Psalm 63

David was so bad-ass. I imagine travelling through the desert in this one and the whole time my body doesn't want food or water or shelter--it wants God.

"O God, you are my God,

earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you,

my body longs for you,

in a dry and weary land

where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your

glory.

Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,

and in your name I will lift up my

hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with the

richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will

praise you.

On my bed I remember you;

I think of you through the watches of

the night.

Because you are my help,

I sing in the shadow of your wings.

My soul clings to you;

your right hand upholds me.

They who seek my life will be

destroyed;

they will go down to the depths of

the earth.

They will be given over to the sword

and become food for jackals. [aka, disgraced forever;

lost in the wild; losers in the battle]

But the king will rejoice in God;

all who swear by God's name will

praise him,

while the mouths of liars [those who say God will not

save you] will be silenced."

(*Also, a night of despair can be endured because the morning of salvation always comes....)

Job

This is one of my favorite passages in Scripture. I imagine traveling down the mines or going caving and coming back out and looking over the open sea...actually, my imagination has been arrested by caves recently, mostly because I watched an episode of some caver documentary from the 90s. Now, my skin literally crawls as I think of plumbing to the depths of the earth to search in the darkness, or being rappelled to a cave in some remote mountainside.

"There is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is
refined.

Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.

Man puts an end to the darkness;
he searches the farthest recesses for
ore in the blackest darkness.

Far from where people dwell he cuts a shaft,
in places forgotten by the foot of man;
far from men he dangles and sways.

The earth, from which food comes,
is transformed below as by fire;
sapphires come from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.

No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
no falcon's eye has seen it.

Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
and no lion prowls there.

Man's hand assaults the flinty rock
and lays bare the roots of the mountains.

He tunnels through the rock;
his eyes see all its treasures.

He searches the sources of the
rivers and brings hidden things to
light.

"But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?

Man does not comprehend its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.

The deep says, 'It is not in me';
the sea says, 'It is not with me.'

It cannot be bought with the
finest gold, nor can its price be weighed in silver.

It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or sapphires.

Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.

Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.

The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.

"Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?

It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds of the air.

Destruction and Death say,
'Only a rumor of it
has reached our ears.'

God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells,
for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

When he established the force of the wind and
measured out the waters,
when he made a decree for the rain and a
path for the thunderstorm,
then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.


And he said to man,
'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.' "