(A David psalm.)
Stop stressing
About trouble-makers.
Don’t take you cues
From those who don’t have a clue
About God.
These one-hit wonders
Will soon be forgotten,
The world emptied
Of their empty work,
Their empty lives.
Set your heart,
Your mind,
On Yahweh.
Consider him in all things
And do good:
Be a good neighbor;
Do good work.
Make Yahweh the source of your happiness
And guess what?
He’ll make you happy.
No wavering,
Commit yourself to a life of following Yahweh.
Go all in with him
And he’ll go all in with you.
Guaranteed.
Your good, right life
Will shine like the dawn’s sun
In a dark land.
Even more than that
You’ll bring the warmth and light
Of the high noon sun
And all will acknowledge it.
So, settle down.
You’re in Yahweh’s presence.
Wait patiently for him.
Don’t get worked up
About their short-term successes.
Those evil schemers,
Everything seems to be going their way.
But calm down.
Dial down your anger.
Stop ranting —
You’re becoming a source of evil yourself.
Evil loops back on evil-doers,
Destroying the destroyers.
The real owners of the land
Are those who hope in Yahweh.
It won’t be long now
Before the current crop of evil doers
Are mowed down.
Look for them and you won’t find them.
The real owners of the land
Don’t grab it for themselves,
Their gentleness sows a crop of peace
And plenty.
Some people are insatiable,
Always wanting what others have,
Always hatching some plot
To feed their hunger.
But God laughs at their slapstick lives,
The painful humor
Of getting back what they dish out.
These moral morons,
Waving their guns
And brandishing their blades,
Bully the vulnerable
And taunt the true-hearted.
But they’ll shoot themselves in the foot
And cut their own throats.
It’s better to be poor and large-hearted
Than rich and shrivel-hearted.
For those with small, me-sized hearts
Will implode into themselves
While Yahweh will enlarge
The already large-hearted.
When accusations against you
Don’t stick
Because they’re not true,
Yahweh’s taking care of you.
Your inheritance is God-guaranteed
Forever.
You’ll be well-watered during drought,
Well-fed during famine.
But the foul will fail.
These Yahweh haters blossom beautifully
But briefly,
A fleeting glory
Before mouldering into compost,
Infested with worms.
They live a borrowing, taking kind of life
That never gives back.
The right-hearted live open-handed,
Generously —
They’re the real owners of the land,
Yahweh-blessed.
The Yahweh-cursed are trash.
A well-lit road opens up
In front of Yahweh-lovers.
If they stumble as they run,
They won’t fall,
For Yahweh is right there
With a steadying hand.
I’ve been at this life of faith
A long time,
But there’s one thing I’ve never seen:
Right-hearted, right-living people abandoned,
Their children homeless and begging.
No, they live open-handed lives
And their children are a gift to the world.
No more of the me-first life.
A good life is the best life,
A forever life.
It’s a caring-for-others kind of life
That makes Yahweh smile,
That he never rejects,
That he establishes forever.
Me-first families are a disaster.
Again, other-oriented people
Are the real owners of the land.
It’s theirs forever.
Good hearts speak good words,
Wise words,
Life-saving words.
Such hearts are filled
With God’s words,
Leading to non-slip,
Non-trip living.
Me-first people see others-first people
And try to shoot them down.
But Yahweh doesn’t leave them
To die like sitting ducks,
To rot behind prison bars,
Falsely accused.
Waiting is required.
Don’t give up on Yahweh
Or doing things his way.
In time, he’ll set things right
And you’ll be the real owners of the land.
The me-first will come to nothing.
I’ve seen those me-first people
Spread like English ivy,
Invasive,
Choking life from the land.
But the blight got blighted,
Died and disappeared.
It’s far better to watch the whole-hearted.
Healers,
They’re the ones who have a future.
Destroyers always end up destroyed,
Futureless.
Yahweh opens up a wide world
For the wide-hearted.
When trouble squeezes in on us,
He pushes it back.
He’s our helper.
He’s our deliverer.
He shuts down me-first attackers,
Saving us.
We know the one sure place to go.
He’s it.