Lord, I seek your protection – keep
me from further humiliation.
I seek deliverance from the only One Who always does what is right!
Please hear me; please rescue me.
Be a rock solid safe house for me.
To me you are like an inaccessible
summit, and for the sake of that irrefutable reputation please lead me and guide
me.
Even though some seek to ensnare me in their web of deceit, you will
untangle me and strengthen me.
You hold my life in your hands, and
so I am certain that you will intervene on my behalf, because you are and
always will be the God of Truth.
And because you alone are the God of Truth, I will avoid those who deal
in worthless falsehoods and I will put my trust in you.
I know that this momentary
affliction will give way to rejoicing and praise because you are merciful.
Yes, indeed! You are a God who
is well acquainted with my pain and well aware of how deeply distressed I am.
You will never allow me to be
tripped up by those who seek my harm because
you enable me to stand firmly.
Even so, dear Lord, I am in
distress right now and I am in need of your divine favor.
My eyes are swollen because of my grief and I am emotionally exhausted.
My life appears to be ending in
pain, and my final years in groaning.
My past sins haunt me and make me feel feeble and frail.
Those who seek my harm have caused
others to distrust me and to abhor me.
They have even managed to turn my friends against me, so that they now feel
awkward in my presence and consequently seek to avoid me.
I feel so lonely. It is as if I am being erased from people’s
memories like someone who has been deceased for a long time.
It is as if people regard me as something to be discarded like a
worthless broken jar.
I hear what they are saying about
me, and their slanderous whisperings cause me great distress.
When they plot together against me, they try to figure out how to take
away my life.
Nevertheless, in spite of all this,
I still trust you, dear Lord.
I still declare openly that you alone are my God!
You alone are the one who
determines my destiny.
They can plot all they like, but you will rescue me from their powerful
schemes.
Please let me become aware of your comforting
smile once more.
Deliver me because of your unceasing faithfulness.
Lord, they seek to humiliate me,
but I have called out to you for help.
Do to them as they seek to do to me and make them as silent as the
grave. Indeed, let arrogant and
contemptuous lips that spread poisonous falsehoods about the innocent be silenced!
I marvel at the greatness of your
goodness toward those who remain loyal to you.
It is plainly evident to everyone by the way you openly favor those who
hide in you.
You enfold them in your secret
presence and keep them safe from the snares of the slanderer.
You conceal them in a shelter where they are safe from harmful gossip.
Lord, you are worthy of my praise,
because you have demonstrated your wondrous faithfulness to me while my life
was under siege.
I mistakenly jumped to the wrong conclusion! You were watching over me all the time and
you never once left my side! You heard
every plea when I cried out for your help!
And so I encourage every one of you
who seek to live godly lives: Love the
Lord your God! Follow Him even blindly because
He is known to preserve the faithful and He will pay back in full the arrogant
and prideful.
Be strong and unwaveringly confident as you patiently continue to wait
on Him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was
in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Amen.
