Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 28:1

"Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call: My rock, be not thou deaf unto me; Lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit." — Psalms 28:1 (ASV)

To you I will cry - That is, under the consciousness of the danger to which I am exposed - the danger of being drawn away into the society of the wicked. In such circumstances his reliance was not on his own strength; or on his own resolutions; or on his own heart; or on others. He felt that he was safe only in God, and he therefore appeals to Him in this earnest manner to save him.

O Lord my rock - See the notes at (Psalms 18:2).

Be not silent to me - Margin, “from me.” So the Hebrew. The idea is that of one who will not speak to us, or who will not attend to us. We pray, and we look for an “answer” to our prayers, or, as it were, we expect God to “speak” to us; to utter words of kindness; to assure us of His favor; to declare our sins forgiven.

Lest, if you are silent to me - If you do not answer my supplications.

I become like those who go down into the pit - Like those who die; or, lest I be crushed by anxiety and distress, and die. The word “pit” here refers to the grave. So it is used in (Psalms 30:3); (Psalms 88:4); (Isaiah 38:18); (Isaiah 14:15, 19). The meaning is that if he did not obtain help from God, he despaired of life. His troubles would overwhelm and crush him. He could not bear up under them.