Daily Psalm and Prayer – Thursday, February 2

Psalm 42
¹As the deer longs for the water-brooks, *
so longs my soul for you, O God.

²My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God; *
when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?

³My tears have been my food day and night, *
while all day long they say to me,
Where now is your God?”

⁴I pour out my soul when I think on these things; *
how I went with the multitude and led them into the
house of God,

⁵With the voice of praise and thanksgiving, *
among those who keep holy-day.

⁶Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
and why are you so disquieted within me?

⁷Put your trust in God; *
for I will yet give thanks to him,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

⁸My soul is heavy within me; *
therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,
and from the peak of Mizar among the heights of Hermon.

⁹One deep calls to another in the noise of your cataracts; *
all your rapids and floods have gone over me.

¹⁰The LORD grants his loving-kindness in the daytime; *
in the night season his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

¹¹I will say to the God of my strength,
“Why have you forgotten me? *
and why do I go so heavily while the enemy
oppresses me?”

¹²While my bones are being broken, *
my enemies mock me to my face;

¹³All day long they mock me *
and say to me, “Where now is your God?”

¹⁴Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
and why are you so disquieted within me?

¹⁵Put your trust in God; *
for I will yet give thanks to him,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

A Prayer for the Conservation of Natural Resources
Almighty God, in giving us
dominion over things on earth,
you made us fellow workers in your creation:
Give us wisdom and reverence
so to use the resources of nature,
that no one may suffer from our abuse of them,
and that generations yet to come
may continue to praise you for your bounty;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.