“One of the great wonders of the Bible is that it accommodates the darkest experiences any of us could walk through. We will never experience a difficulty that goes deeper than what the Bible addresses” (ESV Devotional Psalter). I cannot fully identify with Heman the Ezrahite here, because I don’t think I have ever felt my life to be so dark as he did. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a deep spiritual depression as Heman. (In fact, “this is the only psalm that ends on a note of darkness instead of on a note of praise or hope” (ESV DP). Two factors likely contributed to his depression: some physical ailment or affliction that he had since he was young that kept him on the brink of death (15) AND the abandonment by his “companions” (8) and a special dear friend (18). The first factor was likely compounded by the second, and I’m sure that the first could have been endured much better if his friend and companions hadn’t shunned him. (This psalm sounds so much like Job, and like Job Heman cried out to God “day & night” (1). “Every day” he called upon Yahweh (9). He began praying “in the morning” (13) (a good time indeed for daily prayers). And why not? Who else could he turn to when he felt so close to death and alone? I’m sure people even thought he would die at any time (3-5), and maybe that’s why they avoided him. Heman attributed being in the dark & deep pit of despair to God (6). He felt God was angry with him, and this feeling overwhelmed him (7, 16). He thought God caused his companions to shun him (8a), and to him there was no escaping his isolation (8b). He saw no benefit in his dying (10-12) so doesn’t pray for it (like Job did). And that’s why he cries out to Yahweh, even though he doesn’t know or understand why Yahweh was doing this to him (13-14). And THAT’S what I can learn from Heman: NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER STOP PRAYING, NEVER QUIT HOPING FOR AN ANSWER. God may put me in a dark & depressing place, so that I might learn to look to HIM ALONE as my life and greatest satisfaction regardless of my circumstances. I need not think that God is angry with me, because Jesus Christ absorbed all of God’s wrath that I rightfully deserved because of my many sins and rebellion against God. Christ suffered God’s terrors and dreadful assaults on the cross in my place, so that I could enjoy God’s companionship. THAT is my hope in the darkest of times, especially in light of our current events.
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