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when all else fails

Psalm 88:1-13 (JDV)

Psalm 88:1 Yahveh, God of my deliverance, I cry out before you day and night.
Psalm 88:2 May my prayer come to your face; turn your ear to my cry.
Psalm 88:3 You see, my throat has had enough troubles, and my life is near Sheol.
Psalm 88:4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit. I am like a man without strength,
Psalm 88:5 abandoned among the dead. I am like the slain lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, and who are cut off from your care.
Psalm 88:6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit, in the darkest places, in the depths.
Psalm 88:7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah
Psalm 88:8 You have distanced my friends from me; you have made me repulsive to them. I am shut in and cannot go out.
Psalm 88:9 My eyes are worn out from crying. Yahveh, I cry out to you all day long; I spread out my hands to you.
Psalm 88:10 Do you work miracles for the dead? Do ghosts rise up to praise you? Selah
Psalm 88:11 Will your covenant faithfulness be declared in the grave, your reliability in Destruction?
Psalm 88:12 Will your miracles be known in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of Forgetfulness?
Psalm 88:13 But I call to you for help, Yahveh; in the morning my prayer meets you.

when all else fails

Here is a prayer of someone who feels close to dying — distanced from those he once relied on for help — shut in without the ability to go out. He feels like he is already in the grave — Sheol — the dark, silent land of forgetfulness.

But he still prays. God has been his help in the past. He will be his refuge when all else fails.

LORD, we call to you for help. You will be our refuge when all else fails.