Finding Christ in the Old Testament - Psalm 88:3 - 9

Finding Christ in the Old Testament
Psalm 88:3–9

This psalm, unlike many others, offers no resolution, no final word of hope—only sorrow, isolation, and affliction. The psalmist is overwhelmed by despair, counted among those who go down to the pit, cut off from the hand of God, and abandoned by friends. Yet within this deep lament, the typological shadow of Christ is unmistakable. Here is the voice of the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, who bore the fullness of divine wrath in the place of sinners. In Gethsemane and at Golgotha, Christ was surrounded by darkness, regarded as one under judgment, and left without comfort. He was laid in the depths of the pit, so that those who cry out from despair might find in Him a Redeemer who has passed through death and come out victorious. This psalm finds its true fulfillment in the suffering of Jesus, who descended into the grave not for His own sin, but for ours, that even in our deepest sorrow, we are never forsaken.

Devotion
Christ has walked the path of abandonment and grief so that no child of God must walk it alone. In the psalmist’s cry, we hear the voice of the Savior who entered our darkness to bring us into His light. When hope feels far and prayers seem unanswered, the pierced hands of Jesus still hold us fast.

New Testament Verse
Mark 15:34 (ESV)
“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

Collect
Almighty God, who did not spare Your own Son but gave Him up to grief and death, have mercy on us when we pass through sorrow and feel abandoned, and strengthen us to trust in Him who descended into the grave to lift us from the pit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Hymn Verse
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ, by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long-expected Prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis the true and faithful Word.
— Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted (LSB 451:1)

Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, Now and Forever, Unto the Ages of Ages, AMEN!