Matthew Henry Commentary Psalms 88:1-9

"O Jehovah, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. Let my prayer enter into thy presence; Incline thine ear unto my cry. For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draweth nigh unto Sheol. I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no help, Cast off among the dead, Like the slain that lie in the grave, Whom thou rememberest no more, And they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah Thou hast put mine acquaintance far from me; Thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. Mine eye wasteth away by reason of affliction: I have called daily upon thee, O Jehovah; I have spread forth my hands unto thee." — Psalms 88:1-9 (ASV)

The first words of the psalmist are the only words of comfort and support in this psalm. Good people can be so greatly afflicted, and may have such dismal thoughts about their afflictions and make such dark conclusions about their end, through the power of melancholy and the weakness of faith. He complained most of God's displeasure. Even the children of God's love may sometimes think they are children of wrath, and no outward trouble can be as hard for them as that.

Probably the psalmist described his own case, yet he leads to Christ. So we are called to look to Jesus, wounded and bruised for our iniquities. But the wrath of God poured the greatest bitterness into his cup. This weighed him down into darkness and the deep.