“Oh Me, Oh Me, Oh Me!”

Psalm 88: 14, 15: “O Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome.” We live in a time of focus on self. “This is me!” the popular anthem goes, and multitudes shout back, “Me too!” But look at what it gets you. More than thirty times in eighteen verses this psalmist uses a personal pronoun, usually in accusation against God. The Lord is showing us: a positive self-image is a good thing, but consumption with self leads to depression and a skewed perception of how things really are.