How To Deal With Darkness

³ For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
    I am like those who have no help,
⁵ like those forsaken among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand.
⁶ You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

⁸ You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a thing of horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
⁹     my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call on you, O Lord;
    I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the shades rise up to praise you? Selah
¹¹ Is your steadfast love declared in the grave
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
¹² Are your wonders known in the darkness
    or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³ But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ O Lord, why do you cast me off?
    Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵ Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
    I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.^[a]
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
    your dread assaults destroy me.
¹⁷ They surround me like a flood all day long;
    from all sides they close in on me.
¹⁸ You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me;
    my companions are in darkness.