Send Out Your Light

¹Vindicate me, O God, and plead my caseagainst an ungodly nation;deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

²For You are the God of my refuge.Why have You rejected me?Why must I walk in sorrowbecause of the enemy’s oppression?

³Send out Your light and Your truth;let them lead me.Let them bring me to Your holy mountainand to the place where You dwell.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God,to God, my greatest joy.I will praise You with the harp,O God, my God.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul?Why the unease within me?Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,my Savior and my God.

As the Deer Pants for the Water

¹As the deer pants for streams of water,so my soul longs after You, O God.

²My soul thirsts for God, the living God.When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

³My tears have been my foodboth day and night,while men ask me all day long,“Where is your God?”

⁴These things come to mind as I pour out my soul:how I walked with the multitude,leading the festive procession to the house of Godwith shouts of joy and praise.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul?Why the unease within me?Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Himfor the salvation of His presence.

⁶O my God, my soul despairs within me.Therefore I remember Youfrom the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon—even from Mount Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deepin the roar of Your waterfalls;all Your breakers and waveshave rolled over me.

⁸The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day,and at night His song is with meas a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I say to God my Rock,“Why have You forgotten me?Why must I walk in sorrowbecause of the enemy’s oppression?”

¹⁰Like the crushing of my bones,my enemies taunt me,while they say to me all day long,“Where is your God?”

¹¹Why are you downcast, O my soul?Why the unease within me?Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,my Savior and my God.

I Stretch Out My Hands to You

¹O LORD, hear my prayer.In Your faithfulness, give ear to my plea;in Your righteousness, answer me.

²Do not bring Your servant into judgment,for no one alive is righteous before You.

³For the enemy has pursued my soul,crushing my life to the ground,making me dwell in darknesslike those long since dead.

⁴My spirit grows faint within me;my heart is dismayed inside me.

⁵I remember the days of old;I meditate on all Your works;I consider the work of Your hands.

⁶I stretch out my hands to You;my soul thirsts for You like a parched land.Selah

⁷Answer me quickly, O LORD;my spirit fails.Do not hide Your face from me,or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.

⁸Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning,for I have put my trust in You.Teach me the way I should walk,for to You I lift up my soul.

⁹Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD;I flee to You for refuge.

¹⁰Teach me to do Your will,for You are my God.May Your good Spirit lead meon level ground.

¹¹For the sake of Your name, O LORD,revive me.In Your righteousness,bring my soul out of trouble.

¹²And in Your loving devotion,cut off my enemies.Destroy all who afflict me,for I am Your servant.

The LORD Is My Strength

¹To You, O LORD, I call;be not deaf to me, O my Rock.For if You remain silent,I will be like those descending to the Pit.

²Hear my cry for mercywhen I call to You for help,when I lift up my handstoward Your holy sanctuary.

³Do not drag me away with the wicked,and with the workers of iniquity,who speak peace to their neighborswhile malice is in their hearts.

⁴Repay them according to their deedsand for their works of evil.Repay them for what their hands have done;bring back on them what they deserve.

⁵Since they show no regard for the works of the LORDor what His hands have done,He will tear them downand never rebuild them.

⁶Blessed be the LORD,for He has heard my cry for mercy.

⁷The LORD is my strength and my shield;my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.Therefore my heart rejoices,and I give thanks to Him with my song.

⁸The LORD is the strength of His people,a stronghold of salvation for His anointed.

⁹Save Your people and bless Your inheritance;shepherd them and carry them forever.