4-6. He turned me into a scarecrowof skin and bones, then broke the bones.He hemmed me in, ganged up on me,poured on the trouble and hard times.He locked me up in deep darkness,like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
28-30. When life is heavy and hard to take,go off by yourself. Enter the silence.Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:Wait for hope to appear.Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.The “worst” is never the worst.
31-33. Why? Because the Master won’t everwalk out and fail to return.If he works severely, he also works tenderly.His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.He takes no pleasure in making life hard,in throwing roadblocks in the way:
34-36. Stomping down hardon luckless prisoners,Refusing justice to victimsin the court of High God,Tampering with evidence—the Master does not approve of such things.
37-39. Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?It’s the Master who gives such orders.Doesn’t the High God speak everything,good things and hard things alike, into being?And why would anyone gifted with lifecomplain when punished for sin?
40-42. Let’s take a good look at the way we’re livingand reorder our lives under God.Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,praying to God in heaven:“We’ve been contrary and willful,and you haven’t forgiven.