Darkness, death, affliction, abandonment, loneliness, punishment, wrath — that’s Psalm 88 for you.

Dreary? You bet!

But, sometimes, that’s how life seems.

Is.

And, at times, that’s even how we live.

So let me tell you this morning’s lesson for me (as I found it in verses 10-12):

“Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.”

“Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?”

“Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?”

Shall I, the living, arise and praise God, remembering and declaring his lovingkindness and righteousness?

Those out in the cemetaries don’t.

Am I no more responsive than they to His wonders, lovingkindness, faithfulness, and righteousness?

“The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Psalm 87:2).

Why? I don’t know.

Well, wait a minute. Why does He love me?

Because He chose to. Because He wanted to.

I don’t know why He chose Zion (ie, Jerusalem) above all other places, cities, and people. But He did and that’s that.

Am I resentful? Not a bit! He loves me as well!

God loves His people. That’s the personal blessing that comes to me as I read this verse.

Let me rest in that. Let me bask in that. Let me joy in that.

Sure, what God loves the world hates. So does Satan. The history of Zion and her people shows that clearly. But to be the object of God’s love…. Wow!

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PS: I haven’t blogged here in many weeks. I was busy getting my Spanish devotional blog launched. My plan now is to alternate days between that blog and this one. Perhaps some day one will become a morning devotional blog and the other an evening one.