(Worship leader: A David psalm. That great servant of Yahweh initially sang this song to Yahweh when Yahweh finally got him safely through a long list of haters and the mix-up with Saul.)
I love you, Yahweh!
With you, I’m strong.
Yahweh is concrete
Beneath my feet.
He’s my safe house,
My bodyguard.
Yes, my God,
Strength beyond titanium,
is my sure shelter,
My Kevlar vest,
My body armor,
My diehard action hero.
I send out a distress signal
And Yahweh —
Can I ever say enough about him? —
Saves the day,
Beating down the bad guys.
I was tied to the tracks
With death speeding in on me,
Unstoppable destruction
Colliding into me.
Death itself
Was drawing me into darkness,
Till I was a millimeter
From losing my life.
In that moment of terror,
I screamed for Yahweh;
I shredded my lungs,
Calling for help.
In his sanctuary,
He heard my voice.
Yes, I was heard!
And he turned all his attention
Toward me.
Tremors shook the ground,
Mountains became unstable,
Avalanches threatened,
Because of his fury.
His nostrils fumed
Noxious smoke.
His mouth spewed
Consuming flames.
Volcanic,
He seethed
Red hot magma.
He yanked down the skies
Till they touched the earth
And he strode out,
A pitch black emptiness
Engulfing each step.
Astride an angel steed
He flew,
Soaring on a storm,
Thick cumulous clouds obscuring him,
Dark and heavy with rain.
And then he flashed,
Hot white lightning crossing the sky,
The heavens ablaze
And hailstones hammering down.
The Great One opened his mouth
And thunder cracked
And rolled,
Yahweh drumming wildly.
Spear-shaft lightning bolts
Set his foes to flight.
The very heart of the earth
Was laid bare before the blast
Of his nostrils,
The soul of the world exposed
At your command, Yahweh.
I was sinking,
Head barely above water,
When he reached down,
Pulled me out,
And dried me off.
I’d been drowning
In haters,
Waves of overwhelming ill-will
Crashing over me.
They tried to pull me down
But Yahweh was my lifeboat.
Now, I’m on solid ground,
With a wide-open, spacious world
Around me.
This is the saved life,
Soaking in the sunshine
Of his delight.
There’s congruence here.
Yahweh treated me like I’d treated others.
I’ve kept my eyes on Yahweh,
A life of follow-the-leader with my God.
I’d been following his map,
Turning neither left not right
From his directions.
No one can accuse me
Of abandoning his road
And heading off on my own.
Yes, there’s congruence here.
Yahweh’s treated me like I’ve treated others.
You’re a mirror of our lives,
Showing back to us
What we’ve shown to others.
Honesty for honesty.
Truth for truth.
Subtlety for deceit.
You elevate the lowly
And prick the overinflated.
When it gets dark,
Yahweh, you turn on all the lights
And the darkness runs away.
With you on my side,
I can beat any army.
With my God as partner,
I could scale a skyscraper.
God makes no mistakes.
Yahweh never misspeaks.
He always protects
Those seeking his protection.
Yahweh is truly amazing!
What other god comes close?
He’s solid granite beneath our feet.
Who can compare?
God outfits me for success
And sends me in the right direction.
He’s made me nimble.
I’m king of the hill!
I’ve trained in his dojo,
Becoming skilled,
Developing super-human strength.
Strengthened by your help,
I’m able to resist attack.
Your strength is my strength.
I owe all my success to your support.
I’ve got an open road ahead of me
And new wheels to drive it
All because of you.
I chased the bad guys
And put them away for good.
I drove them down.
Crushed,
They’ll never bother anyone again.
You armed me to win
And I did so decisively.
You humiliated them.
They ran home to their mommies
And I finished them off.
They cried, “Daddy, help us!”
But Daddy didn’t come.
I pounded them to pulp
And flushed them down the toilet.
You ended the assaults against me,
Made me a world leader instead.
People everywhere work for me now
And I don’t even speak their languages,
Foreigners ready to leap
When I say how high.
They tremble at the power
I have over them.
Yahweh is life.
Its source.
Its protector.
God over everyone
But not so self-important to be aloof.
He saves me.
He avenges me.
He brings me success.
He deals with my detractors.
You hushed my haters,
Lifting me up
While pushing them down,
Neutering the violent.
I feel a song coming on:
Praise for who you are,
Praise for what you’ve done.
Whole nations will hear and join in.
Victories pile up like presents at a party
For the king.
Your relentless, never-stopping love
Washes over your Messiah,
Over David and his descendants
Into uncounted ages to come.