the power of light

Light is greater than darkness.

O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me.

Hear my voice when I call to you.

May my prayer be set before you like incense;

may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;

keep watch over the door of my lips.

Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil,

to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers;

let me not eat of their delicacies.

Let a righteous man strike me -- it is a kindness;

let him rebuke me -- it is oil on my head.

My head will not refuse it.

Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers;

their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,

and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.

They will say, "As one plows and breaks up the earth,

so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave."

But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord;

in you I take refuge -- do not give me over to death.

Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,

from the traps set by evildoers.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets;

while I pass by in safety.

Psalm 141