Poems 6

Poems 1 - Poems 2 - Poems 3 - Poems 4 - Poems 5 - Poems 6

50) God Reigns Supreme

There are so many foolish doctrines about God in nominal Christendom. Yet if one truly believes and not only professes that God reigns supreme over all things, those doctrines would be readily, joyfully discarded. Knowing the reality of the supremacy of God is the victory over sin, the flesh, the devil, error, darkness, hell and death. My friend, of, by, for and to Him are all things.

 

Supremely excellent are the ways of the Lord!

What is the strength and wrath of man?

What is the wisdom of man?

In vain he strives and labors to perform;

He fails;

But God reigns over all,

His daily wonders to perform.

 

Blessed are the eyes of those who see His works,

His hand in all,

His might manifest on behalf of those

Who love Him and who are called

According to His counsel and will.

 

Victory belongs to the Lord God Almighty.

In defeat, He reigns;

In chastening, He builds;

In failure, He prospers;

In weakness, He is perfected

In His chosen ones.

 

Nothing below Him can thwart His design;

There is nothing above;

The blessed ones are sure,

Established forevermore,

Their path brighter as they go

Though darkness around them

Grows thicker and more horrible.

Moon River, Oct. 28, 1991

51) Alone

"You've got to walk...that lonesome valley...you've got to walk...it by yourself..." the song goes. As it was with our father of faith, so with every sojourner. "Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him." There is no other way.

 

On the day that I set out to walk with God

I became lonely.

My family insisted

That I remain with it -

I chose my loneliness,

Part of the price to pay

For obedience to God.

 

I entered a family of those

Who claimed to walk with God,

Only to discover feigned faith.

They insisted I be as they.

Called out from among them

Again I was lonely.

 

He gave me a wife

Knowing it not good

That I should be alone.

Together we searched for friends -

A cup of water here

And a cup there

But no well.

Today, after many years,

He gives us a son

Who helps to bear our loneliness

But we are lonely.

 

What is it to be lonely?

It is to be alone

In desires, in thoughts, in understanding,

In conversation, in goals and interests,

In activity, in purpose.

 

Added to our loneliness,

Betrayals and disappointments

To sharpen the pain that is there -

They come with smiles

And depart with frowns.

 

Added to our betrayals and disappointments,

The enmity of adversaries

Opposing what we are

And why we are here,

Hating us without a cause

 

Added to the hatred,

Loneliness,

For they hate us

And us alone.

Moon River, Oct. 29, 1991

52) Emptiness Within

Often and for long periods of time does God hide Himself from His called one, even as He did with all the saints and prophets of old and to the present. We desire so much to walk by sight, as in this world, but must learn to walk by faith, by the little given knowledge of the unknown, the Unknown, that we may know Him. And though He hides Himself to try us, He is always there...there is nowhere one can go from His presence. Yet one can choose to do so, and the one choosing so is not called. Emptiness is not a bad sign in itself as one might suppose.

 

I am ill with sorrow and grief,

Vexation and loneliness;

My soul is filled with groanings and longings;

I look in all directions;

I reach out;

My hand returns empty;

Tears fill my soul;

I cry and cry and cry;

There is no one to comfort, to console, to ease my pain.

 

Day after day, year after year,

Decade after decade,

I wait, I long, I cry,

I heave and sigh.

There is none to understand.

I wait for morning;

I wait for evening;

I am desolate.

I eat, I sleep, I cry...

Is it sin I say I don't have

That causes me to be this way -

Desperate, sad, lonely, unfulfilled,

Useless, despised, unwanted?

This is not the abundant life;

Though I have my carnal needs met

And freedom to come and go,

Yet I have nowhere to come and nowhere to go.

All is quiet, uneventful, drab and grey.

Do I complain

Or do I merely state the way things are

For those appointed to such by Divine order,

Not for sin

But for His purposes?

I don't know;

I do know I am very sad and very lonely;

This I do know.

 

I note that I'm not fearful

As I once was;

I'm not doubtful of my path

As I once was,

Or am I?

I do not covet my neighbor's shoes;

There is no being with whom I would trade

Yet I perceive that if

It were not for the Lord's hand on me,

I would surely be tempted

To end my life.

If it were not for the hope of better things,

I would despair so that

I would arrange my end.

How ironic!

 

So much for which to be thankful,

Needs provided abundantly,

A good wife,

A new and healthy son,

Health, order, safety and outer peace,

Yet a desperate longing within

For I know not what -

Friends? Companions? Work?

Importance? Usefulness? Fame?

Glory? Honor? Recognition?

Excitement? Adventure?

I don't know.

In still times I am troubled.

Why? I don't know.

I DO know I am very sad and very lonely;

This I DO know.

Moon River, Oct. 29, 1991

53) I, The Wealthy Outcast

"Lord, who has believed our report?" cried Isaiah. It is to the sinner a prophet is sent, but sinners do not see nor hear by virtue (or vice) of the fact that they are sinners. The carnal man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. And because they are sinners, they are the ones who need to hear! So then both prophet and perpetrator, both saint and sinner, both herald and hearer learn of the grace of God, without Whom is nothing possible. "Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens."

 

Nobody believes me;

They wince when I speak;

I give them Scriptures;

They give me notions.

They profess to love the Lord

to honor the Scriptures

to walk in righteousness and truth;

They have their own bibles

Of bits and pieces

Tailored to their doctrines

To suit their purposes.

They hate the Light;

They love their gods

And their sins.

God is anathema to them

As He is

So they change the glory of God,

They take His Name,

Giving it to gods of their own liking;

They take His words,

Wresting them to their destructions

With smiling public faces

They deceive themselves, saying,

"We suffer for His sake;

Our reward is stored up

For which we have so labored."

Paupers, laid in the dust,

Naked, diseased, deranged,

Babbling vain repetitions,

Bled bone dry

By the gods they serve,

While I remain wealthy and healthy

And alone.

Moon River, Oct. 31, 1991

54) Day of Jubilee

The world celebrates many things in many ways. It lives for good times and pleasures. Yet it has no good cause to rejoice because it excludes its Maker in its festivities, even when it celebrates in His Name. It also remains in darkness and bondage even while trying to act otherwise.

The pilgrim, that lone spiritual wanderer looks on, waiting for the day when he or she can trade in the sorrow and suffering, the loneliness and uncertainties, at best the mediocre satisfactions in this world s existence for great and true celebration. My friend, there is that place, that time, yes, here as well as there, which is here. This is the Day of the Lord.

Jubilee occurs on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month, once every fifty years. I wrote this seven years before experiencing the Jubilee. One is brought into it in the fulness of time.

Jubilee, oh Jubilee!

The day declares the captive free,

Delivered from the enemy,

Glory bestowed for all to see;

Oh, blessed Day of Jubilee!

 

Loss, defeat and misery,

Death and Hell had been for me

And tears prevented me to see

That one day there'd be Jubilee;

Oh, blessed Day of Jubilee!

 

The road beyond what eye can see

Is littered with corpse and tragedy

But trust the Lord and you will be

At journey's end with ecstasy;

Oh, blessed Day of Jubilee!

Moon River Estates, Jan. 1993

55) My Boy

If and when financial blessings come, one comes into danger of straying after mammon. Mammon has a way of creating and whetting the appetite for more. More accurately, it has a way of rousing the carnal nature with what is already there.

I began to be dissatisfied with what my money was doing in the bank at terrible interest rates, thinking I was a coward or a poor steward by not working the money to get better returns. I ended up in the stock market. Fear and Greed, two robust bullies, caught me in the back alley on my way to the bank and beat me severely. I lost two years of peace with my family and God knows how much more. My faith was greatly battered. One cannot play with fire and not get burned. A bitter lesson indeed. My boy had been such a joy to me and I missed him for a part of our lives. If you value life, flee mammon; don't rationalize; don't compromise; don't even think it...flee to God for your life.

I wrote this during a fast a couple of years later, when I was expected to die.

I've missed my boy since '93;

Money was all that I could see;

Even robbed him of maternity;

Without my boy since '93.

 

Hung a plaque up on the wall

The words of which would say it all

And failed my duty to heed that call

Now all I can do is bawl and bawl.

 

Son, don't ever cry, the fault's not yours;

I'm persuaded the Lord will even scores.

How does He do it? by the blood He pours,

Reuniting us on better shores.

 

Mom, please don't spoil our little boy.

Like me, he'll miss both peace and joy,

Himself and others he'll annoy

And we won't have our little boy.

 

But do us both a favor, please,

See he minds all q's and p's,

Gains knowledge in all he does and sees

So that in the end, the Lord he'll please.

Moon River Estates, Jan. 29, 1998

56) Come with Me

Called on a ten day fast from all things dietary (but water) and social, the Lord was drawing me aside to spend time with Him and His saints and to prepare me for the future.

The Lord has given me instruction

To wait and fast and pray,

To submit to this preparation,

To accept all, come what may.

 

Come, My darling, come away

To a land where there is only day;

Loving hearts await you there

Where you will rest, free from all care.

 

Come, My friend, why hesitate?

I know, you're thinking of your mate.

She'll be okay, I promise you,

I have yet more for her to do.

 

The time will come to meet again,

Not in a bog but pleasant glen,

Where you will meet with warm embrace,

With joy and gladness, face to face.

 

Your son, Jonathan, I gave to you;

I'll make sure his heart is true

And when their time is finally through

I'll restore them both to you.

Moon River Estates, Jan. 29, 1998

57) Two Adams

During a ten day fast, I contemplated the reality of the two natures which do battle within each believer. The Lord was teaching me that He is about reconciling and not utterly destroying the first Adam in us. Did He not provide skins for Adam and Eve? Did He not also provide him Abel and Seth and by Seth, the Messiah? And had Adam and Eve repented and confessed their sin? Not at all. They would not take blame but passed it where they could, even on God. But God planned the salvation of all men and will perform it perfectly. If this is not so, not one of us will be redeemed. It is all or nothing.

I look back at my life with regret and remorse

Because the carnal man has reigned on the throne, of course.

The spiritual man has been battered and bruised;

He has tried to fight but was often confused.

 

"This is my friend, partner and room-mate!

Why is it he fights me, so full of hate?

He said he agreed with all that I do

And believed the Lord to be entirely true!

 

What's this? I find him my enemy!

What he really is, now I'm given to see.

To defeat his cause, the Lord will help me

And only then will we both be free.

 

He'll be put in his place and raised from the dead

And the Lord, not he, will rule instead.

From now on, each other we won't hate but adore,

Shouting in unison, 'Let there be no more war'."

Moon River Estates, Jan. 29, 1998

58) Bitterness

When you are given to see the incarnation of bitterness concentrated in your direction, I doubt that there can be a more hideous spectacle, especially when residing in one whom you have known intimately for decades and who is supposed to have the opposite, love, toward you. This comes by revelation but also by outer manifestation in the end for, all things must come to light and be dealt with, and are in the "last days." Only understanding of God can give one the encouragement to forgive, and faith to persevere.

But bitterness is the lot of every believer and everyone must come to terms with it once and for all in the end. This is the "wicked one being revealed" and dealt the death blow. While it is the worst time of all, yet there is cause for those who believe to lift up their heads because redemption is near at hand. The manifestation of that mysterious man of bitterness is a token of the Lord present for it is in His coming that the son of perdition is exposed and destroyed. But destroyed how? By being redeemed, transformed, resurrected, reconciled to God through the Son of God. It is a great and terrible event.

Bitterness cries, "You owe me!"

And she will not rest until

She gets what she wants.

She'll not be persuaded otherwise

Nor will a substitute do.

 

"I disagree with You!" she cries to God.

"Either You don't know what You're doing

Or, You cannot do what's right.

So I have to do it!

I have to take control of things;

I have to protect myself

And get what I want.

Nobody else can be trusted to do it for me.

But I know I can't,

Yet I have to try

And try and try until

You will finally see it my way.

I am wise in my own eyes."

 

Bitterness is stubborn;

She shuts her eyes and stops her ears.

She sees what she wants to see;

She tells herself what she wants to hear,

Yet is deceived in believing

That which is not true.

 

Her heart worships her ambition and desire

Perceived incarnated in this world's promise.

Nothing can persuade her otherwise.

 

And the Lord comes

And grants her all her desire

And more than she asks.

He opens her eyes to see

And she closes them, seeing.

 

Brokenness cries, "I owe you!"

And cannot rest until

The debt is settled once for all.

He opens her eyes to see

And she rests, pacified.

Content is her new name.

Moon River Estates, Jan. 11 and 15, 2000

Read The Bane of Bitterness.

Poems 1 - Poems 2 - Poems 3 - Poems 4 - Poems 5 - Poems 6