Lament is not a denial of true faith, but a dogged expression of it. The message was given on Sept 8, 2013 at New City Church in Calgary by Pastor John Ferguson. For more info, go to www.NewCityChurch.ca.

1. WHEN
DARKNESS
IS MY
ONLY
FRIEND
~ PSALM 88
image: Nathanael Boehm

2. Today’s Scripture
Page 494 in our
guest Bibles.
Psalm 88
image: Nathanael Boehm

4. WHEN
DARKNESS
IS MY
ONLY
FRIEND
~ PSALM 88
image: Nathanael Boehm

5. 1
The Honesty
of True Lament
2
The Doggedness
of True Faith
Be on the lookout for...

6. O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry
PSALM 88:1-2
out day and night before you. Let
my prayer come before you; incline
your ear to my cry...!

7. For my soul is full of troubles,
PSALM 88:3-5
and my life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted among those who go
down to the pit; I am a man who
has no strength, like one set loose
among the dead, like the slain that

8. ...lie in the grave, like those whom
PSALM 88:3-5
you remember no more, for they are
cut off from your hand....

9. Even though I walk
through the valley of
the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff
they comfort me.
~ Psalm 23:4

10. You have put me in the depths of
PSALM 88:6-9
the pit, in the regions dark and deep.
Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and
you overwhelm me with all your
waves. Selah.
You have caused my companions

11. ...to shun me; you have made me a
PSALM 88:6-9
horror to them. I am shut in so that I
cannot escape; my eye grows dim
through sorrow. Every day I call
upon you, O LORD; I spread out my
hands to you....

12. Do you work wonders for the dead?
PSALM 88:10-12
Do the departed rise up to praise
you? Selah. Is your steadfast love
declared in the grave, or your faith-
fulness in Abaddon? Are your won-
ders known in darkness, or your

13. ...righteousness in the land of
PSALM 88:10-12
forgetfulness...?

14. But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the
PSALM 88:13-14
morning my prayer comes before
you. O Lord, why do you cast my
soul away? Why do you hide your
face from me...?

15. You hid your face,
and I was dismayed.
~ Psalm 30:7

16. “True believers may have
the ASSURANCE of their
salvation shaken,
diminished, or temporarily
lost in various ways …

17. “True believers may have
the ASSURANCE of their
salvation shaken,
diminished, or temporarily
lost in various ways …
by God’s withdrawing the
LIGHT of his countenance
and allowing even those
who reverence him to
walk in DARKNESS
and have no light.”
~ 18.4

18. Afflicted and close to death from my
PSALM 88:15-18
youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am
hopeless. Your wrath has swept
over me; your dreadful assaults
destroy me. They surround me like
a flood all day long; they close in on

19. You have caused my beloved
PSALM 88:15-18
and my friend to shun me; my com-
panions have become darkness.

21. Lament is not a denial
of true faith but a
dogged expression of it.

22. Lament is not a denial
of true faith but a
dogged expression of it.
/ˈdôgid/dog·ged
marked by stubborn determination;
persistent, tenacious, obstinate

23. LEARN THE
LANGUAGE
OF LAMENT
1
image: Josh Kenzer

24. “It seems to me that
we do not need to
be taught HOW to
lament. What we
need is simply the
assurance that we
CAN lament.”

25. DON T FORGET
THE GOSPEL
2
image: Flood G.

26. “And when the sixth hour had
come, there was darkness over the
whole land until the ninth hour. And
at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a
loud voice…, ‘My God, my God,
why have your forsaken me?’”
~ Mark 15:33-34
image: Christopher Brown

27. “I will NEVER
leave you nor
forsake you.’
~ Hebrews 13:5

28. “Is everything
sad going to
come untrue?”

29. Nathanael Boehm: http://www.flickr.com/photos/73978954@N00/455160673/
Josh Kenzer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36908075@N03/4329432316/
FLood G.: http://www.flickr.com/photos/97223988@N00/6732863457/
Christopher Brown: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/
flickr images courtesy of: