May 7, 2026

I can’t recall when I first heard this, but I made a note of it. It went something like this: pray, lament, and reflect on Psalm 88 while holding onto hope for Psalm 89. How can you personalize this prayer? Below each verse, I will share my own prayer in bold. Please note that this is not an interpretation of the scriptures, but rather my personal reflections for prayer based on the passages.

Psalm 88
O Yahweh, the God of my salvation,
I have cried out by day and throughout the night before You.
Dear Lord Heavenly Father
I have had past season where I cried myself to sleep every night.
² Let my prayer come before You;
Incline Your ear to my cry of lamentation!
You heard my cries when I didn’t even know how to pray.
³ For my soul has been saturated with calamities,
And my life has reached Sheol.
I felt as though I was in a pit I could not escape.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like a man without strength,
My tears took my energy from me,
⁵ Released among the dead,
Like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom You remember no more,
And they are cut off from Your hand.
Depression took over me
and I felt You forgot me.
⁶ You have put me in the pit far below,
In dark places, in the depths.
I did not feel seen by You,
⁷ Your wrath lies upon me,
And You afflict me with all Your breaking waves. ^[c]Selah.
I believed the lie that You created me to be against You.
⁸ You have removed my acquaintances far from me;
You have set me as ^[d]an abomination to them;
I am shut up and cannot go out.
I felt betrayed, I wanted to run, I wanted to sleep forever,
I wanted to fight for what I thought was mine.
⁹ My eye has wasted away because of affliction;
I have called upon You every day, O Yahweh;
I have spread out my ^[e]hands to You.
The tears were so much that I couldn’t cry anymore.
I cried out to you and even flat on the floor for hours.
¹⁰ Will You do wonders for the dead?
Will the ^[f]departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah.
How could you use me when I feel unable to do anything?
¹¹ Will Your lovingkindness be recounted in the grave,
Your faithfulness in ^[g]Abaddon?
I was so deep in the pit that I felt You couldn’t even go to.
¹² Will Your wonders be known in the darkness?
And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
I didn’t think You could do anything in such a dark place.
I thought You had forgotten me.
¹³ But as for me, O Yahweh, I have cried out to You for help,
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
I continued to cry out to You,
holding onto hope that You would hear me.
¹⁴ O Yahweh, why do You reject my soul?
Why do You hide Your face from me?
You were so silent, I felt abandoned.
¹⁵ I have been afflicted and about to breathe my last from my youth on;
I bear Your terrors; I am ^[h]overcome.
I had never experienced grief in my life,
¹⁶ Your burning anger has passed over me;
Your horrors have ^[i]destroyed me.
I felt I was being punished, I felt ruined.
¹⁷ They have surrounded me like water all day long;
They have encompassed me altogether.
I wanted to run often but couldn’t move.
¹⁸ You have removed lover and friend far from me;
My acquaintances are in darkness.
You told me to be still and You would fight for me.
No one understood my pain but You suffered much more.

Psalm 89
I will sing of the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh forever;
From generation to generation I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
Dear Lord Heavenly Father,
I never knew I could know the depth of Your love and kindness shown to me.
I want to tell everyone what You’ve done in my life.
² For I have said, “Lovingkindness will be built up forever;
In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”
You have always been faithful and always will be.
³ “I have cut a covenant with My chosen;
I have sworn to David My ^[d]servant,
You stand by Your Covenant.
⁴ I will establish your seed forever
And build up your throne from generation to generation.” ^[e]Selah.
You gave Your One and Only Son for me!
My Savior will live forever and ever!
⁵ The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Yahweh;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
Everyone and everything will praise You.
Every knee will bow, even those who never knew You.
⁶ For who in the sky is comparable to Yahweh?
Who among the ^[f]sons of the mighty is like Yahweh,
No one is like You, Lord. You are here,
You listen, You work in my life.
⁷ A God greatly dreaded in the council of the holy ones,
And ^[g]fearsome above all those who are around Him?
Your creation respects You above all.
⁸ O Yahweh God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Yah?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
You are never changing, always faithful,
the same yesterday, today, and forever.
⁹ You rule the swelling of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them.
You are Sovereign over all the earth.
¹⁰ You Yourself crushed ^[h]Rahab like one who is slain;
You scattered Your enemies with Your strong arm.
You are powerful over all.
¹¹ The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;
The world and its fullness, You have founded them.
You are Creator of all creation,
every person, every animal.
¹² The north and the south, You have created them;
Tabor and Hermon sing with joy at Your name.
All creation sings Your praise.
¹³ You have a mighty arm;
Your hand is strong, Your right hand is exalted.
Your Son, Jesus, sits at Your right hand.
¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and ^[i]truth go before You.
You are Righteous, Just, Loving, and Truth.
¹⁵ How blessed are the people who know the loud shout of joy!
O Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your face.
I love walking in Your ways. Keep me shiney for You!
¹⁶ In Your name they rejoice all the day,
And by Your righteousness they are exalted.
No matter what happens, I find joy in You.
¹⁷ For You are the beauty of their strength,
And by Your favor ^[j]our horn is exalted.
Only because of You, I can be strong.
¹⁸ For our shield belongs to Yahweh,
^[k]And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
I am safe and secure in You.
You are my King.
¹⁹ Formerly You spoke in vision to Your ^[l]holy ^[m]ones,
And said, “I have bestowed help to a mighty one;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
You knew what I needed.
²⁰ I have found David My ^[n]servant;
With My holy oil I have anointed him,
You had everything planned out.
²¹ With whom My hand will be established;
My arm also will strengthen him.
You protect me.
²² The enemy will not ^[o]deceive him,
Nor the ^[p]son of unrighteousness afflict him.
You will make Truth known.
²³ But I shall crush his adversaries before him,
And strike those who hate him.
You fight for me.
²⁴ My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him,
And in My name his horn will be exalted.
Your love never wavers.
²⁵ I shall also set his hand on the sea
And his right hand on the rivers.
You extend my territory
²⁶ He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.’
You are my Father, God, and
Rock of my Salvation.
²⁷ I also shall make him My firstborn,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
Jesus is King of all Kings.
²⁸ My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever,
And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
You have always been faithful
And this will never end.
²⁹ So I will set up his seed to endure forever
And his throne as the days of heaven.
You are a God of order, knowing
You’d send Your Son to reign forever.
³⁰ “If his sons forsake My law
And do not walk in My judgments,
Even when I am unfaithful
³¹ If they profane My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,
and I fail everyday
³² Then I will punish their transgression with the rod
And their iniquity with striking.
You will discipline me
³³ But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him,
Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.
because You love me more than my sins.
³⁴ My covenant I will not profane,
Nor will I alter what comes forth from My lips.
You never change.
^35 [q]Once I have sworn by My holiness;
I will not lie to David.
Your promises are solid.
³⁶ His seed shall endure forever
And his throne as the sun before Me.
Jesus will reign forever and ever.
³⁷ It shall be established forever like the moon,
And the witness in the sky is faithful.” ^[r]Selah.
You are faithful forever and ever.
³⁸ But You have cast off and rejected,
You have been full of wrath ^[s]against Your anointed.
You chose to allow Your wrath on Your Son for me!
³⁹ You have spurned the covenant of Your ^[t]slave;
You have profaned his crown to the ground.
You went through humiliation for me!
⁴⁰ You have broken down all his walls;
You have beset his strongholds with ruin.
You allowed hard for my good.
⁴¹ All who pass along the way plunder him;
He has become a reproach to his neighbors.
I am vulnerable.
⁴² You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
You have made all his enemies be glad.
People enjoyed inflicting pain.
⁴³ You also turn back the edge of his sword
And have not made him arise in battle.
I have experienced humility.
⁴⁴ You have made his ^[u]splendor to cease
And cast his throne to the ground.
I understood brokenness.
⁴⁵ You have shortened the days of his youth;
You have wrapped him up with shame. Selah.
Jesus experienced all this and more.
⁴⁶ How long, O Yahweh?
Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your wrath burn like fire?
Pain seemed endless,
But you were never gone.
⁴⁷ Remember ^[v]what my span of life is;
For what vanity ^[w]You have created all the sons of men!
This life on earth is but a moment in time.
⁴⁸ What man can live and not see death?
Can he provide his soul escape from the ^[x]power of Sheol? Selah.
All will experience death on this earth.
⁴⁹ Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord,
Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
Your lovingkindness may not always seem present
But it is; You have my best interest in mind.
⁵⁰ Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your ^[y]slaves;
^[z]How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,
⁵¹ With which Your enemies have reproached, O Yahweh,
With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed.
There will be hard days BUT GOD!
⁵² Blessed be Yahweh forever!
Amen and Amen.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord!
Amen!