The Prayer of an Old Man
711 In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame. 2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; Incline Your ear to me, and save me. 3 Be my strong refuge, To which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress. 4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 5 For You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth. 6 By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother's womb. My praise shall be continually of You. 7 I have become as a wonder to many, But You are my strong refuge. 8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory all the day. 9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails. 10 For my enemies speak against me; And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together, 11 Saying, "God has forsaken him; Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him." 12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! 13 Let them be confounded and consumed Who are adversaries of my life; Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor Who seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more. 15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits. 16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. 17 O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. 18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. 19 Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? 20 You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 21 You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side. 22 Also with the lute I will praise you-- And Your faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed. 24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; For they are confounded, For they are brought to shame Who seek my hurt.
The Prayer of an Old Man
711 I run for dear life to God, I'll never live to regret it. 2 Do what you do so well: get me out of this mess and up on my feet. Put your ear to the ground and listen, give me space for salvation. 3 Be a guest room where I can retreat; you said your door was always open! You're my salvation - my vast, granite fortress. 4 My God, free me from the grip of Wicked, from the clutch of Bad and Bully. 5 You keep me going when times are tough - my bedrock, God, since my childhood. 6 I've hung on you from the day of my birth, the day you took me from the cradle; I'll never run out of praise. 7 Many gasp in alarm when they see me, but you take me in stride. 8 Just as each day brims with your beauty, my mouth brims with praise. 9 But don't turn me out to pasture when I'm old or put me on the shelf when I can't pull my weight. 10 My enemies are talking behind my back, watching for their chance to knife me. 11 The gossip is: "God has abandoned him. Pounce on him now; no one will help him." 12 God, don't just watch from the sidelines. Come on! Run to my side! 13 My accusers - make them lose face. Those out to get me - make them look
14 while I stretch out, reaching for you, and daily add praise to praise. 15 I'll write the book on your righteousness, talk up your salvation the livelong day, never run out of good things to write or say. 16 I come in the power of the Lord God, I post signs marking his right-of-way. 17 You got me when I was an unformed youth, God, and taught me everything I know. Now I'm telling the world your wonders; 18 I'll keep at it until I'm old and gray. God, don't walk off and leave me until I get out the news Of your strong right arm to this world, news of your power to the world yet to come, 19 Your famous and righteous ways, O God. God, you've done it all! Who is quite like you? 20 You, who made me stare trouble in the face, Turn me around; Now let me look life in the face. I've been to the bottom; 21 streaming with honors; turn to me, be tender to me, 22 And I'll take up the lute and thank you to the tune of your faithfulness, God. I'll make music for you on a harp, Holy One of Israel. 23 When I open up in song to you, I let out lungsful of praise, my rescued life a song. 24 All day long I'm chanting about you and your righteous ways, While those who tried to do me in slink off looking ashamed.