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Paul.
There is a psalm in the Bible that I have never heard read in church, and I suspect it would make some a bit uncomfortable. Someone cries out to God, describes terrible suffering and asks why God has abandoned him. But unlike many biblical laments, that’s it. Things never improve. There is no answer, no change of heart and no sudden confidence that everything will be all right.
The final word is darkness, and then the psalm ends.
It is Psalm 88, and what interests me is that somebody thought this prayer was worth preserving. Not just as one person’s private anguish, but among the songs and prayers used by God’s people in worship. Nobody added a reassuring final verse, they just left the darkness where it was.
