Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Psalm 88), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• [1-2] With this Psalm we have something ordained and authorized by God that we can pray during the deepest times of darkness and loneliness in our lives. In moments of unbearable tension in our relationship with God, we can still turn to him and pray. How can we address Yahweh as the “God of my salvation,” when it seems that God has been unhearing, silent, even hostile? Is God actually unhearing, etc.? How do you know?

• [3-9] The singer feels like he is in the grave. What are some of the ways he talks about this experience? What kind of situations would you say fit the description found in this Psalm? Have you experienced moments like this in your life?

• The singer feels like he is in the grave because God has put him there. What do you think about that? How do you feel about that? In the lowest points of your life, have you attributed your sufferings to God? How do you process that in your relationship with him? Have you turned to God in moments like this, or away from him?

• [10-12] Being in the grave is mostly metaphorical here, but we can take it quite literally in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, bodily? What do you think that means for you and your metaphorical and literal graves? What might it look like to declare God’s love and make his wonders known in your grave?

• [13-18] This song doesn’t end well. In some paradoxical way, it’s okay that everything isn’t okay in the world and in our relationship with God. Are you okay with that? Why and why not?