God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though
the earth give way and the mountains
fall into the heart of the sea, though
its waters roar and foam and the
mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm 46:1-3
How awesome is the Lord Most High,
the great King over all the earth!
He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.
Psalm 47: 2,3
Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man?
Why do you boast all day long, you who are
a disgrace in the eyes of God?
Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a
sharpened razor,
you who practice deceit.
You love evil rather than good, falsehood
rather than speaking the truth.
You love every harmful word, O you deceitful tongue!
Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh
at him, saying,
“Here now is the man who did not make God his
stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and
grew strong by destroying others!”
Psalm 52: 1-7
“Is my complaint directed to man? Why should I not be impatient?
Look at me and be astonished; clap your hand over your mouth.
When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body.
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
They see their children established around them, their offspring before their
eyes. Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not upon them.
Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.
They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about. They sing
to the music of tambourine and harp; they make merry to the sound of the flute. They
spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace.
Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain by praying to him?’
But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the counsel of
the wicked. “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does
calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?
How often are they like
straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale? It is said, ‘God stores up a man’s
punishment for his sons.’ Let him repay the man himself, so that he will know it!
Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
For what does he care about the family he leaves behind
when his allotted months come to an end?
Job 21: 4-21
