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Day 308

Psalm 88:11a "Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?"

Day 308 – Psalm 88

“Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?” Psalm 88:11a

DECLARING GOD’S LOVINGKINDNESS

One of the tasks of the Levites was to sing praises to the Lord, morning and evening. The following text by an anonymous psalmist says it so well.

“It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night.”
Psalm 92:1-2

Once again, we see Heman influenced by the writings of other psalmists. He wrote,

“Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?
Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?”
Psalm 88:11

1. Various descriptions of the abode of the dead:-

a) The pit Psalm 88:6
b) The grave Psalm 88:3b, 5b, 11a
c) The place of destruction Psalm 88:11b

2. “Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?”

a) The living need to hear about the lovingkindness of God.
b) But only the living can communicate to the living effectively.
c) The grave (that is, the dead in the grave) cannot declare the lovingkindness of God.
d) Death had ended his ministry of declaring God’s lovingkindness.

3. “Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction”

a) God’s faithfulness ought to be proclaimed by the living.
b) Heman was one who was committed to proclaiming the lovingkindness of God and His faithfulness.
c) But death was truly “the place of destruction” for all ministries are destroyed then.
d) Heman was not thinking of eternal life on earth when he uttered these words but he was thinking about the waste of ministry and life if death descended too suddenly.