Psalm 20—We’ll Know the Silent Sky Can Speak, and Holy Heaven Ring Like Struck Bells

May the Lord hear you And answer with strong wings Beating on gale winds. May your help come  Even before the need is raised— Swift as hunting hawks, fleet as falcons . May he send you every help you ask, Bigger than heart hoped, dream guessed,  Or mind ever tried.   Then we will watch yo…

Psalm 14—Every Fool Knows God Is Gone

Every fool knows God is gone, So they give themselves to things They can’t come back from; Feed themselves on limelight; Live by the hope of moving on. Like everyone who has sold themselves, They insist it was worth it.   The Lord looks down to see If anyone has yet let Goodness creep up …

Psalm 46—No rage, nor waves can rise higher than God

When trouble days came, I rooted and waited for God. Though the walls of the world give way, And the mountains are upended, And the foaming waves climb  As high as the sky; I will stay settled here.  I looked a fool, but my shelter stood.   Father, sweep me into your high hold And seal the…

Psalm 28—You are there when the grace gathers around the table at dinner, in the hallowed halls of the real world.

Psalm 28—You Are There When the Grace Gathers Around the Table at Dinner, in the Hallowed Halls of the Real World.   I forget how to begin, Lord. Wait for me. It’ll take a minute To find my way from here To somewhere else.   I’ve been digging ditches all summer,  Sweating through my gravecl…

Psalm 30—No night tears can stop the birds and bells of dawn singing every morning

    I ran scared for a long time, Wanting to be safer than I was. I made narrow escapes but couldn’t  Quite shake what hounded me. I cried for help, for healing, For answers, for anything. You heard me. You gave me My life back. You hid me  In a quiet place only because I asked— But it w…

Psalm 62—It took a long time, but I found my quiet again

It took a long time, But I found my quiet again. I wrap it around me and wait for God alone. He is my fastness, quick keep, faith’s fort, My rest and release.   How many of my battered days Slipped soundlessly to nothing? How long was I a man of strings Pushing through a hedge without end?…

Psalm 41—I followed my own road home and found fear waiting

You laid long lines in the world,  And trod out paths for our feet to follow. You said, “This is the good way—walk in it.”   The one who gives away what she gained, Will find a goodness that time won’t wear down, Will find grace a sunbeam in the blank dark. The one whose repentance  Sears s…

Psalm 36—The clouds are not higher than the measure of God's love, nor the stars, nor the farthest flung distant folly of hope.

The wicked man’s mind runs glad With evil thoughts and he can’t sleep. His heart tramps from wrong to wrong In a dim parade, full of all the wrong fears. He wonders why he would let this glamour go Once he got it started. He spins traps And hangs them in corners. Words tumble Out of his mout…

Psalm 47—Ring the words on your hollow heart’s bell.

Psalm 47—Ring the words on your hollow heart’s bell. Ring the words On your hollow heart’s bell.  Fling and strike the song  To every corner: God is king. The Lord layers his rule Down on the lacerated land In hoards, in heaves, in mountains,  in downward drawing, heaven-heighted droves. Everyone…

Psalm 29—Everything in the wide home of the world flings Godward, crying, “Glory!”

Psalm 29—Everything in the wide home of the world flings Godward, crying, “Glory!” God’s high heaven is choired  With singers ringing back Ranks of bright light in song. Praise him!   His voice troubles over the sea, And the waters writhe and surge. The voice of God towers and crests And r…