Gary's Psalm

 

A Psalm

By Gary L. Clendenon © 2007

Every day

When I awake to the real world,

My heart is instantly under attack: slings, arrows, barbs, missiles, bombs,

Hand to hand combat, and the devious, repetitious, deception of infiltrators

Claiming to be on my side--to have something “good” for my heart.

My only defense is

To constantly keep You, O God, in my heart.

You surround my heart with a blazing shield of protection

Keeping me from unrelenting distraction

That assails me from every direction.

When I mistakenly

Let my guard down,

Instantly, my heart is swarmed over by the enemy.

Every nook, cranny, and crevice

Overwhelmed by attack!

Other times,

Ticking time bombs lie dormant lulling me into a false sense of peace until

EXPLODING!

Blowing away huge chunks of my heart

In excruciating pain!

Then there’s the insidious virus that quietly over time

Rewrites the DNA of my heart

From striking colors to shades of grey--sucking the life-force from

My God-given calling. Unaware, I face the world

Zombified!

In times like these I cry out to You,

Though sometimes, only a whisper from the last good place in my heart:

“SAVE ME, GOD, FOR I AM DYING!  Don’t cast me out of your presence!

“Create in me a clean heart, O Lord my God

And renew a right spirit within me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” (1)

And instantly You are there.

Uprooting the virulent overgrowth of evil,

tearing down the enemy’s strongholds,

Dismantling hidden time bombs, and

Rewriting the code of my heart’s twisted DNA.

As color and warmth and light return

To my heart,

Then to my face,

And then to my life,

I praise You, O God, for your never-ending grace and mercy.

I lift up my sword

To YOU, My Champion,

And turn

To face the battle

Again.

1.  Psalms 51