(A David psalm.)
Help!
Run, Yahweh!
I need you right now.
Please listen.
This is me praying.
Let my prayer be sweet incense to you.
As I reach out my arms to you,
Receive my heart-prayer
As my best offering.
I need a lock for my lips, Yahweh,
A filter for the words I speak.
I need help,
Keeping my heart from getting sucked in
To dark thoughts,
To dark deeds.
I’ve seen people do things I know are wrong
But are so enticing to me,
Like a plate of chocolate chip cookies
Left out on the counter.
I need a kick in the shins
By a right-loving person,
Kindly keeping me in line.
It’s like a lovely perfume
Covering over the rank stench of sin
I’m praying against.
Toss their leaders over a steep cliff.
Let their death words be silenced,
Replaced by my life words.
Like a rototiller grinding up soil,
Scatter their grave-bound bones —
Let no stone mark their memory.
I’ve turned my attention from them
And only see Lord Yahweh.
You’re my hope,
My rescue.
Don’t toss me out with the trash.
Help me walk between their traps
Without stepping in them.
But may they all snap shut on them instead,
While I walk away
Untouched,
Unharmed,
Home free.