Lover and friend hast Thou put far from Me and mine acquaintance into darkness. Psalm 88:18 KJV
You have removed lover and friend far from me; My acquaintances are in darkness. Psalms 88:18 NASB
Psalm 88 is not technically a Messianic Psalm since it is not quoted in the New Testament as referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet there are expressions in it that we cannot help but relate to His sufferings. One of these is the final statement of the psalm. Another rendering of the verse cited above is, “and darkness is mine acquaintance.” This verse links with Isaiah 53:3 where it speaks of Him as “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
Here then are two things which the Omniscient Son of God had to become acquainted with in His life: He was acquainted with grief and acquainted with darkness. In His life, He knew grief. Did He not know something of sorrow and grief when, as the Jehovah of the O.T., He was in heaven? Do not the Scriptures speak of a God Who grieved over the waywardness of His people and the death of the wicked? Yet there was something unique and new in moving amongst men and experiencing grief in His Manhood. Some capacity, perhaps heretofore not known, was present in Him that gave Him the ability to sorrow as never before. 
He became acquainted with sorrow and grief in His life as He moved amongst men and saw the effects of sin and the chaos it had brought into hearts and homes. But He became acquainted with darkness at Calvary. This definitely was something He did not know prior to His coming and His cross. The darkness of Calvary, the separation from His God, all this was new – an unknown experience for Him prior to the cross. “Lover and friend put far from Me,” was a grief and sorrow immeasurable for this One Who was so faithful to all; but what must the depth of His suffering have been when He became acquainted with darkness?
The Holy One did hide His face
O Christ twas Hid from Thee
Dumb darkness wrapt Thy soul a space
The darkness due to me! Anne R. Cousin
Consider:
- Look at the psalm which precedes and the psalm which follows Psalm 88. In the former we have blessings; in the latter, we have worship (89:1). In between, in Psalm 88, we have the cost for those blessings and the basis for our worship.
- Contrast verse 17 with verse 18: who was there and who was not there.
- Both His acquaintance with grief and darkness were the direct result of sin. Think of different ways in which the Lord Jesus suffered because sin was in the world. For example, what did it mean for Him to be even accused of sin?