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Psalm 73

by Robert Hawkins © 2021
https://www.thehawksquill.com/

God truly is wonderful to Israel,
to those who have kept their hearts pure.
But I've lost my footing and I nearly fell;
my steps on this path are unsure.

I envied the foolish and how the proud thrives;
I noticed the wicked's great wealth.
They seem to live painless and effortless lives;
their bodies are pictures of health.

They're free from the burdens of typical pains
and troubles that we humans bear.
Their arrogance hangs from their necks as jeweled chains;
their violence as clothes that they wear.

​Their eyes bulge with fatness from all that they seek;
their lust overflows with excess.
With evil they sneer and with malice they speak;
with pride they seek those to oppress.

To heaven, their claims and their boasts have been made;
through earth, have their tongues strut about.
His people return, then, confused and dismayed,
​and drink up the words that they spout.

The wicked will say, "How would God ever know?
Is heaven aware in the least?"
Behold, now, the wicked whose lives overflow
with ways to have their wealth increased.

Was it all for naught that I kept my heart pure?
Did I keep my hands washed in vain?
All day I'm afflicted with grief to endure;
each morning arrives with more pain.

​Had I ever spoken my feelings aloud,
your children, I would have betrayed.
When I tried to fathom the wicked and proud,
quite hopelessly, I felt dismayed --

​until I went into your temple of hope,
​where their destiny was revealed.
You've surely set them on a slippery slope;
their ruin and doom have been sealed.

​How they are destroyed in a beat of a heart!
In terror, their sudden demise.
Like waking from sleep, when your dreams fall apart;
despise them, LORD, when you arise.

For I became bitter and my heart was grieved;
my soul was so wounded and hurt.
So brutish before you must I be perceived;
a senseless beast pawing the dirt.

Yet, nevertheless, you have been by my side;
you hold my right hand in your own.
Your counsel and wisdom have both been my guide;
lead me to your glorious throne.

Who else is in heaven whom I'd rather seek?
For you are the one I adore.
My body may fail and my spirit grow weak,
but God is my rock evermore.

But those who desert you will be cast away;
destroyed with those faithless to you.
It's ​​​good to be near God, o LORD and my stay;
​I'll tell all the deeds that you do.

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