Psalm 88

King James Version

1 O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:

2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

8 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.

9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.

18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

Till date (at least from what I've read), this must be one of the most depressive psalm in the Bible. The psalmist's laments and cries before the Lord is clear to all. Even his loved ones have all but abandoned him.

He's really in the pits.

One person that I can think of that is similiar to the psalmist would be Job. Read the book of Job in the Bible and you will realise that he too, was in the worst of worst state. But he didn't curse God nor speak one word bad about Him, despite his circumstances. Eventually, God restored Job.

The psalmist's only hope was still on the Lord. That's why he wrote Psalm 88. That's why his very first verse was "O LORD, the God who saves me"(NIV). He didn't curse God.


When all hell breaks lose and everything goes wrong - "一败涂地" and "全军覆没", will I still put my faith in Jesus? O Lord, help me to be always faithful to You!


Things to ponder
1. Pray for yourself that you will remember God's love for you even when you go through the most difficult circumstances.