NOTES for Psa 88:1-53
The song falls into two halves, and at first one might think that the two parts fit together poorly, so striking is the contrast between them. At first the psalmist carefully lists the mercies that the Lord has shown both to His whole people and to the house of David. Again and again a solemn hymn resounds to Him whom none can surpass in strength. He faithfully keeps His ordinances; He will not abandon those with whom He has made a covenant; and even the trials to which He subjects sinners do not cancel His merciful disposition toward those who have gone astray.
But then it becomes clear that all this belongs to the past, while now He has rejected His anointed one. (But do these words refer only to the anointed one appointed to a special ministry? Could not everyone who has committed a grave sin repeat the same contrite words after the psalmist?) How can this be reconciled with the fact that the Lord does not turn away from the sinner?
It means that it is the sinner who has turned away from the Lord. Perhaps consciously, but most likely without even considering that the consequences of all his deeds, great and small, will shut God out of his life. Yet even a sinner has hope of returning. That is why the words at the end of the psalm sound so natural: Blessed be the Lord forever!