God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness
1I’m the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of GOD’s anger.
2He took me by the hand and walked me
into pitch-black darkness.
3Yes, he’s given me the back of his hand
over and over and over again.
4He turned me into a scarecrow
of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
5He hemmed me in, ganged up on me,
poured on the trouble and hard times.
6He locked me up in deep darkness,
like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
7He shuts me in so I’ll never get out,
manacles my hands, shackles my feet.
8Even when I cry out and plead for help,
he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
9He sets up blockades with quarried limestone.
He’s got me cornered.
10He’s a prowling bear tracking me down,
a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
11He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces.
When he finished, there was nothing left of me.
12He took out his bow and arrows
and used me for target practice.
13He shot me in the stomach
with arrows from his quiver.
14Everyone took me for a joke,
made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
15He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat,
bloated me with vile drinks.
16He ground my face into the gravel.
He pounded me into the mud.
17I gave up on life altogether.
I’ve forgotten what the good life is like.
18I said to myself, "This is it. I’m finished.
GOD is a lost cause."
It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
19I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
20I remember it all–oh, how well I remember–
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
21But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
22GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
23They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
24I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
25GOD proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
26It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from GOD.
27It’s a good thing when you’re young
to stick it out through the hard times.
28When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
29Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
30Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The "worst" is never the worst.
31Why? Because the Master won’t ever
walk out and fail to return.
32If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
33He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way:
34Stomping down hard
on luckless prisoners,
35Refusing justice to victims
in the court of High God,
36Tampering with evidence–
the Master does not approve of such things.
God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being
37Who do you think "spoke and it happened"?
It’s the Master who gives such orders.
38Doesn’t the High God speak everything,
good things and hard things alike, into being?
39And why would anyone gifted with life
complain when punished for sin?
40Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living
and reorder our lives under GOD.
41Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,
praying to God in heaven:
42"We’ve been contrary and willful,
and you haven’t forgiven.
43"You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back.
You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
44You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds
so no prayers could get through.
45You treated us like dirty dishwater,
threw us out in the backyard of the nations.
46"Our enemies shout abuse,
their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.
47We’ve been to hell and back.
We’ve nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
48Rivers of tears pour from my eyes
at the smashup of my dear people.
49"The tears stream from my eyes,
an artesian well of tears,
50Until you, GOD, look down from on high,
look and see my tears.
51When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city,
the pain breaks my heart.
52"Enemies with no reason to be enemies
hunted me down like a bird.
53They threw me into a pit,
then pelted me with stones.
54Then the rains came and filled the pit.
The water rose over my head. I said, "It’s all over.’
55"I called out your name, O GOD,
called from the bottom of the pit.
56You listened when I called out, "Don’t shut your ears!
Get me out of here! Save me!’
57You came close when I called out.
You said, "It’s going to be all right.’
58"You took my side, Master;
you brought me back alive!
59GOD, you saw the wrongs heaped on me.
Give me my day in court!
60Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes,
their plots to destroy me.
61"You heard, GOD, their vicious gossip,
their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.
62They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief,
hatching out malice, day after day after day.
63Sitting down or standing up–just look at them!-
they mock me with vulgar doggerel.
64"Make them pay for what they’ve done, GOD.
Give them their just deserts.
65Break their miserable hearts!
Damn their eyes!
66Get good and angry. Hunt them down.
Make a total demolition here under your heaven!"
