Draw Nigh!

I was recently inspired to write a few poems based on Psalms. I wondered, if the Psalms are songs, then does this mean that in Hebrew they rhyme like many modern songs do? (And if anyone reading this happens to know the answer to that, I would love it if you’d enlighten me. 😉) And then I decided to see if I could rhyme it, though I ended up making it more unique in the end instead of really “basing” it on the psalm… it would probably be more accurate at this point to say a poem was “inspired by” a psalm. 😂 Anyway, this is the result of that endeavor. 🙂

This one was inspired by Psalm 88, which you’ll find at the bottom of this post for reference. However, as Pete pointed out, this is one of the few psalms that doesn’t praise God. And I wanted a little bit of an acknowledgement of how much He has done for us in there, so this isn’t supposed to be exact or anything. 😊

O LORD, God of my salvation,
I have cried day and night unto thee;
Hear my prayer; hear my exclamation;
For I feel this is the death of me.

I feel as if I’m going down into the pit;
Like I’m dead inside and I’m in the grave
I have no more vigor to withstand it.
Will you, with Your mighty hand, save?

It is as though your anger is upon me
As if Your wrath has been made known;
I am drowning within a torrential sea
Of my own tears; will You leave me to drown?

My closest friends have cast me aside
They find me grotesque and vile
Therefore, I cannot go out; I am shut inside
My eyes are tired from crying all the while

To the dead, will You show wonders?
Will those in the tombs praise You?
Will Your love be shown to graves, asunder?
Will forgetfulness lay claim to Your virtue?

My prayer comes to You each daybreak;
Can You hear my beating heart shatter?
Sometimes I wonder what notice You take
Of the pieces in my chest; does it even matter?

Why does it seem like You abandoned me?
Why does it seem You left me here to die?
What am I missing, what is it I don’t see?
O LORD my God, come back, draw nigh!

I am reminded over and over again
That it isn’t my strength that matters
It is He who defeated Death and Sin
Even when my own soul is in tatters

I know that evil doesn’t come from You
It comes from the one who has already lost
I shouldn’t worry, You’ll bring me through!
For You, my Lord, have paid the cost.

Foggy Night In Arkansas

Psalm 88 (KJV)

1: O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
2: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
3: For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
4: I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
5: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
6: Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
7: Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
8: Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
9: Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
10: Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
11: Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
12: Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13: But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
14: LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
15: I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
16: Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
17: They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
18: Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

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