Sermon – The Song that Never Ends
Romans 8:28-30; Psalm 88
6/7/26
I need to read the passage from Romans 8 once more:
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Now that is Scripture! That is the way Scripture should work and read. Honestly, that first sentence (verse 28) is probably my favorite verse in the entire Bible – definitely in my top three. Right after this passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans, he admits that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That might be in the top favorites of your verses. It is one of those momentous and memorable passages like Psalm 23, Psalm 121, John 14, 1 Corinthians 13, or 1 John 4. Paul really swings for the fences in Romans. He actually makes a good number big, memorable statements of lasting theological significance in Romans. What is a bit strange is that after this he dies.
Paul never leaves Rome where he was imprisoned under house arrest according to the Book of Acts. When he wrote that all things were to work for good for those who loved God and were called according to his purposes, he did not know that in the not distant future, he was to be executed. Tradition has that he was executed by beheading with a sword, and in the Vatican in Rome today, you can still find a statue of Paul holding a sword to remind us of his end. He did not mention his death sentence in the letter because I believe he did not know. If he had known, he would have said something. It would have been a big deal, and he would have wanted the Romans to know that he was fine being executed for Christ, but I am not so sure he could have said that all things work for good if you are about to be executed. Seems a cheap sell of a tough idea. Maybe he would have still considered that a good thing, but that is a level of commitment that many of us would have a hard time reconciling. I do love Romans 8, though, and desperately need it to be true.
Other Bible passages seem less of a blessing or perhaps a blessing in a different way. Just take Psalm 88. This summer, I am undertaking a preaching series on things I have NEVER preached. If you have never noticed, preachers tend to focus on areas or themes. This is not a bad thing. We are drawn to aspect of God or life in the Spirit or our Christian mission or what it means to be a family in faith. We all have things that make us happy and hopeful and encouraged, and we love those things and love to preach on them. That is Romans 8. Psalm 88 is completely another experience. No one who heard that Psalm a couple of minutes ago said to themselves how comforting or encouraging that Psalm is. In fact, I imagine it might have made you uncomfortable, maybe worried, perhaps sad. I had to tell you that I was reading the whole Psalm when I read it because it does not even end correctly. There is no ending! In literally every other psalm that comes to mind there is some line about our love for God or God’s love for us or how things will be ok or (as Romans 8 says) all things WILL work for good. There is none of that here.
And that is why you do not know Psalm 88, unless you need it, but there is always someone who needs the psalm that never ends. It refuses to be neat and tidy, just like our lives sometimes. It comes with doubts and struggles, just like our lives sometimes. It does not fit neatly into our regular understanding of God or faith or the church, just like our lives sometimes. It is a glimpse into a tortured soul that is fighting for its life with burdens too great to bear and calling out to a God who does not seem to be listening or is unable to do anything. That might be where we are in our story, also.
I actually find this song refreshing because it speaks to me in radical honesty. The first night that I served as a chaplain in the emergency department of Kosair’s Children Hospital in Louisville, KY while I was in seminary, the ambulance brought in a child who had been accidentally run over by her mother. The girl shortly after died. I did not know what to say. There were no answers. The mother did not want to hear how things would work for good. That would have been cheap and shallow for her suffering. It is entirely possible, and I do dearly hope, that good did come from the death of that child. Perhaps the mother eventually (and after significant help) somehow worked to help others who had lost children or created a group addressing radical suffering or raised political or social awareness about what happened in her case to prevent that from happening again. But there in that emergency department with the kind of tragedy that can break someone’s life and faith, she was beyond easy answers like the author of Psalm 88.
What is really interesting about this song, though, is that even though it feels off and incomplete, it actually has some strong hope in its honesty.
First, it is all a petition to God. The author continues appealing to God, questioning God, even accusing God, but the conversation never ends. The author never ceases turning to God for answers or help. As bad as it has gotten for the psalmist, they never turn their back on God. There is still a candle in the night that believes and hopes and has not been snuffed out. Even when we carry doubts and anger and confusion, God can hold it all and will never turn God’s back to us. When we cannot see it, especially when we struggle to see it, the love is still there. Keep coming back.
Second, God is not powerless. Our Holy, Heavenly Father is not our servant, our own little Amazon, a concierge service, or a piggy bank. Even though Jesus asserts that what we ask in his name will be granted, that does not mean that whatever we want will be given to us. God is not at our beck and call, but the Creator and Redeemer of our lives and this world is almighty and powerful enough to bring everything into existence. This is why the author of Psalm 88 is making this prayer to God at all. We cannot know the fullness of God’s mind, God’s plan, or God’s reasons, but God can do what God wants to do. In the song, the suffering itself is given as God’s work. I have a hard time with that one, and I don’t feel like I agree. God does not work evil for us, of course, but the things we experience in life might look like one thing to one person and another thing to someone else. It is really useful to find friends to help us make sense of our struggles in life, especially friends who can share our honest faith.
Third, while we will know more blessings that we can name or number in this life, there is no guarantee that our story will end the way we want it to this side of glory. Psalm 88 serves as a reminder that everything does not end up with a lovely bow on top. Our eternity and fellowship and glory in God is secure, but the road to get there will be tough, tougher than we probably imagine. This life will bring everything that it can while we draw breath. Each day is another opportunity for the things we name good and the things we name bad. There is no getting around the fact that no one gets to heaven without a fight. If we are honest with our expectations, it is easier to handle the disappointments in life.
Fourth, Psalm 88 puts words to what we might struggle to name. It gives us a space to cry out to God and to one day hopefully find the comfort we need. Honestly, a lot this life is meant to be spent learning how to live in God’s love in everything. We grow through everything we experience when we open ourselves to it. This psalm gives us one path in growth through the most difficult times, and that seems a really good and useful thing. So many people have walked away rather than to find the space to rail against God.
Fifth and lastly, there is always a note of hope. The psalmist does pray every day and every night to the God of their salvation. They have not given up even though their plight seems beyond desperate and their life broken. A good bit of the song is expressing what they feel LIKE, not necessarily how things are. There is a thread of hope, a small, thin thread of hope, and since we do not know how this story ends, that thread has not been cut.
Maybe this is the psalm of our lives in that it is not done, not finished, and not ended. Hopefully, none of us is to the point of this songwriter today. It is a very sad, tough, lonely, and grinding place to be, but if we are there with that psalmist in spirit, we are also not alone. It is OK to feel these things, OK to express our rage at God, and OK to share. The author of Psalm 88 put their heart to song so that we might know their truth for generations to come. It is own way, the song that never ends might be the greatest comfort to some. It invites us to persist in hope, and with grace, to find that things will work out for good – if not in these days left of this life, then certainly in the unending glory of the next. To God be the glory. Amen.