Christian Music #6 Psalm 88

The Psalms are the music book of the church.  This has been the case for a long time, and for longer than I will be alive.  Much of the best of Christian Music is reflecting the Psalms in our lives.  One of my favorite Psalms is a very sad one, like a country song Psalm.  Psalm 88 began to mean something to me when my mom died in a car accident.  In Psalm 88, our spiritual ancestor Heman pours out his soul unedited before the Lord.

Read it for yourself. . .

Psalm 88:1 A SONG. A PSALM OF THE SONS OF KORAH. TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO MAHALATH LEANNOTH. A MASKIL OF HEMAN THE EZRAHITE.

O LORD, God of my salvation;
I cry out day and night before you.
 2 Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!
 3 For my soul is full of troubles,
 and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
 I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
 for they are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit,
 in the regions dark and deep.
 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
 8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow.
 Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
 Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
 11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
 or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
 13 But I, O LORD, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
 Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
 I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
 they close in on me together.
18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
 my companions have become darkness.


A friend of mine from summer camp has become a great Christian Musician.  He sings a song based on Psalm 88 that I got from someone for Christmas.  This would be a great Christmas present to someone on your list who is into music.  "Last Chance" by Jeremy Casella

The Psalms are the music the Church has been singing, what Psalm will you sing today?