in times of trouble.