Psalm 88
1O Lord, my God, my Savior,
by day and night I cry to you.
2Let my prayer enter into your presence;
incline your ear to my lamentation.
3For I am full of trouble;
my life is at the brink of the grave.
4I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
I have become like one who has no strength;
5Lost among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
6Whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
7You have laid me in the depths of the Pit,
in dark places, and in the abyss.
8Your anger weighs upon me heavily,
and all your great waves overwhelm me.
9You have put my friends far from me;
you have made me to be abhorred by them;
I am in prison and cannot get free.
10My sight has failed me because of trouble;
Lord, I have called upon you daily;
I have stretched out my hands to you.
11Do you work wonders for the dead?
will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?
12Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave?
your faithfulness in the land of destruction?
13Will your wonders be known in the dark?
or your righteousness in the country where all
is forgotten?
14But as for me, O Lord, I cry to you for help;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
15Lord, why have you rejected me?
why have you hidden your face from me?
16Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the
point of death;
I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind.
17Your blazing anger has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me;
18They surround me all day long like a flood;
they encompass me on every side.
19My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me,
and darkness is my only companion.
A Collect for Fridays
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
