SEASONS | Day 1 | The Prayer That Didn’t Get Better | The Winter Season (Psalm 88)

There's a psalm in the Bible that never gets better. And we seldom talk about it. Today, we're going there.

Winter Season, Day One: the prayer that ends in silence.

Prayer - Father, we come to You on this day honest — not performing, not pretending. Some of us are in a winter season right now, crying out like Heman did, and it feels like the ceiling. We thank You that You are still the God of our salvation, even when our feelings haven't caught up to that truth yet. For everyone watching who is walking through a season that hasn't turned around — meet them right where they are. We're not asking You to fix the whole story in the next hour. We're asking You to sit with us in it, the way You let Heman's prayer stay unresolved and still called it Scripture. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Before we open to Heman, think about a real winter. The ground looks empty. Nothing seems to be growing. But under the surface, roots are still alive, still doing work you can't see. The Bible treats the seasons — including winter — as something God built on purpose, not as a mistake or a punishment.

Genesis 8:22 (KJV): "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

God promised Noah that winter would keep coming, right alongside summer and harvest — it's part of His design for the earth, not a breakdown in it.

Song of Solomon 2:11 (KJV): "For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;"

This verse says the same thing we need to hear about our own hard seasons: winter is described here in past tense. It has an end date, even when we can't see it yet.

A spiritual winter works the same way. It looks like nothing is happening, but it's not permanent, and it's not wasted — even the ground is still working underground.

Heman wasn't a nobody having a bad day. Scripture names him among the wisest men of his time, in the same breath as Solomon's own reputation for wisdom.

1 Kings 4:31 (KJV): "For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about."

This verse is actually measuring Solomon's wisdom against Heman's — Heman was the standard people compared wisdom to.

1 Chronicles 25:5 (KJV): "All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters."

This shows Heman wasn't only wise in a general sense — he was appointed by the king as a seer, a worship leader trusted to hear from God on behalf of the nation.

A wise, respected, gifted man of God wrote the darkest psalm in the Bible. Depression isn't proof of weak faith or hidden sin.

Read Psalm 88

Now, let’s dissect a few verses…

Psalm 88:1 (KJV): "O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:"

He starts the way we're taught to start — crying out to the God of his salvation, day and night. This is a man who never stopped praying.

Psalm 88:3 (KJV): "For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave."

He isn't exaggerating for effect. He says plainly that he feels close to death.

Psalm 88:6 (KJV): "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps."

He describes his situation as the lowest possible place — a pit, in darkness, in the deep.

Psalm 88:8 (KJV): "Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth."

He says people have distanced themselves from him, and he feels shut in, with no way out.

Psalm 88:9 (KJV): "Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee."

Even here, notice what he's still doing — crying out daily and reaching his hands toward God. The pain hasn't stopped his prayer.

Psalm 88:14 (KJV): "LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?"

He asks God directly why He seems to be hiding — an honest question, not a polished one.

Psalm 88:18 (KJV): "Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness."

The psalm's last word is “darkness.” There's no verse after this one that turns it around.

Most psalms of lament pivot to praise by the final verse. Psalm 88 never does. God let that stand in Scripture, unedited.

As noted before, most psalms that start in pain move somewhere different by the end. Let’s look at a few.

Psalm 42:11 (KJV): "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

Here the psalmist talks to his own soul and chooses hope, even while still struggling.

Psalm 30:5 (KJV): "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

This verse promises the pain has a timeline, even when it doesn't feel like it in the moment.

Psalm 34:18 (KJV): "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."

This tells us where God positions Himself around pain — close, not distant.

If we notice, Psalm 88 doesn't follow that pattern. It stays raw and open and honest all the way to the last verse. That's not a flaw in Scripture — it's permission for us to stay honest too, even when our own story hasn't resolved yet.

James 5:13 (KJV): "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms."

James doesn't say pray until it's fixed — he just says pray. The instruction is honesty, not a guaranteed timeline.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV): "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."

Even when a prayer like Psalm 88 doesn't resolve, God's mercy and faithfulness don't depend on that resolution — they renew every single morning.

Family, some seasons don't get fixed based on our schedule or timeline, but that should not lessen our faith. Why? Because we serve a Mighty God — still faithful, still able, still near — even in the seasons that don't end the way we hoped.

Have you ever felt like your prayers weren't getting anywhere, but felt like you couldn't say that out loud at church? 

•  If the comments are slow to start → “It's okay to just type ‘me’ if this is you right now — you don't have to explain.”

•  If your answer is “yes, but you were scared to admit it” → “That fear of being honest is exactly what we're talking about today. You're not alone, and you're not disqualified.”

•  If you say you just started praying again after a long time away → “Welcome back. Psalm 88 shows us God can handle you showing up messy — He'd rather have your honest cry than your polished silence.”

•  If you’ve just come through a specific hard season (job loss, grief, illness) → Read their name on screen, thank them for trusting this space, remind them Heman didn't get a resolution either and he's still in the Bible.

•  If you’re asking whether it's even okay to feel this way as a Christian → “It's more than okay — it's in your Bible. Psalm 88 is canon, not a mistake.”

Family, I want us to understand as we close today that our faith doesn't need a happy ending to be real. Go through, no matter what. Our reward is coming. Jesus is coming soon, soon, soon. Hold on, my brother, hold on, my sister. And let us continue to stay faithful to God and encourage one another along the way.

PSALM 88 ends in darkness (v.18) — but Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds us His mercies are new every morning. We serve a Mighty God.

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