Psalms 55:1-14

God, listen to my prayer! Don’t hide your heart from me when I cry out to you! Come close to me and give me your answer. Here I am, moaning and restless. I’m preoccupied with the threats of my enemies and crushed by the pressure of their opposition. They surround me with trouble and terror. In their fury they rise up against me in an angry uproar. My heart is trembling inside my chest as the terror of death seizes me. Fear and dread overwhelm me. I shudder before the horror I face. I say to myself, “If only I could fly away from all of this! If only I could run away to the place of rest and peace. I would run far away where no one could find me, escaping to a wilderness retreat.” Pause in his presence I will hurry off to hide in the higher place, into my shelter, safe from this raging storm and tempest. God, confuse them until they quarrel with themselves. Destroy them with their own violent strife and slander. They have divided the city with their discord. Though they patrol the walls night and day against invaders, the real danger is within the city— the misery and strife in the hearts of its people. Murder is in their midst. Wherever you turn, you find trouble and ruin. It wasn’t an enemy who taunted me. If it was my enemy, filled with pride and hatred, then I could have endured it. I would have just run away. But it was you, my intimate friend—one like a brother to me. It was you, my adviser, the companion I walked with and worked with! We once had sweet fellowship with each other. We worshiped in unity as one, celebrating together with God’s people.