John Gill Commentary Psalms 88:1
John Gill Commentary
Psalms 88:1
John Gill Commentary
Psalms 88:1
SCRIPTURE
"O Jehovah, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee." — Psalms 88:1 (ASV)
O Lord God of my salvation
The author both of temporal and spiritual salvation; see (Psalms 18:46) (24:5) from the experience the psalmist has had of the Lord's working salvation for him in times past, he is encouraged to hope that he would appear for him, and help him out of his present distress; his faith was not so low, but that amidst all his darkness and dejection he could look upon the Lord as his God, and the God of salvation to him; so our Lord Jesus Christ, when deserted by his Father, still called him his God, and believed that he would help him, (Psalms 22:1) (Isaiah 1:7–9) .
I have cried day and night before you ,
or "in the day I have cried, and in the night before you"; that is, as the Targum paraphrases it, 'in the night my prayer was before you.' The expression 'prayer being expressed by crying' shows the person is in distress, denotes its earnestness, and shows it is vocal; and its being both in the day and in the night means it was without ceasing.
The same is said by Christ, (Psalms 22:2) and is true of him, who in the days of his flesh was frequent in prayer, and especially in the night season, (Luke 6:12) (21:37) and particularly his praying in the garden the night he was betrayed may be here referred to, (Matthew 26:38Matthew 26:39) .