It would seem that knowing Christ, we cannot sink into despair. There are, however, days when heaven is closed for us as it was for Jesus in his agony.
① 1* 2O Lord, my God, I call for help by day; before you I cry out by night.
3May my prayer come to you; incline your ear to my cry for help.
4My soul is deeply troubled; my life draws near to the grave. 5I am like those without strength.
Counted among those going down into the pit – 6I lie forsaken among the dead, like those lying in the grave, like those you remember no more, cut off from your care.
7You have plunged me into the darkest depths of the pit.
8With your wrath heavy upon me, you have battered me with all your waves.
9You have taken away my closest friends; you have made me repulsive to them. I cannot escape from my confinement.
10My eyes have grown dim with grief; spreading out my hands to you, I call upon you every day, O Lord.
11Are your wonders meant for the dead? Will ghosts rise to give you thanks?
12Is your love and faithfulness remembered among those gone to the netherworld?
13Are your wonders known in the dark, your salvation in the land of oblivion?
14But to you, O Lord, I cry for help; every morning I pray to you.
15O Lord, why do you reject me, why do you hide your face?
16Afflicted and close to death from youth, I have suffered terrors and helplessness.
17Your wrath has swept over me; your assaults have destroyed me.
18Now they surround me like a flood; and completely engulf me.
19Bereft of loved ones and now alone, only darkness is my companion.
- A psalm that seems quite pessimistic. Yet the sick person has not lost confidence. The vision he has of the “beyond death,” that which the Jews themselves had up to a short time before the coming of Jesus, was hardly encouraging (vv. 5, 10, 12).
