Psalms 88:8
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. 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.
The verse is a cry of anguish from one cut off from acquaintances, made repulsive in their sight, and shut in with no way to come forth. It is God himself who puts those acquaintances far off into darkness, and he does it to starve self. When the outward supports that fed self are taken away, self still clings to its few remaining friends and seeks sympathizers to nourish it by their sympathy, so God requires those very friends and removes them.
Left without sympathizers and without food, self cries out in agony and struggles and sighs in vain. Its brightest light is turned to total darkness, and it exhausts its strength in fruitless attempts to rise until it dies. That death to self makes room for Christ to live within, to lead back and lift up the soul. He then fills it with the spirit of the third angel and puts within it a new song of praise to God and to the Lamb who redeems by blood.