Psalms 88:15-18. I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
There the Psalm ends. It is a sorrowful wail, and it comes to a close when you do not expect it to finish. It really has no finish to it, as when men wind up their songs with proper finales; but it is broken off, like a lily snapped at the stalk. I have read you this eighty-eighth Psalm as an example of persevering prayer. The man who wrote it-"Heman the Ezrahite"-kept on praying even when he did not seem to be heard, and thus he is a pattern to us. Yet notice how the next Psalm begins: "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord." It is not always the sorrowful sackbut that is to be in our hand; we can play the joyous harp as well. "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever." "I will never leave off praising him." "With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations."
Psalms 88:15-18. I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
There the Psalm ends. It is a sorrowful wail, and it comes to a close when you do not expect it to finish. It really has no finish to it, as when men wind up their songs with proper finales; but it is broken off, like a lily snapped at the stalk. I have read you this eighty-eighth Psalm as an example of persevering prayer. The man who wrote it-"Heman the Ezrahite"-kept on praying even when he did not seem to be heard, and thus he is a pattern to us. Yet notice how the next Psalm begins: "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord." It is not always the sorrowful sackbut that is to be in our hand; we can play the joyous harp as well. "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever." "I will never leave off praising him." "With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations."