Psalms

16:11

You will show me the path that leads to life.

Your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure forever.

19:14

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you. O LORD, my refuge and my redeemer!

23:1-6

The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need. He lets me rest in fields of green grass and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water. He gives me new strength. He guides me in the right paths, as he has promised. Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, LORD, for you are with me. Your shepherd’s rod and staff protect me. You prepare a banquet for me, where all my enemies can see me; you welcome me as an honored guest and fill my cup to the brim. I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life; and your house will be my home as long as I live.

27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation; I will fear no one. The LORD protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid.

29:11

The LORD gives strength to his people and blesses them with peace.

30:11

You have changed my sadness into joyful dance; you have taken away my sorrow and surrounded me with joy.

31:4-5

Keep me safe from the trap that has been set for me; shelter me from danger.

I place myself in your care. You will save me, LORD; you are faithful God.

37:4-6

Seek your happiness in the LORD; and he will give you your heart’s desire.

Give yourself to the LORD;trust in him, and he will help you;

He will make your righteousness shine like the noonday sun.

38:1-8

O LORD, don’t punish me in your anger! You have wounded me with your arrows; you have struck me down. Because of your anger, I am in great pain; my whole body is diseased because of my sins. I am drowning in the flood of my sins; they are burden too heavy to bear. Because I have been foolish, my sores stink and rot. I am bent over, I am crushed; I mourn all day long. I am burning with fever and I am near death. I am worn out and utterly crushed; my heart is troubled, and groan with pain.

39:6

Indeed every living being is no more than a puff of wind, no more than a shadow. All we do is for nothing; we gather wealth, but don’t know who will get it.

41:3

The LORD will help them when they are sick and will restore them to health

42:1-5, 6-8

As a deer longs for a stream of cool water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for you, the living God. When can I go and worship in your presence? Day and night I cry, and tears are my only food; all the time my enemies ask me, “Where is your God?” My heart breaks when I remember the past, when I went with the crowds to the house of God and led them as they walked along, a happy crowd, singing and shouting praise to God. Why am I so sad? Why am I so troubled? I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise him, my savior and my God.

Here in exile my heart is breaking, and so I turn my thoughts to him. He has sent waves of sorrow over my soul; chaos roars at me like a flood, like waterfalls thundering down to the Jordan from Mount Hermon and Mount Mizar. May the LORD show his constant love during the day, so that I may have a song at night, a prayer to the God of my life.

46:1

God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

139:1-18, 23-24

LORD, you have examined me and you know me. You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts. you see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions. Even before I speak, you already know what I will say. You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power. Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding. Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence? If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there. If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west, you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me. I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night, but even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because you are to be feared; all you do is strange and wonderful. I know it with all my heart. When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother’s womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there-you saw me before I was born. The days allotted me had all been recorded in your book, before any of them ever began. O God, how difficult I find your thoughts; how many of them there are! If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.