For those of you praying along with me for miracles these forty days, please read aloud this Psalm with my name and ask God to reveal new feeling and function in my body.
Psalm 69 (NIV)
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David.
1 Save Laura, O God,
for the waters have come up to her neck.
2 Laura sinks in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold. Laura has come into the deep waters; the floods engulf her.
3 Laura is worn out calling for help;
Laura’s throat is parched. Her eyes fail, looking for her God.
4 Those who hate Laura without reason
outnumber the hairs of her head; many are Laura’s enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy her. Laura is forced to restore what she did not steal.
5 You, God, know Laura’s folly;
Laura’s guilt is not hidden from you.
6 Lord, the Lord Almighty,
may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of Laura; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of Laura.
7 For Laura endures scorn for your sake, and shame covers her face.
8 Laura is a foreigner to her own family,
a stranger to her own mother’s children;
9 for zeal for your house consumes Laura,
and the insults of those who insult you fall on her.
10 When Laura weeps and fasts,
she must endure scorn;
11 when Laura puts on sackcloth,
people make sport of her.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock her,
and she is the song of the drunkards.
13 But Laura prays to you, Lord,
in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer Laura with your sure salvation.
14 Rescue Laura from the mire, do not let her sink; deliver her from those who hate her, from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf Laura or the depths swallow her up or the pit close its mouth over her.
16 Answer Laura, Lord, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to Laura.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant Laura;
answer her quickly, for she is in trouble.
18 Come near and rescue Laura;
deliver Laura because of her foes.
19 You know how Laura is scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all her enemies are before you.
20 Scorn has broken Laura’s heart
and has left her helpless; Laura looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but Laura found none.
21 They put gall in Laura’s food
and gave her vinegar for her thirst.
22 May the table set before them become a snare;
may it become retribution and a trap.
23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.
24 Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.
25 May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.
28 May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.
29 But as for Laura, afflicted and in pain—
may your salvation, God, protect her.
30 Laura will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
32 The poor will see and be glad—
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33 The Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
35 for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it;
36 the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
