Psalm 88:9

Psalm 88:9

My eye are dim

The Old Testament occasionally talks of eyes being dimmed and there are a number of causes. Obviously, sight diminishes with creeping old age and I guess that, in those days, there was no treatment for cataracts or the provision of spectacles for long or short-sightedness! In the time of the Psalms failing eyesight went hand in hand with failing strength and with grief, trouble and affliction. If an individual yearned for relief and for hope, but none came, they might say that their eyes grew weak with longing. Such emotions were often stirred by the oppression of their foes or their lack of progress against the obstacles they faced. In the verse before us it is grief that leads to the dimming of the eyes. This is a description of a man who is so overcome by his heartache that he can see nothing and no one because of the pain. 

In this time of deep travail our psalmist spreads out his hands to the Lord God and He calls out for deliverance and help. We will never understand how low our Lord Jesus sank in His suffering, not least because we can never identify with Him fully both before and after the horrors of Calvary were overcome. That He fell from a great height, only to be lifted up to an even higher place is beyond doubt. Thank God that Psalms like this have been written so that we might understand just a little of what it cost Him, our Saviour and Lord, to bear our punishment and take the wrath of God away from us. 

 

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