Eternal God,
You rule by your power – FOREVER – your eyes watch the nations. So great is your power that all your enemies cringe before you. Sometimes I must watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin, remaining utterly silent while in the presence of the wicked. But as my anguish increases and my heart gets hot within me, the fire burns within me and I speak. “Show me the number of my days, how fleeting my life is. I see people in vain rushing about, heaping up wealth. But everyone is a breath, even those who seem secure. When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin, you consume their wealth like a moth. Surely everyone is but a breath.” I’ve seen with my own eyes that ill gotten gains do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. Return to me, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! You let people ride over my head; I went through fire and water. But you will not let the rebellious rise up against you. Restore me, O God. Make your face shine on me that I may be saved. You have measured my days and never want the enemy to rob me of my fullness. You brought me to a place of abundance. Thank you for the testing; the stretching enlarged me. I cry, “Restore me, O God!” I declare that all wasted time will be reversed, in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Ill-gotten gains do not profit,
But righteousness delivers from death. (Proverbs 10:2 NASB 1995)
1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing the praises of your name.”
5 Come and see what God has done,
his awesome deeds for mankind!
6 He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in him.
7 He rules forever by his power,
his eyes watch the nations—
let not the rebellious rise up against him.
8 Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.
13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfill my vows to you—
14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.
15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66 NIV)
1 Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock.
O God, enthroned above the cherubim,
display your radiant glory
2 to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Show us your mighty power.
Come to rescue us!
3 Turn us again to yourself, O God.
Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved.
4 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
how long will you be angry with our prayers?
5 You have fed us with sorrow
and made us drink tears by the bucketful.
6 You have made us the scorn[a] of neighboring nations.
Our enemies treat us as a joke.
7 Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies.
Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved.
8 You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine;
you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.
9 You cleared the ground for us,
and we took root and filled the land.
10 Our shade covered the mountains;
our branches covered the mighty cedars.
11 We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea;
our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.[b]
12 But now, why have you broken down our walls
so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?
13 The wild boar from the forest devours it,
and the wild animals feed on it.
14 Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies.
Look down from heaven and see our plight.
Take care of this grapevine
15 that you yourself have planted,
this son you have raised for yourself.
16 For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies.
May they perish at the sight of your frown.
17 Strengthen the man you love,
the son of your choice.
18 Then we will never abandon you again.
Revive us so we can call on your name once more.
19 Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved. (Psalm 80 NLT)
1–2 Here’s my life motto, the truth I live by:
I will guard my ways for all my days.
I will speak only what is right, guarding what I speak.
Like a watchman guards against an attack of the enemy,
I’ll guard and muzzle my mouth
when the wicked are around me.
I will remain silent and will not grumble
or speak out of my disappointment.
But the longer I’m silent, the more my pain grows worse!
3–4 My heart burned with a fire within me,
and my thoughts eventually boiled over
until they finally came rolling out of my mouth:
“Lord, help me to know how fleeting my time on earth is.
Help me to know how limited is my life
and that I’m only here but for a moment more.
5 What a brief time you’ve given me to live!
Compared to you my lifetime is nothing at all!
Nothing more than a puff of air—I’m gone so swiftly.
So too are the grandest of men;
they are nothing but a fleeting shadow!”
Pause in his presence
6 We live our lives like those living in shadows.
All our activities and energies are spent for things that pass away.
We gather, we hoard, we cling to our things,
only to leave them all behind for who knows who.
7 And now, God,[d] I’m left with one conclusion:
my only hope is to hope in you alone!
8 Save me from being overpowered by my sin;
don’t make me a disgrace before the degenerate.
9 Lord, I’m left speechless and I have no excuse,
so I’ll not complain any longer.
Now I know you’re the one who is behind it all.
10 But I can’t take it much longer.
Spare me these blows from your discipline-rod.
For if you are against me, I will waste away to nothing.
11 No one endures when you rebuke and discipline us for our sins.
Like a cobweb is swept away with a wave of the hand,
you sweep away all that we once called dear.
How fleeting and frail our lives!
We’re nothing more than a puff of air.
Pause in his presence
12 Lord, listen to all my tender cries.
Read my every tear, like liquid words that plead for your help.
I feel all alone at times, like a stranger to you,
passing through this life just like all those before me.
13 Don’t let me die without restoring
joy and gladness to my soul.
May your frown over my failure
become a smile over my success. (Psalm 39 TPT)
Idea from: https://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word_pf.html?ID=25704