Dark Night of the Soul.

[brinny]

That's scripture has been very edifying in my life.

God's Word ministers and in it, it is written that God is the Lifter of our head.

Precious to hear that brother.

 

[Deadworm]

Psalm 88 has been described as an eloquent expression of the hopelessness of clinical depression. The author bombards God with his despair and emptiness, but experiences only divine wrath, indifference, and rejection. and can't even bring himself to resolve to continue trusting in God. He seems to have lost faith in God's promises. The psalms were individually composed for worship and then later collected. So why was Psalm 88 composed and what is such a dark and pessimistic psalm doing in the Psalter.

It was composed and included in the Psalter for a reason some might deem too sophisticated for antiquity. Psalm 88 gives eloquent voice and legitimation to the dark night of the soul. Your feelings are not right or wrong; they just are. No one can talk you out of depression and feelings of emptiness and meaninglessness. All they can do is pray for you and, more importantly, be a loving companion in your journey through your Dark Night of the Soul. Escape from it is a long process that can only be shortened by good listeners who are loving sound boards for your feelings.

Psalm 88:
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music.
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

13 But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.


]

 

[brinny]

Psalm 88 has been described as an eloquent expression of the hopelessness of clinical depression. The author bombards God with his despair and emptiness, but experiences only divine wrath, indifference, and rejection. and can't even bring himself to resolve to continue trusting in God. He seems to have lost faith in God's promises. The psalms were individually composed for worship and then later collected. So why was Psalm 88 composed and what is such a dark and pessimistic psalm doing in the Psalter.

It was composed and included in the Psalter for a reason some might deem too sophisticated for antiquity. Psalm 88 gives eloquent voice and legitimation to the dark night of the soul. Your feelings are not right or wrong; they just are. No one can talk you out of depression and feelings of emptiness and meaninglessness. All they can do is pray for you and, more importantly, be a loving companion in your journey through your Dark Night of the Soul. Escape from it is a long process that can only be shortened by good listeners who are loving sound boards for your feelings.

Psalm 88:
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music.
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

13 But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.


]

This could almost be Job's very own lamentations. He was in a very dark place and he did not know why he was afflicted as he was, and no answers were forthcoming, at that time. Everything had fallen, like dominoes, and he was ill unto very death, and thought surely he would die any moment, and in utter misery and forlorn and remembered contemptuously, if remembered at all.

He saw no light at the end of that long dark tunnel, at that time.

 

[JCFantasy23]

The Dark Night of the Soul is an interesting subject that intrigues me. I made a post years back in 2011 about feelings of distance from God suddenly around the time of finally getting baptized and when it seemed He was showering me with so many blessings. Suddenly I couldn't feel him the same for awhile and when I made the post, some said it sounded like a bit of the dark night of the soul, which is the first time I'd heard of it.

 

[brinny]

The Dark Night of the Soul is an interesting subject that intrigues me. I made a post years back in 2011 about feelings of distance from God suddenly around the time of finally getting baptized and when it seemed He was showering me with so many blessings. Suddenly I couldn't feel him the same for awhile and when I made the post, some said it sounded like a bit of the dark night of the soul, which is the first time I'd heard of it.

This sounds soooo familiar with other believers when something pivotal and significant happens...it's almost described as a "whoooosh" of the dear and loving presence of God whisked away or just absent, it seems, almost akin to a spiritually deflated balloon...

i had only heard of it in sorta' snatches here and there, and it just seemed to fit what i have experienced that at the time just floored me, and it was on the floor i stayed cuz i was incapable of getting up, or at least it seemed that way....

yeah, a deflated balloon....

it has a hard time "gettin' up" too

 

[rockytopva]

There is a way out... If we can only get enough people together to pay the price for it... Like they did about a hundred years ago!

 

[rockytopva]

And one more classic by FC Barnes...

 

[JCFantasy23]

This sounds soooo familiar with other believers when something pivotal and significant happens...it's almost described as a "whoooosh" of the dear and loving presence of God whisked away or just absent, it seems, almost akin to a spiritually deflated balloon...

i had only heard of it in sorta' snatches here and there, and it just seemed to fit what i have experienced that at the time just floored me, and it was on the floor i stayed cuz i was incapable of getting up, or at least it seemed that way....

yeah, a deflated balloon....

it has a hard time "gettin' up" too

Yes, I think in a way it was a shock from the glorious, amazing burst of feeling with baptism and then going back to 'regular life' mode too. However, I felt the absence of a bit before baptism yet felt like I was being drawn closer to God at the same time. Hard to explain. Not easy, but I think after reading on Dark Night of the Soul and its theories that this may be another one of those mysteries of the faith.

 

[JCFantasy23]

There is a way out... If we can only get enough people together to pay the price for it... Like they did about a hundred years ago!

With this, are you suggesting a revival as a solution?

Those are wonderful things, but in my case I don't think it applied. I think this situation probably differs in reasons and effect.

 

[rockytopva]

With this, are you suggesting a revival as a solution?

Those are wonderful things, but in my case I don't think it applied. I think this situation probably differs in reasons and effect.

If the revival is met in the appropriate spiritual light... It will apply in every case.

 

[brinny]

Yes, I think in a way it was a shock from the glorious, amazing burst of feeling with baptism and then going back to 'regular life' mode too. However, I felt the absence of a bit before baptism yet felt like I was being drawn closer to God at the same time. Hard to explain. Not easy, but I think after reading on Dark Night of the Soul and its theories that this may be another one of those mysteries of the faith.

it can be distracting....and for me, focus can be detracted from God, and it almost seems His Covering and/or protection or grace is gone, sorta' like what happened with Job when his hedge of protection was removed....

for me, i was a wounded little kid again and i panicked....

 

[brinny]

There is a way out... If we can only get enough people together to pay the price for it... Like they did about a hundred years ago!

Thanks rocky.....

i guess what i think of is that even those having the Holy Spirit can be gripped by a dark night of the soul....

some even wonder if they are being cursed, because they don't know why they are being so afflicted.....

many men of God throughout history have had bouts of deep deep depression...

i think Spurgeon did, if i can remember correctly.....

 

[W2L]

If the revival is met in the appropriate spiritual light... It will apply in every case.

revival meetings aren't a magic pill for depression. Paul found strength in his weakness through Christ. I hold that teaching dear to my heart. I tried the WOF stuff for a while and it didn't help, but pauls words, and those of David who teaches us to wait on the Lord, these words helped. I'm not going back to WOF revival rhetoric.

 

[zachariahjosephturner]

Hey guys just wanted to say I guess I'm in the Dark Night of the soul I truly got saved in early 2009 but in early 2013 of October I started getting Blasphemous thoughts and now I'm at the point where I'm just truly numb if I read or pray I feel nothing not even a goosebump don't know if you guys have ever been there the thoughts are so sick and twisted against the Holy Spirit I dare not even mention them therefore Beyond The Pale of ungodliness don't know if you guys can relate to any of what I just said and it even feels like they want to come out of my mouth so it's almost like The Dark Night of the Soul mixed with demonic oppression

 

[zachariahjosephturner]

Just really need some encouragement my mind is so played with these Blasphemous thoughts but now it's to the point as if I think them out of habit I don't know I just know it one point I was so on fire for Jesus I was at a point to where it was Jesus or die and I Know The Enemy came in and I just don't know what to do just need some encouragement any of you guys ever had Blasphemous thoughts ever have the urge to want to speak them ever accidentally spoke then it's just crazy and it sprayed me with such anxiety and derealization and depersonalization I feel completely numb like an empty shell like I don't even know how I make it from minute to minute

 

[W2L]

Hey guys just wanted to say I guess I'm in the Dark Night of the soul I truly got saved in early 2009 but in early 2013 of October I started getting Blasphemous thoughts and now I'm at the point where I'm just truly numb if I read or pray I feel nothing not even a goosebump don't know if you guys have ever been there the thoughts are so sick and twisted against the Holy Spirit I dare not even mention them therefore Beyond The Pale of ungodliness don't know if you guys can relate to any of what I just said and it even feels like they want to come out of my mouth so it's almost like The Dark Night of the Soul mixed with demonic oppression

Many people have crazy thoughts like that, you gotta let grace sustain you and move forward in faith, like a soldier. Faith can be a battlefield. Put trust in God, not in your mind. This world plants all kinds of junk in our mind, but we fight back by never giving up hope. The enemy wants to destroy our faith, but we can destroy his attack by not giving up.

 

[brinny]

Just really need some encouragement my mind is so played with these Blasphemous thoughts but now it's to the point as if I think them out of habit I don't know I just know it one point I was so on fire for Jesus I was at a point to where it was Jesus or die and I Know The Enemy came in and I just don't know what to do just need some encouragement any of you guys ever had Blasphemous thoughts ever have the urge to want to speak them ever accidentally spoke then it's just crazy and it sprayed me with such anxiety and derealization and depersonalization I feel completely numb like an empty shell like I don't even know how I make it from minute to minute

Hi zachariahjosephturner, I'm thinkin' we're here exactly for that reason, and to acknowledge with each other that we're not alone, and that we, even as Christians, can be plagued with darkness attempting to muffle out from our consciousness WHO we are in Christ. Yes, it assails us, surrounds us, and there can be thoughts screaming to get out that absolutely go against the Holy Spirit.

We are stand-ins for one another, to remind each other and pray for each other during those times, and remind each other that God IS bigger than ALL that may assail and attack us. We stand-in, reminding each other to DRAW even CLOSER to God at those times, when it may seem nearly impossible to do. And in the meantime we pray, brother in Christ and beloved son of the Most High God, and we pray. We pray each other through it.

It's good you stopped in. Praying for you brother in Christ and beloved son of the Most High God, to our God Who LOVES you and has NOT abandoned you. He's GOT you. Hang in there.

 

[brinny]

Many people have crazy thoughts like that, you gotta let grace sustain you and move forward in faith, like a soldier. Faith can be a battlefield. Put trust in God, not in your mind. This world plants all kinds of junk in our mind, but we fight back by never giving up hope. The enemy wants to destroy our faith, but we can destroy his attack by not giving up.

Amen.

 

[zachariahjosephturner]

Hi zachariahjosephturner, I'm thinkin' we're here exactly for that reason, and to acknowledge with each other that we're not alone, and that we, even as Christians, can be plagued with darkness attempting to muffle out from our consciousness WHO we are in Christ. Yes, it assails us, surrounds us, and there can be thoughts screaming to get out that absolutely go against the Holy Spirit.

We are stand-ins for one another, to remind each other and pray for each other during those times, and remind each other that God IS bigger than ALL that may assail and attack us. We stand-in, reminding each other to DRAW even CLOSER to God at those times, when it may seem nearly impossible to do. And in the meantime we pray, brother in Christ and beloved son of the Most High God, and we pray. We pray each other through it.

It's good you stopped in. Praying for you brother in Christ and beloved son of the Most High God, to our God Who LOVES you and has NOT abandoned you. He's GOT you. Hang in there.

 

[zachariahjosephturner]

Hey thanks for the prayers I just developed severe anxiety and numbness when I first got saved I dealt with the whole unpardonable sin scared it went away is trying to come back here and there I believe if the devil knows he can get you with one thing he'll keep trying that one thing but like I said in early October 2013 it came in such a way that I don't know I can't look at the regrets of how I should have thought more or should have prayed more but I've handled it the wrong way and I kind of actually like I said grown cold towards God but I don't want to be that way I love God I feel like I'm just done it's like I don't even desire God but yet I want him I don't know if you get what I'm saying