Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord: Psalm 142

Psalm 142

A maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.

¹ I cry aloud to the Lord;
    I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
² I pour out before him my complaint;
    before him I tell my trouble.

³ When my spirit grows faint within me,
    it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
    people have hidden a snare for me.
⁴ Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
    no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
    no one cares for my life.

⁵ I cry to you, Lord;
    I say, “You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.”

⁶ Listen to my cry,
    for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
    for they are too strong for me.
⁷ Set me free from my prison,
    that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me.

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 119): Part 19

ק Qoph

¹⁴⁵ I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord,
    and I will obey your decrees.
¹⁴⁶ I call out to you; save me
    and I will keep your statutes.
¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I have put my hope in your word.
¹⁴⁸ My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promises.
¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice in accordance with your love;
    preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws.
¹⁵⁰ Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
    but they are far from your law.
¹⁵¹ Yet you are near, Lord,
    and all your commands are true.
¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your statutes
    that you established them to last forever.

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 102)

Psalm 102

A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.

¹ Hear my prayer, Lord;
    let my cry for help come to you.
² Do not hide your face from me
    when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
    when I call, answer me quickly.

³ For my days vanish like smoke;
    my bones burn like glowing embers.
⁴ My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
    I forget to eat my food.
⁵ In my distress I groan aloud
    and am reduced to skin and bones.
⁶ I am like a desert owl,
    like an owl among the ruins.
⁷ I lie awake; I have become
    like a bird alone on a roof.
⁸ All day long my enemies taunt me;
    those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
⁹ For I eat ashes as my food
    and mingle my drink with tears
¹⁰ because of your great wrath,
    for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
¹¹ My days are like the evening shadow;
    I wither away like grass.

¹² But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;
    your renown endures through all generations.
¹³ You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
    for it is time to show favor to her;
    the appointed time has come.
¹⁴ For her stones are dear to your servants;
    her very dust moves them to pity.
¹⁵ The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
    all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord will rebuild Zion
    and appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
    he will not despise their plea.

¹⁸ Let this be written for a future generation,
    that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
¹⁹ “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,
    from heaven he viewed the earth,
²⁰ to hear the groans of the prisoners
    and release those condemned to death.”
²¹ So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion
    and his praise in Jerusalem
²² when the peoples and the kingdoms
    assemble to worship the Lord.

²³ In the course of my life he broke my strength;
    he cut short my days.
²⁴ So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
    your years go on through all generations.
²⁵ In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
    and they will be discarded.
²⁷ But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.
²⁸ The children of your servants will live in your presence;
    their descendants will be established before you.”

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 74)

Psalm 74

A maskil of Asaph.

¹ O God, why have you rejected us forever?
    Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
² Remember the nation you purchased long ago,
    the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed—
    Mount Zion, where you dwelt.
³ Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins,
    all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

⁴ Your foes roared in the place where you met with us;
    they set up their standards as signs.
⁵ They behaved like men wielding axes
    to cut through a thicket of trees.
⁶ They smashed all the carved paneling
    with their axes and hatchets.
⁷ They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
    they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.
⁸ They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”
    They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

⁹ We are given no signs from God;
    no prophets are left,
    and none of us knows how long this will be.
¹⁰ How long will the enemy mock you, God?
    Will the foe revile your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
    Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!

¹² But God is my King from long ago;
    he brings salvation on the earth.

¹³ It was you who split open the sea by your power;
    you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
¹⁴ It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
    and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
¹⁵ It was you who opened up springs and streams;
    you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
¹⁶ The day is yours, and yours also the night;
    you established the sun and moon.
¹⁷ It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
    you made both summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember how the enemy has mocked you, Lord,
    how foolish people have reviled your name.
¹⁹ Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;
    do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.
²⁰ Have regard for your covenant,
    because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
²¹ Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace;
    may the poor and needy praise your name.
²² Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
    remember how fools mock you all day long.
²³ Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries,
    the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 60)

Psalm 60

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A miktam of David. For teaching. When he fought Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah, and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹ You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;
    you have been angry—now restore us!
² You have shaken the land and torn it open;
    mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
³ You have shown your people desperate times;
    you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
⁴ But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
   to be unfurled against the bow.

⁵ Save us and help us with your right hand,
    that those you love may be delivered.
⁶ God has spoken from his sanctuary:
    “In triumph I will parcel out Shechem
    and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.
⁷ Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
    Ephraim is my helmet,
    Judah is my scepter.
⁸ Moab is my washbasin,
    on Edom I toss my sandal;
    over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

⁹ Who will bring me to the fortified city?
    Who will lead me to Edom?
¹⁰ Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us
    and no longer go out with our armies?
¹¹ Give us aid against the enemy,
    for human help is worthless.
¹² With God we will gain the victory,
    and he will trample down our enemies.

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 142)

Psalm 142

A maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.

¹ I cry aloud to the Lord;
    I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
² I pour out before him my complaint;
    before him I tell my trouble.

³ When my spirit grows faint within me,
    it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
    people have hidden a snare for me.
⁴ Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
    no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
    no one cares for my life.

⁵ I cry to you, Lord;
    I say, “You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.”

⁶ Listen to my cry,
    for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
    for they are too strong for me.
⁷ Set me free from my prison that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me.

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 119): Part 19

ק Qoph

¹⁴⁵ I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord,
    and I will obey your decrees.
¹⁴⁶ I call out to you; save me
    and I will keep your statutes.
¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I have put my hope in your word.
¹⁴⁸ My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promises.
¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice in accordance with your love;
    preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws.
¹⁵⁰ Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
    but they are far from your law.
¹⁵¹ Yet you are near, Lord,
    and all your commands are true.
¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your statutes
    that you established them to last forever.

Do we only have God’s number on speed-dial?

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 102)

Psalm 102

A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.

¹ Hear my prayer, Lord;
    let my cry for help come to you.
² Do not hide your face from me
    when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
    when I call, answer me quickly.

³ For my days vanish like smoke;
    my bones burn like glowing embers.
⁴ My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
    I forget to eat my food.
⁵ In my distress I groan aloud
    and am reduced to skin and bones.
⁶ I am like a desert owl,
    like an owl among the ruins.
⁷ I lie awake; I have become
    like a bird alone on a roof.
⁸ All day long my enemies taunt me;
    those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
⁹ For I eat ashes as my food
    and mingle my drink with tears
¹⁰ because of your great wrath,
    for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
¹¹ My days are like the evening shadow;
    I wither away like grass.

¹² But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;
    your renown endures through all generations.
¹³ You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
    for it is time to show favor to her;
    the appointed time has come.
¹⁴ For her stones are dear to your servants;
    her very dust moves them to pity.
¹⁵ The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
    all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord will rebuild Zion
    and appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
    he will not despise their plea.

¹⁸ Let this be written for a future generation,
    that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
¹⁹ “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,
    from heaven he viewed the earth,
²⁰ to hear the groans of the prisoners
    and release those condemned to death.”
²¹ So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion
    and his praise in Jerusalem
²² when the peoples and the kingdoms
    assemble to worship the Lord.

²³ In the course of my life^[b] he broke my strength;
    he cut short my days.
²⁴ So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
    your years go on through all generations.
²⁵ In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
    and they will be discarded.
²⁷ But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.
²⁸ The children of your servants will live in your presence;
    their descendants will be established before you.”

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 38)

Psalm 38
A psalm of David. A petition.

1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Your arrows have pierced me,
and your hand has come down on me.
3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
4 My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.

5 My wounds fester and are loathsome
because of my sinful folly.
6 I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.
7 My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body.
8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart.

9 All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
even the light has gone from my eyes.
11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
my neighbors stay far away.
12 Those who want to kill me set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they scheme and lie.

13 I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
like the mute, who cannot speak;
14 I have become like one who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply.
15 Lord, I wait for you;
you will answer, Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”

17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.
19 Many have become my enemies without cause[b];
those who hate me without reason are numerous.
20 Those who repay my good with evil
lodge accusations against me,
though I seek only to do what is good.

21 Lord, do not forsake me;
do not be far from me, my God.
22 Come quickly to help me,
my Lord and my Savior.

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 18) (Part 1)

Psalm 18^[a]

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

¹ I love you, Lord, my strength.

² The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield^[b] and the horn^[c] of my salvation, my stronghold.

³ I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
    and I have been saved from my enemies.
⁴ The cords of death entangled me;
    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
⁵ The cords of the grave coiled around me;
    the snares of death confronted me.

⁶ In my distress I called to the Lord;
    I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
    my cry came before him, into his ears.
⁷ The earth trembled and quaked,
    and the foundations of the mountains shook;
    they trembled because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils;
    consuming fire came from his mouth,
    burning coals blazed out of it.
⁹ He parted the heavens and came down;
    dark clouds were under his feet.
¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew;
    he soared on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
    the dark rain clouds of the sky.
¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
    with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
¹³ The Lord thundered from heaven;
    the voice of the Most High resounded.^[d]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
    with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
¹⁵ The valleys of the sea were exposed
    and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
    at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me.

²⁰ The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
    according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
    I am not guilty of turning from my God.
²² All his laws are before me;
    I have not turned away from his decrees.
²³ I have been blameless before him
    and have kept myself from sin.
²⁴ The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵ To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
    to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
²⁶ to the pure you show yourself pure,
    but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
²⁷ You save the humble
    but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
²⁸ You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
    my God turns my darkness into light.
²⁹ With your help I can advance against a troop^[e];
    with my God I can scale a wall.

³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect:
    The Lord’s word is flawless;
    he shields all who take refuge in him.
³¹ For who is God besides the Lord?
    And who is the Rock except our God?
³² It is God who arms me with strength
    and keeps my way secure.
³³ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
    he causes me to stand on the heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for battle;
    my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You make your saving help my shield,
    and your right hand sustains me;
    your help has made me great.
³⁶ You provide a broad path for my feet,
    so that my ankles do not give way.

³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
    I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
³⁸ I crushed them so that they could not rise;
    they fell beneath my feet.
³⁹ You armed me with strength for battle;
    you humbled my adversaries before me.
⁴⁰ You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
    and I destroyed my foes.
⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
    to the Lord, but he did not answer.
⁴² I beat them as fine as windblown dust;
    I trampled them^[f] like mud in the streets.
⁴³ You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
    you have made me the head of nations.
People I did not know now serve me,
⁴⁴     foreigners cower before me;
    as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
⁴⁵ They all lose heart;
    they come trembling from their strongholds.

⁴⁶ The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
    Exalted be God my Savior!
⁴⁷ He is the God who avenges me,
    who subdues nations under me,
⁴⁸     who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
    from a violent man you rescued me.
⁴⁹ Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
    I will sing the praises of your name.

⁵⁰ He gives his king great victories;
    he shows unfailing love to his anointed,
    to David and to his descendants forever.