I ask those of you who are believers to pray for my 91 year-old father. He defines himself in opposition to Christianity, although he is too cautious to declare himself an atheist. Philosophically, however, he is one. He is a wonderful father and a highly intelligent man, but God is simply not in the picture with him. I have prayed for his salvation for over thirty years, and will continue to do so until his heart no longer beats. Only at that point will it be too late, as it will be for every single one of us if we are not saved through faith in Christ.

Every time I read this psalm, I think of my family. You know that down-home Christian cliché: When I get to heaven I’ll see my dear old mother and my kinfolk will welcome me beside the throne, etc, etc. . . ? My family is not like that. Apart from one aunt who was a lukewarm Presbyterian, NO ONE has faith in my entire extended family. No grandparent ever mentioned God to me, except to mock or belittle Christian traditions. They are Liberal-Progressives and far too enlightened for salvation. I would respect them more if they opposed the Gospel and took an adversarial stance, but they will not dare to go that far. They smile blandly and change the subject. They watch MSM. They virtue-signal smugly.

Psalm 88  (KJV)

O lord God of my salvation,
I have cried day and night before thee:

Let my prayer come before thee:
incline thine ear unto my cry;

For my soul is full of troubles:
and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

I am counted with them that go down into the pit:
I am as a man that hath no strength:

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.

Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

Thy wrath lieth hard upon me,
and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

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.

Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction:
Lord, I have called daily upon thee,
I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead?
shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave?
or thy faithfulness in destruction?

Shall thy wonders be known in the dark?
and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

But unto thee have I cried, O Lord;
and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

Lord, why castest thou off my soul?
why hidest thou thy face from me?

I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up:
while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

They came round about me daily like water;
they compassed me about together.

Lover and friend hast thou put far from me,
and mine acquaintance into darkness.