Study Desk

"If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God , "I'll get you out of any trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then throw you a party. I'll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!"

You made me so happy, God I saw your work and I shouted for joy. How magnificent your work, God ! How profound your thoughts! Dullards never notice what you do; fools never do get it. When the wicked popped up like weeds and all the evil men and women took over, You mowed them down, finished them off once and for all. You, God , are High and Eternal. Look at your enemies, God! Look at your enemies—ruined! Scattered to the winds, all those hirelings of evil!

How blessed the man you train, God , the woman you instruct in your Word, Providing a circle of quiet within the clamor of evil, while a jail is being built for the wicked. God will never walk away from his people, never desert his precious people. Rest assured that justice is on its way and every good heart put right.

Who stood up for me against the wicked? Who took my side against evil workers? If God hadn't been there for me, I never would have made it. The minute I said, "I'm slipping, I'm falling," your love, God , took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up.

Can Misrule have anything in common with you? Can Troublemaker pretend to be on your side? They ganged up on good people, plotted behind the backs of the innocent. But God became my hideout, God was my high mountain retreat, Then boomeranged their evil back on them: for their evil ways he wiped them out, our God cleaned them out for good.

Come, let's shout praises to God , raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns!

So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God , who made us! Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds. Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks: "Don't turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising, As on the day of the Wilderness Test, when your ancestors turned and put me to the test. For forty years they watched me at work among them, as over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked! ‘Can't they keep their minds on God for five minutes? Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?' Exasperated, I exploded, ‘They'll never get where they're headed, never be able to sit down and rest.'"

class="poetry"> Come, let's shout praises to God , raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns! And why? Because God is the best, High King over all the gods. In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns, in the other hand grasps the high mountains. He made Ocean—he owns it! His hands sculpted Earth! So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God , who made us! Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds. Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks: "Don't turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising, As on the day of the Wilderness Test, when your ancestors turned and put me to the test. For forty years they watched me at work among them, as over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked! ‘Can't they keep their minds on God for five minutes? Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?' Exasperated, I exploded, ‘They'll never get where they're headed, never be able to sit down and rest.'"

class="poetry"> Come, let's shout praises to God , raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns! And why? Because God is the best, High King over all the gods. In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns, in the other hand grasps the high mountains. He made Ocean—he owns it! His hands sculpted Earth! So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God , who made us! Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds. Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks: "Don't turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising, As on the day of the Wilderness Test, when your ancestors turned and put me to the test. For forty years they watched me at work among them, as over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked! ‘Can't they keep their minds on God for five minutes? Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?' Exasperated, I exploded, ‘They'll never get where they're headed, never be able to sit down and rest.'"

class="poetry"> Come, let's shout praises to God , raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns! And why? Because God is the best, High King over all the gods. In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns, in the other hand grasps the high mountains. He made Ocean—he owns it! His hands sculpted Earth! So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God , who made us! Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds. Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks: "Don't turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising, As on the day of the Wilderness Test, when your ancestors turned and put me to the test. For forty years they watched me at work among them, as over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked! ‘Can't they keep their minds on God for five minutes? Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?' Exasperated, I exploded, ‘They'll never get where they're headed, never be able to sit down and rest.'"

class="poetry"> Come, let's shout praises to God , raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns! And why? Because God is the best, High King over all the gods. In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns, in the other hand grasps the high mountains. He made Ocean—he owns it! His hands sculpted Earth! So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God , who made us! Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds. Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks: "Don't turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising, As on the day of the Wilderness Test, when your ancestors turned and put me to the test. For forty years they watched me at work among them, as over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked! ‘Can't they keep their minds on God for five minutes? Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?' Exasperated, I exploded, ‘They'll never get where they're headed, never be able to sit down and rest.'"

Sing God a brand-new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing! Sing to God —worship God ! Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea, Take the news of his glory to the lost, News of his wonders to one and all! For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs. His terrible beauty makes the gods look cheap; Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags. God made the heavens— Royal splendor radiates from him, A powerful beauty sets him apart. Bravo, God , Bravo! Everyone join in the great shout: Encore! In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might. Bring gifts and celebrate, Bow before the beauty of God , Then to your knees—everyone worship! Get out the message— God Rules! He put the world on a firm foundation; He treats everyone fair and square. Let's hear it from Sky, With Earth joining in, And a huge round of applause from Sea. Let Wilderness turn cartwheels, Animals, come dance, Put every tree of the forest in the choir— An extravaganza before God as he comes, As he comes to set everything right on earth, Set everything right, treat everyone fair.

For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs. His terrible beauty makes the gods look cheap; Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags. God made the heavens— Royal splendor radiates from him, A powerful beauty sets him apart. Bravo, God , Bravo! Everyone join in the great shout: Encore! In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might. Bring gifts and celebrate, Bow before the beauty of God , Then to your knees—everyone worship! Get out the message— God Rules! He put the world on a firm foundation; He treats everyone fair and square. Let's hear it from Sky, With Earth joining in, And a huge round of applause from Sea. Let Wilderness turn cartwheels, Animals, come dance, Put every tree of the forest in the choir— An extravaganza before God as he comes, As he comes to set everything right on earth, Set everything right, treat everyone fair.

class="poetry"> Sing God a brand-new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing! Sing to God —worship God ! Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea, Take the news of his glory to the lost, News of his wonders to one and all! For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs. His terrible beauty makes the gods look cheap; Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags. God made the heavens— Royal splendor radiates from him, A powerful beauty sets him apart.

Round up an orchestra to play for God , Add on a hundred-voice choir.

For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever.

A Prayer of One Whose Life Is Falling to Pieces, and Who Lets God Know Just How Bad It Is God , listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries. Don't turn your back on me just when I need you so desperately. Pay attention! This is a cry for help! And hurry—this can't wait!

Yet you, God , are sovereign still, always and ever sovereign. You'll get up from your throne and help Zion— it's time for compassionate help. Oh, how your servants love this city's rubble and weep with compassion over its dust! The godless nations will sit up and take notice —see your glory, worship your name— When God rebuilds Zion, when he shows up in all his glory, When he attends to the prayer of the wretched. He won't dismiss their prayer.

Write this down for the next generation so people not yet born will praise God : " God looked out from his high holy place; from heaven he surveyed the earth. He listened to the groans of the doomed, he opened the doors of their death cells." Write it so the story can be told in Zion, so God 's praise will be sung in Jerusalem's streets And wherever people gather together along with their rulers to worship him.

God makes everything come out right; he puts victims back on their feet. He showed Moses how he went about his work, opened up his plans to all Israel. God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, he's rich in love. He doesn't endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love to those who fear him. And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins. As parents feel for their children, God feels for those who fear him. He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we're made of mud. Men and women don't live very long; like wildflowers they spring up and blossom, But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly, leaving nothing to show they were here. God 's love, though, is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear him, Making everything right for them and their children as they follow his Covenant ways and remember to do whatever he said.