Thursday, July 29, 2010

Presence of Peace

When for the darkness
The way is not clear;
When footholds are few,
When rest is not near;
I have a dear Shepherd
Who certainly leads
Beside the still waters,
The rest, and the reeds.
In the absence of knowing
Is life with new lease;
In the absence of answers
Is presence of peace.
 
When wolves fill the shadows
With uncertain fright;
When the way to the sheepfold
Is covered by night;
I have a dear Shepherd
Who certainly leads,
Beside the still waters
The rest, and the reeds.
In the absence of sunlight
Is Jesus who sees;
In the absence of moonlight
Is presence of peace.
 
When the way is too steep,
And the sun is too hot;
When those we love sleep,
When we have—but have not;
I have a dear Shepherd
Who certainly leads,
Beside the still waters
The rest, and the reeds.
In the absence of dry eyes
Is deepest release,
In the absence of quiet
Is presence of peace.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

To What Effect the Empty Tomb?

To what effect the empty tomb?
The fallen shroud that made Christ room?
Rejoice, oh resurrected soul!
For by Him risen, we are whole--
Sweet guarantee—diverted doom
To that effect, the empty tomb!
 
To what effect the empty tomb?
What parted hopes are there exhumed!
For though a death must change for life--
To live again hence dulls the knife--
As flowers on a deathbed bloom
To that effect the empty tomb!

To what effect the empty tomb?
A bride now waits upon her groom,
Now may she bide in pleasing grace,
Transfixed in loving on His face—
Christ will return; His reign resume—
To that effect the empty tomb!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Maggie's Lullaby

If I had a lullaby
Sent from heaven to my arms,
Guilded soft with angel's songs
That could still the heart's alarms,
I would sing it every night;
I would rock so patiently,
So the everlasting arms
Could be felt by you through me.

If I had a lullaby
You could take with you in part,
I would whisper it in prayers
While I held you near my heart,
"Jesus is my lullaby,
Peace and solace in the night--
Take His lullaby, my child,
You will never lack a light!"

(chorus)
Child lay down in peace and sleep,
Leave your troubles for His mind,
For His thoughts are greater far
Than the thoughts you leave behind.
Rest in safety, for the day,
And the past, and what's to come,
All lay settled past the dawn
Near the heart of Christ the Son!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Believing Draught

I cannot cease;
I cannot halt;
Upon my knees
My every fault
I offer up.
 
And then for blessing
God, I plead—
My griefs, my heart’s
Most minute need—
My dearest hopes.
 
For at thy throne
And near thy feet
Are wells untapped
And seas replete
For thirsty souls.
 
Don’t seek out men
And fools be-robed—
But seek the truth
That has un-globed
Their little roles.
 
I speak, O self-
Encumbered heart
Of living water
That restarts
A life at One
 
Believing draught.
This living water
Dearly bought,
Cost unstopped slaughter
Of a Father’s Son.
 
And with that Holy
Breath unspent,
All hell was crushed
The veil was rent—
NOW ENTER IN!
 
The heart that stopped
But for a time
Was Deity,
And Blood Divine—
And hope from sin.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Be Still and Know

Be still and know your Elohim,
Creator of the bright and dim--
Who, to make light His first surprise
Canvased darkness on the skies.
Be still and know your Elohim,
Not diety of fate or whim,
But knowing what our choice would be
Gave us choice to choose Him free.
 
Be still and know the great I AM
Who bought the souls of every man,
And purchased with His blood our fears
Of sin compounded through long years.
Be still and know the great I AM--
The visage of the offered Lamb--
He read the scroll of tainted time
And then Golgotha He did climb.
 
Be still and know Christ Yeshua,
The promised one, Messiah come;
Who at the first made company,
Of us, His image, fallen away,
Be still and know Jehovah God,
To want us back—-Oh what a God!
To love us and perfection lend,
Unworthiness made right again.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Today

How often when You whisper "wait,"
Do we, Your children, concentrate
On what for us, seems Promised Land,
Instead of what You give at hand.
We hope in futures--busy years--
And seek out such with bitter tears
So constantly, we miss the way
The Lord works beauty in TODAY.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Consecration

Lord, please consecrate my hands--
Fortify for those demands
That oft, so all consume my day.
Lord, direct them to the right
Reflections of a heart, contrite,
Comitted to the living way.
Lord, though hands rejected be
As were Thy hands on Calvary,
May yet these hands Thy love relay.

Lord, please consecrate my feet;
Fit them, bind them, find them meet
For every race sojouning brings.
Lord, direct my every step--
Keep from wrong and make adept
My stumbling feet that I may sing.
Keep me from the wayward climb,
Rebellious shoes and wasted time,
That journeys all be offerings.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Who is This God?

Who is this God?
Who when I cannot speak
Translates my heart
Into a language not of earth--
And thus, He understands the weak.

Who is this God?
Who when I fail AGAIN
With one repentant breath
FORGIVES
As if the fault had never been.

Who is this God?
That men place in a box--
Explain Him there and think to comprehend
The One--who in the end--
Holds keys to all their locks.

Who is this God?
If ALL had been just ME
Alone in sin--
His love for me as one
Had spread him still the same upon that tree.

Who is this God?
Who takes my little fears
And treasures them alongside offered prayers,
Midnight condensations--
And bottled tears.

Who is this God?
Eternity will spell but the first thought
Of what all time and more
Will sketch in galaxies
But not begin to tell.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Never Doubt in the Darkness

Never doubt in the darkness what's known in the light;
God's pillar of cloud is a fire by night;
What you know about God in the day to be true--
Never doubt that in darkness, He'll prove it to you.

If you know that He's Savior while in a pure way,
Never doubt when you've fallen to cares of the day.
If you know that He's Holy with heaven in view,
Never doubt when the world numbers you with the few.

If you know that He's just when all men judge you fair,
Never doubt when you haven't a friend anywhere.
If you know that He's faithful in no sign of storm,
Never doubt when the western tempest would form.

If you know that He's loving when spectrum's appear,
Never doubt--when for clouds--you don't feel Him so near.
If you know that He's Counselor, Shepherd, and Guide,
Never doubt in obstruction, He stands by your side.

If you know in bright season He's Father and Friend,
Never doubt that he'll claim you as His 'til the end.
If you know at the sunrise, your needs will be met,
Never doubt His provision at evening's onset.

If you know that He's gentle and good in repose,
Never doubt when your heart doesn't feel what it knows.
If you know of no circumstance past His command,
Never doubt that you're held in the Palm of His Hand.

What freedoms are foundling! What passions ignite!--
If we doubt not in darkness, what's known in the light.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Presence of God

Oh the presence of God
Precious place of relief
Where a child joys His Father
With simple belief--
Where even pragmatic
And common sense things
Do not the child hinder,
Who happily sings.

Oh the presence of God
Where the Savior resides,
Where the ransomed can stand
With nothing to hide;
There, motionless, motionless,
Standing in Him,
The things of this world,
Grow all passing dim.

Oh the presence of God
Where the Spirit inspires
To light up the world
In infinite fires--
All founded in Christ
And grounded in love,
Astounded indeed
By the presence of God.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Hope Infinite

To those who follow straightly
And those who lose the way;
To those who walk uprightly
And those who slip or stray;
God's love extends extremely
Each flawed one feels His care
For God's heart loves supremely
What to men, seems past repair.

From time of void and nothing,
To times beyond our reach,
To tangents past our thinking,
And knowings none can teach,
Here even love's extension
Exists in newborn light
For our God's intervention
Is such that all seek sight!

In pictures drawn of lifelines
And paintings born of years
There caught in history's confines
Are murals made of tears.
Mankind continues searching--
Oh look! Upon the hill!
The one who once hung dying--
Oh glory! Living still!

Infrequently Sought

Oh life with attentions all focused on me,
Oh life with intentions spent all selfishly,
Oh life with possessions so needlessly bought
Then Savior--my Savior--infrequently sought!

Oh life with philosophies grand in the mind
With esteem of the self leading multitudes blind,
Oh life with the right of each man's own heart taught
Oh Savior--my Savior--infrequently sought!

Oh life with it's searching the skies for a sign;
With babes, if they live, taught they have no design;
Oh life with its millions in vain searchings caught
Oh Savior--my Savior--infrequently sought!

Oh life with its starving for natural food
Oh life with those largely too full of good
Oh world overcome with your houses of draught
Oh Savior--my Savior--infrequently sought!

Oh Savior who from the beginning has loved,
Oh Savior who with our Redemption has moved--
Who whispers in whirlwinds, "Here Me as you ought!
Oh mankind! My mankind! Eternally sought!"

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Prostrate Now

Prostrate now, here at Your feet,
Failures all around me;
Humbled You would even meet
A man like me in mercy.
You alone know my true fall,
And love me where I've fallen;
Pick me up, my All in All,
And grant me Thy restoring!

Prostrate now, I feel Your hand
On my fallen figure.
I begin to understand,
You speak when we've no stature.
"Fear not! Now go forth in My Name!
Make Me your expectation;
For I am every day the same,
Your daily restoration!"

Prostrate still, but now my eyes,
Are fixed on a foundation,
And firmly fastened to the skies
Where lies my destination.
May my prayers 'til then not cease,
Rejoicing, thankful, ever!
For here, I find God's will, and peace
Shall follow me forever!