| For Crying Out Loud! - article by Joel Hempel As you may know, there are different kinds of Psalms. They have even been categorized by theologians who do that kind of thing. The categories are helpful because you can more easily find the type of Psalm you want to help express what you are feeling.
Examples of the different types of psalms include praise and thanksgiving, psalms of wisdom, and even psalms that help you complain. Then there is the largest category of psalms called the Psalms of Lament.
If you have read even a few of the lamenting psalms, you likely have noticed, and maybe appreciated how they often conclude with a strong declaration of faith – even though the Psalm is about the struggles and suffering the psalmist is experiencing.
That pattern is not atypical. In most of the lamenting psalms, the psalm writer unloads his feelings of despair, but then sings praises to his Savior and declares trust in the One who has proven his faithfulness.
But not Psalm 88.
Psalm 88 is thought to have been written by Heman the Ezrahite. Heman is believed to have been a musician and songwriter under King David.1 He had devoted his life to serving God. And then, on top of a series of heartaches and challenges, something awful happened. What it was, we don’t know, but it caused great suffering. Then, at some point in his anguish, 88 was written: The only expression of hope and trust in God is Heman’s opening, eight-word statement of faith:
Lord, you are the God who saves me.
He then holds nothing back.
Have you ever experienced that deep, unrelenting feeling of sorrow and anger that can only be expressed with unrestrained cries of Why God, why? Please God! No! Why?
That’s the pain of Psalm 88. And though the man of passion reveals his faith at the beginning, he ends up seeing no relief, no divine intervention. No hope!
So, I ask you, why would the God who inspired the authors of Scripture want 88 included?
Could it be that God welcomes our crying out loud? We don’t have to wrap it in words of faith or apologize for our anger.
Just cry! Yell! Let your agony be heard in the heavens!
God knows the pain intimately. From the cross, he cried out and received nothing but silence.
So, cry! Cry out to the One who may remain silent, but who surely hears and feels our crying out loud.
Cry, and in time remember the Savior who promises to receive your pain with grace.
1. 1 Chronicles 6:1-3; 25:1-7 | 
