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Psalm Chapter 88
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah,
to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the
Ezrahite.
- Psalm 88:1 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.
Whether it was because of sin or
because of bad circumstances this writer feels totally abandoned by
family, friends and God Himself. This must be one of the most
horrible things that could happen to an individual. Imagine for a
moment of being falsely accused of a crime and no way to defend
yourself. No alibi of your whereabouts. Imagine losing a job and all
the sudden being without any income or not having any family or
friends to help. It is a frightening experience. Perhaps this is a
sickness the writer is experiencing with no possible cure.
The only possible help is from the
Lord. The Lord, who is usually our last resort, should be our first
resort. In fact we should be having constant fellowship with the
Lord in good times so that when bad times come, He is close by. Yet
even if we have been faithful, there are times of trials and testing
to see if we are going to trust God or give up in despair.
I've never seen God forsake anyone of us for very long. He
will hear our prayers always but sometimes we have to wait and
trust.
According to the scriptures, God never
leaves or forsakes anyone who is living for Him. Even if we are away
from His fellowship, a prayer of genuine repentance will restore
that fellowship to Him. If we are still in our sin and have
not yet come to God for salvation then we need to come to God
through Jesus Christ for salvation before our prayers can be
answered.
Sin keeps our prayers from being
answered if we have not repented of sin and still have it hindering
us. The message of salvation is needed for everyone. This
message of God's will for all human beings should go forth into all
the world. He is our only true help and our savior.
Here is the message of salvation:
- God wants His spirit to dwell in
each and every person on the earth.
- He wants us to be able to walk
with Him constantly.
- He wants us to trust Him in
troubles like this writer is experiencing.
- He wants us to live forever and
not perish.
- Sin separates us from God's
blessings, from eternal live and from the Holy Spirit from
indwelling in our lives.
- God sent Jesus to remove the sin
from us by dying for all our sins in our place.
- In order for His death and
sacrifice to count for us, we need first to believe what He did
for us.
- In order to receive this blessing
we must repent or renounce sin. Turn from it and turn to Christ
for salvation.
- If we are sincere and really want
to be saved, He will save us from sin and grant us eternal life.
- The Holy Spirit then comes to us
after God sees our faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
- God abides with us through the
Holy Spirit continually. We can be filled with the Holy Spirit
all the time.
- We will enter eternal life at the
point of our physical death but we already have this eternal
life within us through faith in Jesus.
This is for all who will believe. We
are cut off only by our own choices. We must spread this message to
all the world. No matter what race or religion there is only one way
to be saved, have the presence of God continually with you and
inherit eternal live. Jesus Christ is that way.
Psalm 89
Psalm Index
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