The Psalm songs make me feel less psychotic, most of the time. They give me permission to feel, and to (politely) yell at God. This Sunday night, we challenged the high schoolers to rewrite Psalm 130 in their own words. We’ve been studying the Great Commandment, and Sunday we considered what it means to love God with all of our souls. I like re-writing Psalms as a way of finding myself in between the lines. [If you’re up for it, post your own 130 paraphrase in the comments. There are only 8 little verses.]
130.
There have been so many times I’ve been down, Jesus.
I don’t always cry out to you.
Sometimes I just cry.
But, I want to tell you everything.
Hear my voice as I admit this, Lord.
Lean your ear close to me.
If you kept a list of the ways I forget you, oh Jesus, I’d be hopeless.
But your forgiveness and patience is real.
I’m in awe of the complete way you love me, even though I don’t love you this way.
I am waiting for you to come back, Jesus.
I am waiting for you to turn the tears into dancing songs,
because that’s what you do.
You make all things new.
I put my hopes in your Words.
(I’m trying to, at least.)
The real me, my soul, waits for you, Lord–
more than people who work the night shift
wait for the sun to come up.
Oh Israel–and the whole Family of God, across the earth–
put your hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord is love that won’t disappoint,
and with Him everything will be made new again.
Jesus Himself will pay for all the ways we turn from Him,
and He will forgive us as we turn back around.
i always like your psalm songs. remember how our ps 23’s brought us so much joy and peace? i used to think it was bad that i wanted to read the psalms all the time, like it was eating dessert all the time. but now i think it’s ok to indulge my cravings 🙂
i’m thinking about you all the time these days and hoping you are ok. i like you, nellers.