A Prayer for a Troubled Youth

Listen to my prayer, 0 Lord, and hear my cry for help! When I am
In trouble, don’t turn away from me! Listen to me, and answer me
quickly when I call!
My life is disappearing like smoke; my body is burning like fire.
I am beaten down like dry grass; I have lost my desire for food.
I groan aloud; I am nothing but skin and bones. I am like a wild
bird in the desert, like an owl in abandoned ruins. I lie awake; I am like a
lonely bird on a housetop. All day long my enemies insult me; those
who mock me use my name in cursing.
Because of your anger and fury, ashes are my food, and my
tears are mixed with my drink. You picked me up and threw me
away. My life is like the evening shadows; I am like dry grass.
But you, O Lord, are king forever; all generations will remember
you. You will rise and take pity on Zion; the time has come to have
mercy on her; this is the right time. Your servants love her,
even though she is in ruins.
The nations will fear the Lord; all the kings of the earth will fear
his power. When the Lord rebuilds Zion, he will reveal his
greatness. He will hear his forsaken people and listen to
their prayer. Write down for the coming generation what the
Lord has done, so that the people not yet born yet will praise
him. The Lord looked down from his holy place on high,
he looked down from heaven to earth. He heard the groans of
prisoners and set free those who were condemned to die.
And so his name will be proclaimed in Zion, and he will be
Praised in Jerusalem when nations and kingdoms come together
and worship the Lord.
The Lord has made me weak while I’m still young; he has
Shortened my life. O God, do not take me away now before I
Grow old. O lord you live forever; long ago you created
The earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens.
They will disappear, but you will remain; they will all wear
out like clothes, You will discard them like clothes, and they will
vanish. But you are always the same, and your life
never ends. Our children will live in safety, and under your
protection their descendants will be secure.
— PSALM 102
YouthJohn Ford