Psalm 88
In this doleful psalm, after a very short declaration of his faith, we have, (1.) Heman's bitter wailing over his distressed case, that his troubles were great; his body at the point of death; his soul filled with grief; his God hiding and angry; his mind distressed with terrors; and his friends unkind, ver. 3-9, 14-18. (2.) His bitter groans to, and expostulations with God, importing, that he had long cried for mercy, and that in death nothing could be done for him, etc., ver. 1-2, 9-14.
While I sing, let me think how dreadful hell must be, when even fatherly chastisements are so severe; how dreadful the enormity of sin, which provokes God so grievously to afflict his dearest favourites; and how necessary it is to retain our faith of our relation to God, amidst the worst of troubles.
Read or sing this psalm in the Scottish Psalter or the Bay Psalm Book.