Singing happy songs to a heavy heart is cruel. Don’t tell grieving people that their pain is a gift or make them sing praise songs when they don’t want to. Don’t tell them that other people are suffering more than they are.
I know Pain sometimes wins. There are just days we can’t rally, but we serve the Suffering Savior, a personal God who GETS Pain, who doesn't abandon us. Pain is how we share in the sufferings of Christ.
I find it striking that Psalm 88 includes virtually no words of reassurance. Nowhere does the psalmist add parenthetically, “But you are the Lord of mercy and compassion,” or anything else like this. Most psalms of lament include words of hope. Not Psalm 88. Here we find dark despair.
Because of His unmeasurable love and mercy, God looked down on mankind and had compassion. His grace is widespread and bountiful. He never leaves us.
