Psalm 34—I did not know light could ring, nor faith stretch true as a plucked string.

Rendition of Psalm 34

Lord, there is so much to say.
I open my mouth and find your praise in it.
My life is your boast.
May those who are cast off
Take comfort and consolation
When the rumor of God grows great among us.

There is no count of the needs I brought him,
Questions I cried out and answers 
That blushed over me 
Like a soft dawn in the high sky, 
So that I hardly noticed the change 
Until, suddenly, the birds 
Were singing again.

I did not know light could ring,
Nor faith stretch true as a plucked string,
Nor fold and dive like a tucked wing.
He shone. The sun rose. Lord knows
My fears fled. Shame slipped 
From my grip. Hope shined
Bright as brass and silver fast.
The Lord himself walked all my edges,
And nothing could hold him back.

Oh, taste him, test him—
See that he is good.
He is a shelter, a home, a hallow. 
He is the feast the hungry lack,
The wine that draws them back.
If you want life and you love your days,
Come take his goodness with two hands. 

Lord, you hear every slapdash, slipshod,
Half-hearted, broken prayer the righteous raise. 
But those who want to bend your way awry
And devour your people like bread,
Find you flint faced and stone still.
He draws nearer to the brokenhearted than they know.
He frees those who have been crushed,
Bruised, careworn, and snuffed out. 
Those who make the Lord
Their hope find him in lockstep
When they wend their way 
Through their afflictions.
But the wicked find the deaths 
They feared all their roiling days
In wait for them, hungry as ever.

God shelters all who come to him
As their last, lost, happy home. 

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Psalms: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 46, 50, 51, 53, 54, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 70, 73, 74, 75, 84, 86, 88, 90, 91, 100, 107, 110, 114, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 137, 139, 140, 142, 147, 148.

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