During 2025, Peachtree Church is focusing on the Book of Psalms with a series called Dwell, through which we seek to deepen our conversation with God and open ourselves to hearing his response. The practice of praying three times each day will unite the voices of our hearts and souls as we seek the day when we will see the full realization of the Kingdom of God, promised in Revelation 21:3: “…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”
We will email devotionals twice weekly with Monday’s providing an overview of the Psalm as a whole, and Wednesday’s focused on that week’s Daily Dwell.
Lord, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
my eyes are dim with grief.I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
Psalm 88:1-18
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.
Devotional
We like to know who is at fault, who is to blame for everything that goes wrong.
There is a pothole in the road, and it’s not marked yet. Some poor soul drives a car right into it, and damages the axle.
A couple is having trouble with infertility. Testing occurs, and one spouse ends up feeling at fault for the whole hurtful situation.
On the day of the wedding, the weather is stormy and rain fills up the top of a big reception tent. The tent becomes so heavy with water that it splits and collapses, dousing the cake, the flowers, and a good many of the party tables and chairs. Everything is a mess, and the bride feels that her whole day is ruined. In all her pictures from the day, she is pouting.
A toddler gets out of the house and is badly injured by passing traffic. On the news stories about the mishap, which most commenters don’t read, there is an explanation of what went wrong. But there are angry commenters who accuse the parents of neglect, because they didn’t even read the article.
A woman has struggled all her life with debilitating health issues. She has daily indignity and trouble. Friends and onlookers wonder if there is something the sick person did to bring the whole thing on herself. Sometimes they even say this out loud.
A well-known man dies in an untimely accident. At first there is sympathy and shock. But later, details suggest that he made some questionable decisions that may have contributed to his death. The public tide turns contemptuous, and blame is laid on the deceased person.
A flood occurs, swamping a children’s summer camp. There is unimaginable death and loss. Some blame the government for not doing more to set up warning systems. Some say, “It was an act of God.”
It is a natural thing to seek the cause of a tragedy. We want to know if something could have been done to stop the event from happening? Who is to blame? Who is responsible? We desperately want to know who did this and why they did it. Sometimes, in our effort to find someone to blame, we accuse God. This is what is behind those “act of God” statements.
Our Psalmist is in such a situation. He has been ill his whole life. He feels close to death. His friends have given up on him. He has prayed to God for relief, for healing, and it has not come. He feels that God is not paying attention. He even has begun to think that God has done all this to him. In his mind, he asks the question: “Who is to blame for all this?” And the Psalmist says, “God did this to me.” As you scan down the Psalm, you see he says that God forgot him, that God has cut him off from care. He says, “God has put me in the lowest pit,” that God has taken his friends and neighbors away, that God has rejected him. that God’s wrath is overwhelming him. It’s all God’s fault. He has that terrible feeling that there is a giant X over his life, and God has purposely marked him for suffering. No wonder the Psalmist feels so alone and wretched. We all want someone to blame. And when we are at our lowest, we blame God for it all.
What if we understood that life is simply hard and mysterious? What if we accepted that trouble affects us all in this life? What if no one is at fault? What if sorrow and suffering are just a part of life on earth? And what if God is our dearest, closest friend in all of this? What if Jesus is coming beside us to say, “I know. I’ve been in trouble and misery, too. I know what it’s like to be suffering and alone. I know what it’s like to have friends abandon me and draw back from my suffering. I even know what it is like to feel forsaken by the Father. And I will be by your side until the end, and beyond. We are in this together.”
And know this: it is perfectly allowed in the life of faith to say all the sad and angry things the poor Psalmist said. God understands that at times, we are in extremis, and we want someone to blame. God is big enough to take that, and loving enough to stick around and outlast the blame and sorrow.
For Reflection
- Have you ever been in a situation where you blamed God for what you were going through?
- What was the impact on your faith? Were you able to recover and grow in your faith?
Prayer
Dear Lord, I cannot understand the things that happen in the world, the things that have happened to me. I think I would feel better if I knew why! I would like to know who to blame! Lord, did you do this to me? When I say it, I know that cannot be true. I know you love me, that you made me, that you came to be with me in life and in death. Lord, help me to live with the mystery and the lack of answers. Never leave me or forsake me. Thank you for hearing my prayers, even when they are angry and full of blame. You are my God, and I am yours. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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