1 Rebuke me not in anger, Lord:
restrain your wrath, I pray;
grant that your child be yet restored,
not judged and cast away.
I feel your arrows deep within,
I sink beneath your hand
and underneath a weight of sin
too great for me to stand.
2 For sinful folly now I pay:
I'm humbled to the ground,
as I go mourning all the day
and no relief is found.
I feel my body racked with pain,
diseased in every part,
so crushed that I cannot contain
the groanings of my heart.
3 My longings, Lord, to you are known,
you see my every tear;
my strength, my sight are almost gone,
my friends will not come near.
And others lay their deadly snares,
all day they plot and lie;
like one who neither speaks nor hears,
I offer no reply.
4 In you, O Lord, my hope I place:
Lord, answer when I call;
let those not jeer at my distress,
who long to see me fall.
My foothold is about to go,
my torment will not cease;
and my iniquity I know:
my sin permits no peace.
5 My foes are many and are strong,
their hatred has no cause;
my kindness they repay with wrong,
although I keep your laws.
O Lord, be with me to the last,
remain for ever near;
come to my rescue, come with haste:
O Lord, my Saviour, hear!
David G Preston (born 1939) from Psalm 38
© David Preston/Jubilate Hymns Ltd
CMD