The cure for distress

Because God is living, eternal, and unchanging, we can trust him to help his people in this generation just as he helped his people in past generations.

(A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pure out a lament before the Lord)

Hear my prayer, Lord;
let me cry for help come to you.
Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer my quickly.

For my days vanish like smoke;
my bones burn like glowing embers.
My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
In my distress I groan aloud
and am reduced to skin and bones.
I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins.
I lie awake; I have become
like a bird alone on a roof.
All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
For I eat ashes as my food
and mingle my drink with tears
because of your great wrath,
for you have taken my up and thrown my aside.
My days are like the evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.

But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;
your renown endures through all generations.
You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is tie to show favor to her;
the appointed time has come.
For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity.
The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
For the Lord will rebuild Zion
and appear in his glory.
He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
"The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death."
So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem
when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worship the Lord.

In the course of my life he broke my strength;
he cut short my days.
So I said:
"Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go on through all generations.
In the beginning you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens and the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change then
and they will be discarded.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
The children of your servants will live in your presence;
there descendants will be established before you."

(Psalm 102)