from MORE HOPE.

Produced by David Teems and Barry Piacente

JOB 7:2-11, LAMENTATIONS 3:19-20,

PSALM 25:6-7, 74:2-18, 137:1-6, 77:1,

143:5, 119:55, 106:4, 89:47-50,

ECCLESIASTES 12:1-7 {NIV}

Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,

or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages,

so I have been allotted months of futility,

and nights of misery have been assigned to me.

When I lie down I think, 'How long before I get up?'

The night drags on,

and I toss till dawn...

"My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,

and they come to an end without hope.

Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;

my eyes will never see happiness again.

"Therefore I will not keep silent;

I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

I remember my affliction and my wandering,

the bitterness...

the gall.

I well remember them,

and my soul is downcast within me.

Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins,

all this destruction...

according to your love remember me,

for you are good, O Lord.

It was you who split open the sea by your power;

you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.

It was you who opened up springs and streams;

you dried up the ever flowing rivers.

The day is yours, and yours also the night;

you established the sun and moon.

It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;

you made both summer and winter.

In the night I remember your name, O Lord,

I remember the days of long ago;

By the rivers of Babylon

we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

There on the poplars we hung our harps,

for there our captors asked us for songs,

our tormentors demanded songs of joy;

they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

How can we sing the songs of the Lord

while in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand

forget its skill.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth

if I do not remember you...

Remember the Creator in the days of your youth,

before the days of trouble come

and the years approach when you will say,

"I find no pleasure in them"

before the sun and the light and the moon

and the stars grow dark,

and the clouds return after the rain;

when the keepers of the house tremble,

and the strong men stoop,

when the grinders cease because they are few,

and those looking through the windows grow dim;

when the doors to the street are closed

and the sound of grinding fades;

when men rise up at the sound of birds,

but all their songs grow faint;

when men are afraid of heights

and of dangers in the streets;

when the almond tree blossoms

and the grasshopper drags himself along

and desire no longer is stirred.

Then man goes to his eternal home

and mourners go about the streets.

Remember him...

before the silver cord is severed,

or the golden bowl is broken;

before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,

or the wheel broken at the well,

and the dust returns to the ground it came from,

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

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© 2001 David Teems and Eastward, Inc.