I Owned the World

Meaning in Psalm 51

Alfred D. Byrd

PROUDLY, I've lived, but I've done great wrong.
In the eyes of the world, was I a king?
Did I sit enthroned and hear the pleas
Of the poor, the sick, and the weak for justice?
Sometimes, I felt that I owned the world
And could do with it whatever pleased me.
Trappings of power obscured my vision.
Nothing — no crown — allowed me to take
The wife of a friend to warm my bed
Or the life of that friend to hide my sin.
How much I deserve to hear one tell me,
"David, it's you who've sinned against God!"

My God, I need Your mercy today.
I've covered my life, Your gift, with shame,
I've broken the bonds of trust with a friend,
I've taught my people to lust and be killed,
And, worst of all of the wrongs that I've done,
I've flouted the will of my God, my Maker.
Even within the womb that bore me,
Darkness was present within my soul.
That darkness has guided my acts in life
Until I reached a point of despair.
You wanted within me, my God, the truth,
The wisdom to know the right from wrongs
And to choose the right for the sake of life,
But you got rebellion, a sin, and a death,
And mercy alone, my God, can restore
My life to You in peace and gladness.

Wash me, my God, with water of life
To cleanse my soul from all that grieves You.
Cleanness of heart is what You desire.
Whatever it takes to reach that goal
Is what I want to be right with You.
If I knew that blood of beasts would please You,
Thousands of them would die for my sins,
But it's You alone, my God, Who can save
The guilty from death when I come to You.
You've made a way to forgive my sins
And to turn one filthy purer than snow.

In response to love that forgives my sins—
In response to mercy that gives me new life,
I offer, my God, a heart that breaks
With sorrow for wrongs that I've done to You.
I offer thanksgiving for life out of death;
I offer praises — endless, I wish—
To the One Who lives above the earth,
Yet comes to a world defiled with sin
To rescue and heal the lives of rebels.
Only in You, my God, is there hope
Of a world of peace that rests on justice;
Only in You, my God, is there life
That endures beyond the harms of our sins.
May You use my tongue to teach my neighbors
The way of truth that can build a world
Both safe for us and pleasing to You.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

A Fire That Consumes

Meaning in Psalm 50

Alfred D. Byrd

Darkness above the world is so deep
That we think, "Our God is far from us."
Successes of sin may tempt us to murmur,
"Heaven must be in league with malice."
Looking only at things of the world
(The here and the now — no past, no future),
Many may yield to despair and say,
"Whoever has made the world has left it.
Everything happens by chance alone."

When we see our God, there'll be a fire
That flows from the throne of the One Who is—
A fire that consumes the dross of evil.
Heaven will shake from the shout of its King:
"Your Judge has arrived; step up and receive
A sentence of justice — the word of My truth."

Throughout all places and times, there's been
A remnant of persons who've served the King
To the best of their will with what they know.
With the blood and the flesh of beasts and of birds,
They sought the favor of God above them.
Looking with mercy on those who gave
The best that they had to the Best Who is,
Our God will tell them, "I won't rebuke you
For staining an altar with blood and with fat.
I want you, however, to know the truth:
I have no need for livestock or birds.
I made the cattle that feed in your fields;
I made the fields that feed your cattle.
Mountains and valleys together are mine.
If I were to feel a pang of hunger
(Speaking to children, I say what they'll grasp),
I'd make some cattle to feed Myself.
What I want from you isn't flesh and blood.
I want thanksgiving for what I've done.
When you make a promise, I want you to keep it,
However it hurts you to do what you've said.
When you get in trouble, remember your King;
I'll come to help you, and you, when you're well,
Should give me glory as Maker and Friend."

Throughout all places and times, there's been
A host of those who've lived for themselves
And used the gifts of the One for wrong.
With gaining power and wealth as their goal,
They've denied the right of God to rule them.
Looking with sorrow on those who gave
The best that they have to the worst of ends,
Our God will tell them, "Don't speak of Me
When you do what you want and wish to look good.
When you heard the truth, you thought it a burden
Keeping Your Honors from having some fun.
Rejecting your God, you were gods to yourselves.
I said, 'Whoever does work should keep
The gain of labor for health and for home,'
But you say, 'To rob another is fine;
We're proud to be the friends of a thief.'
I said, 'The two who marry are one;
Let no one attempt to break that oneness,
Holy to Me, and a source of life,'
But you say, 'To marry confines the soul;
It's freedom to sleep with the wife of a friend.'
To lie to sisters, to slander a brother—
Hatred has been the root of your speech!
You thought, because your God was silent,
Giving you chances to change on your own,
That I was no better than someone like you.
The time for clinging to lies is over;
Heaven comes down to proclaim the truth."

The One Who made the heavens above
Has given each person below a choice:
To spurn the truth and to lose one's life,
Or to give the One Who made you the praise
That's due to the One Whose law is love.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

The Words of Light

Meaning in Psalm 49

Alfred D. Byrd

LISTEN to wisdom that came from God
Through prophets who taught us the words of light.
The truth is the same whoever you are,
A big shot, a no one, loaded, or broke:
You live for a while, and then you die,
And nothing that's done for this world alone
Will go with you to the world beyond it.
Only what's done for the love of God
Will matter before the throne of the Judge.

It's easy for us to see the world
As a stage on which the rich are kings
Confirmed on their throne by a god of gold.
They may serve their god with gifts of blood—
The blood of those who labor for wealth
That goes to others who leave the worker
Barely enough to sustain one's life
For a round of work from day to day.
The rich who trust in a god of gold
Behave as if forever ahead
Is nothing but bliss renewed each dusk
For a child who scorns the touch of age
And dances till dawn without a care.
A surgeon can cut a wrinkle away,
A drink restores one's vigor for hours,
The music is loud, the smiles are bright—
It's time to party! Forever is now.

At length, each life will face a turning.
Midnight has tolled, a coach turns pumpkin,
Pipers demand the pay for their play,
And all must prepare to leave this world.
The one with nothing will leave with nothing.
Strangely, so, too, the wealthy go out.
The one with foresight to grow one's wealth
Will leave it to heirs who may be less wise
Than the one who scratched a fortune from dirt.
How swiftly a fool can squander riches!
Butterflies flutter, but then they're gone.
Go bury a fortune inside a tomb
To help the dead in the world to come!
A robber will break the seal on the tomb
And carry a fortune in gold away.
A wheel that spins will bring disaster—
Violence follows a trail of gold—
To all who trust in things of this world.

The rich and the poor have come together,
Standing before the throne of the Judge.
When we see the face of our God unveiled
And hear the questions, "What good have you done
With what I gave you in life on the earth?
What claim do you have to life on high?"
The one who trusts in looks and in wealth
Can give no answer that passes the test.
Our grins and our gold can pay no ransom
Sparing our lives from judgment before us.
Only the one who believes in God
And yields one's life to serving the truth
Will find redemption, a gift of the One
Who gives us our life both below and above.

Don't yield to fear when you see a sinner
Driving a car outshining a palace,
Stuffing his face with meat and with sweets,
Living in rooms as wide as the sky,
And acting as if the world is his due.
When it comes his time to settle with death,
He'll share the fate of a beast of the field.
Don't let your envy distract you from hope.
Your work in this world is to love your God
And to love your neighbor as much as yourself.
Whatever you build in this world on love
Will endure with God in the world to come.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Distant No Longer

Meaning in Psalm 48

Alfred D. Byrd

CHOOSING a mountain as base for a throne,
Our God has come to live among us.
Distant no longer, our Maker is close
Whenever we come to praise and to serve
The One Who loved us before we were made.
A temple expresses our love in return—
A temple recalling the throne room on high.
The King Whom we serve, though near, extends
Beyond the stars, beyond our dreaming.
Nothing can put into words how great
Is the First and Last, above all others,
Maker of worlds and Judge of all things.

Amid, however, the crush of a crowd,
The truth of God has been forgotten;
Darkness has fallen, and feet go astray.
This world of ours is a work of God's,
But has turned aside to ways of its own
That run to revolt, disaster, and death.
Despite the wrongness of spurning one's Maker,
Many have chosen the toys of this world
Above the hope of a home on high.
The Throne, it seems to eyes of rebels
Wanting to live for the here and now,
Has vanished, leaving behind the thrones
Of men who strut like gods on a stage
Where we see the mighty go down to failure.

Jealousy spurs them to works of shame.
The kings of the world — how often they strive
To silence the voice of God on the earth
By seizing, tormenting, and killing the faithful.
Children of God away from their home
Must flee for refuge to God in their heart
Until they see their Savior appear
In glory to vanquish the kings of the earth
And to fix the Throne among us forever.

Nothing can change what has come from God.
Our Maker is righteous, enforcing a law
Of love for self, for neighbors — for God—
As the way to peace arising from justice.
Only the law of love is secure.
Whoever obeys this law has life;
Whoever rejects this law is dead
To the way of life that starts in God
And ends in return to the Throne on high.
Let us seek the temple and meet the God
Who loves us despite our going astray.
Behind the temple of wood and of stone
There stands a temple of lives renewed,
United by God abiding within them.
Praising its God, the temple endures,
Sustained by the God Whose name is Love.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

To Honor Justice

Meaning in Psalm 47

Alfred D. Byrd

HUMANS contend for thrones and for wealth,
But pay no heed to the One Who made
The earth from which the wealth has been mined—
To the One Who has set a throne on high.
Unless a ruler is right with God,
The throne beneath that ruler totters.
Nothing goes right in the end for one
Who makes his own will the law of the land.
The ruler, however, who does what's right
And teaches the people to honor the law
Will be respected, not only below,
But also above in the court of God.

The law of God is simple and pure:
To love your God with all of your heart,
And to love your neighbor as much as yourself.
To offer strangers the status of friends,
To help the fallen rise up again,
To speak no lie in a court of law,
To honor justice, to judge with mercy—
Doing these things will please your God
And extend your life in a land at peace.
To make, however, your lust and your greed
The measure of what you choose to enjoy;
To turn to vengeance instead of justice
(Killing your foe, not healing a rift)—
To do these evils will fill your land
With anger, mistrust, upheaval, and grief.

Wherever a people may live on the earth,
Whatever a people may take as law,
Our God is the King of all that is,
And all must submit at last to judgment
Given by God from the throne on high.
A land that fixes its gaze on the world
Will rise no higher than here and now,
And will fall at last to darkness — to death.
The land, however, that fixes its gaze
On the law that comes from the throne of God
Will know in this world the blessings of peace—
Not only the absence of times of war,
But also, and better, the bonds of trust
Between the neighbors who form the land—
Between each person and God, the King.
Let us come to the court of the King with praise
For the One Who gave us our life, our land,
The law of truth that guides us to peace,
And love that binds together as one
The hearts of all who belong to God.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Easily Broken

Meaning in Psalm 46

Alfred D. Byrd

MANY will face misfortune today.
The world in which we live is fragile,
Easily broken by chance or by hate.
An earthquake may shake a city apart
And send a wave across an ocean—
Distance provides us no shield from harm—
To drown a folk that works by the shore.
A heartbeat may pass, and the earth has gone mad.
Not nature alone, however, is fearsome:
Humans are ready to harm each other
Even though nature is peaceful for once.
The drums of war awaken slaughter;
Rifles shatter both peace and our lives;
The rage of nations convulses the earth
Far longer than earthquakes, eruptions, or floods.
In times of distress, when we live in fear,
We need to know that we have a helper.

Someone will answer our pleas for aid.
Our God, enthroned amid light unstained—
Enthroned above the throes of the earth—
Is also among us and knows what we feel—
Not a hair that falls escapes the gaze
Of the One Who fashioned the earth for good.
We're helpless to say the reason for wrongs
That go on too long, it seems to us—
Can we, mere creatures of space and of time,
Explain a mind eternal and vast?—
But we have a hope that comes from above—
The hope of our God, Who loves and redeems
Disordered creation from what it suffers.
Wickedness faces a day in court.
The guns that shatter the peace of the earth
Will shatter within the grip of our God;
The voice that shouts defiance will falter,
Fearful of what its Judge will hand down.
When we see a world polluted made clean
And the hearts of humans restored to faith
In the One Who set their hearts to beating,
Heaven will be a stream of water
Flowing to us from the throne of God
To purge us of sin and fill us with joy
At being henceforward children of light.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Make the Earth a Garden

Meaning in Psalm 45

Alfred D. Byrd

RULERS can make the earth a garden
Yielding blessings to all who live there.
Rulers, however, can also transform
The gardens of God into wastes of pain
Where we see a few in outfits of gold,
But others in rags — others who labor,
Sleepless and hungry, to feed the wealthy.
Choosing a leader is choosing the future:
Justice and peace, or greed and despair.

Too often, the world has chosen despair
Because it inspects the surface alone.
The world will follow beauty and grace
Concealing selfish desire for renown.
The world will forgive whatever one does,
And will beg to become one's friend for life,
As long as charm, good looks, and riches
Cover one's deeds in glitter and gleam.
A failure to search beneath the surface—
Hiding what depths, we learn to our grief—
Will end, however, in pain and in tears
When we see corruption, hidden, but deadly,
Yielding its fruit, a harvest of death.

Our God inspects the depths of the heart
And honors the one who upholds the truth.
The ruler who bears the blessing of God
Is the one who offers justice for all,
Protection from evil for lives oppressed,
And aid for those who suffer misfortune.
Beauty of heart inspires a people,
Able to live at peace in their homes,
To wed itself to the kind of ruler
Chosen by God to redeem the earth.

The Ruler appointed by God is the One
Who left the heights to live in the depths
With us who'd fallen to lures of the world
And lost all hope in darkness — in shame.
The Ruler has shared the life that we know—
Has taught us a way to live with grace
Amid a realm that breeds injustice.
Speaking against deception and lies,
The Ruler endured derision of kings,
As well as torture — a death of shame!
The Ruler arose, however, with hope—
New life for all at the cost of blood.
Whoever accepts the Ruler as guide
Perceives a fragrance that lifts the heart
From gloom of despair to joy in one's work
Of helping the Ruler restore the earth
To the peace that comes from rightness with God.

The Ruler has found a bride today—
A people redeemed from darkness to light—
A people that spurns the gleam of the world
For the glory of God — the light eternal.
Coming, the Ruler will claim the Bride
And take Her, graceful in linen of truth,
To a place of beauty prepared with love
As a home of peace that lasts without end.
It's not too late for you to become
A part of the Bride that awaits the Ruler.
Spurning the darkness shrouding the world,
You must turn to the light that comes from God
And follow the Ruler along a path
That runs through service of truth to the Throne.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

A Beast Made of Steel

Meaning in Psalm 44

Alfred D. Byrd

WATCHING the news of the world around us,
Many of us may wonder at times
Just where our God is in things that happen.
Randomness seemingly seizes control
Of lives that scurry from joy to despair.
A child is murdered; a killer goes free;
A flood or a fire consumes a town.
The famous flouting the law with lifestyles
Circling the globe with pleasure and glitter—
Watching the news, we're moved to agree
With those who tell us, "Your God is nowhere."

Reading the Scriptures, we learn of times
Of empires toppled — of slaves on the rise.
The One Who has made all things exist
Can build a nation from servants in exile—
Even a shepherd became a king—
And cast an empire, a beast made of steel,
To the depths of shame when it suits a plan.
Consider Israel, captive in Egypt:
Working through Moses, our God delivered
Exiles and slaves from a grip of bronze
And led them — a pillar of fire was their guide—
To a land of freedom to worship the Name.
Consider the Church, subjected to Rome:
The blood of martyrs, beloved of God,
Was stronger than steel and changed the world.
When we see the fate of Egypt and Rome,
And blessings that come to children of faith,
Can we doubt our God, the Maker of worlds—
Maker, Sustainer, and Judge of Kings?

We waver, however, because we observe
How often the good get hurt by the world.
We may live today in a land of safety—
Freedom for all is a shield for us—
But many a child of God in our time
Awaits a knock on a door at night
Or blows from a mob in public by day.
The world, as it did in Egypt and Rome,
Despises the light that comes from the Throne
And turns, because it can't touch our God,
To mocking or killing the servants of truth.

How long, our God, can You let the wicked
Revel in riches and dance until dawn?
Remember Your people, faithful, though fearful.
Tested daily by woes and by wealth,
They recall Your Name and long for Your light.
Deliver the weak from the hands of the strong
And confirm Your law of love in the eyes
Of those who have mocked and of those who have mourned.
For the praise of Your name, restore a world
That rests in peace — not absence of war,
But presence of light, of law, and of love—
A peace that abounds when we do what's right
For self, for neighbor — for You, our King!

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Angry Voices

Meaning in Psalm 43

Alfred D. Byrd

SUNKEN in worry from cares of this world,
I forget at times the God Who made me.
Seeing the things that go on in the world,
I find it easy to get discouraged.
Angry voices from near and afar
Have battered my ears with curses and lies
That come from losing one's link to God
And trying to grope one's way through darkness.
Nothing is easy for one on one's own.
The ones who make themselves their masters,
Looking no farther than here and now,
Desire what pleases themselves, but causes
Battles with neighbors and conflict with God.

The ones caught up in fights of this world
Agree on no more than hating anyone
Striving to live in light and in truth.
When they see a child of God in mourning—
Facing a world of lies and of grief,
The faithful dissolve at times into tears—
They say to that child, "Your God rejects you.
Maybe, there's no one to hear, don't you think?
You tell us, 'I have a hope in heaven.'
No one who's crying can make us believe
In a god that honors good works and belief."
The voice of this world is cold and snide;
The joy most human is mocking the pain
Of those who hope to rise from the mud
Of envy, of greed, of lust, and of wrath.

My God, please come down to take my part
In a fight too hard to be won on my own.
I'm far from perfect — I've sinned and will sin—
But I hold Your Name in my heart and yearn
To run from darkness to stay in the light.
How long must I hear the world's deceptions?
Rescue my life from a world that's dead
To knowing its Maker and walking in truth.
My God, please lead me away from that world
To live in the light that comes from Your throne.

I long to find the altar of God
And stand beside it to praise my Maker.
Music and song are gifts of our God
Allowing creation to show its love
To the One Who said to the light, "Become!"
And will bring to the light from depths of darkness
Anyone turning from self to God.
May we sing forever the praise of the One
Who heard our voice when we cried for help
And raised us from doubt to stand in the truth.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

To Feel the Presence

Meaning in Psalm 42

Alfred D. Byrd

GETTING away from my God, I find
Within me a hunger to feel the Presence—
Holiness taking the place of doubt—
Of the One Who lives and gave me my life.
I'm thirsty for water of life that yields
Renewal of hope and strength for labor
Bringing about God's will on the earth.
I desire to meet again with my God
And show my love for the One Who loves me—
Fallen, I rise when I see the Throne.

I used to be both faithful and first
In seeking the will of God in prayer,
Reading the Word that came from the Throne,
Attending with others the service of praise,
Proclaiming the gift of life to the world,
And meeting the needs of neighbors who suffer.
Somehow, however, I've gotten away
From doing the works that please my God.
Like Esau, I've traded my birthright for beans
That fill my belly no more than a day,
But leave me empty — hungry and lost.

The world around me is mocking my God
And me for trusting a Source unseen.
"A savior? You're senseless. We live awhile
And fade to nothing. Have fun while you can!
We need no God to explain creation.
Random ripples in what could become
Gave rise to space and time where we formed
By laws requiring no mind to write them.
Purpose, one must decide for oneself.
Our minds are the best of which we know;
We must choose our own path from birth to grave.
You're wasting your time in trusting a ghost
To do what you need to do for yourself.
Just eat and drink; tomorrow, you'll die."

The world of the minds that spurn their Maker
Suffers daily from pride and from rage,
The feelings of those who've gathered riches
Making them masters of those with none,
And of those oppressed by holders of wealth.
A conflict goes on without an end —
A ferment of lives whose meaning is lost
Because they've denied existence beyond them.

Skeptics have gotten creation backwards.
Heaven never accounts to the earth.
Our God doesn't need to explain to us
A reason to be — a reason to do—
As if God needed permission to live
From those whose life has come from the Throne.
The One Who was, and is, and will be
Required no help from pundit or sage
To exist, or to make all else exist.
The One has chosen to make a world
As a home for creatures whose goal is to seek
The light and the love of the One Who shaped them.
Only the one who believes in the One
Will live with purpose lasting and true.

It's easy to drown in a world gone mad.
The waves of conflict are breaking upon us—
Hurtled through rapids, we strike the rocks
Of scorn from the world. A boat built on trust
In things of this life will sink at once
And leave no sign of where it foundered.
Only the one who holds out a hand
To the One Who walked on water will feel
A grip of rescue — a hug of welcome—
Meaning for life delivered from death.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

To Those Made Helpless

Meaning in Psalm 41

Alfred D. Byrd

HAPPINESS flowers in one who loves
A neighbor as much as one loves oneself.
The one who pleases our God the most
Is the one who attends to the need of others.
Giving one's time, one's wealth, and one's love
To those made helpless by pain and by grief
Is being like God, Who saw our fall
And chose, at the cost of shame and of death,
To make us a way to hope and to joy.
The one who helps the fallen rise up
Will be raised by God in a day of trouble.

Nothing, however, is easy in life.
In a world condemned by sin to darkness,
Even the righteous may suffer, may die,
For reasons ungrasped in the here and now.
Like Job, the righteous who suffer may hear
The voice of friends condemning the sick
For sins imagined that caused their pain.
Too often, we must confess to our shame,
We see in part, but we judge the whole
As if we were God, Who sees all things—
Both start and finish — with sight undimmed.
Let us have the wisdom to see ourselves
As lacking the right to judge our neighbors.
Silence is better than making a guess
When we know too little to say what's true.

The worst of griefs that we face in life
May well be hatred received from neighbors.
Enemies hurt us by telling falsehoods;
Gossip spreads them like sparks on the wind.
What starts in anger may spread like wildfire,
Burning whatever may lie in its path.
Where we saw a field of flowers at dawn,
We may see no more than ashes at dusk.
How swiftly a lie can destroy a life!
How swiftly a friend who listens to lies
Can become instead the worst of foes.

False witness may be as bad as murder;
Gossip is often a tool of death.
To speak a lie that sullies a life
Will rob a victim of joy and of hope
As much as maiming or killing would do.
Repeating rumors as proof of guilt
Is just as bad as starting a lie.
To murder a name is to take a life.
Our God requires believers to be
Upholders of truth for friend and for foe.
When we stray from the truth, we may be the cause
Of breaking the bonds between friend and friend.

AMONG the griefs that we face in this world,
The worst may well be to lose a friend.
Our God understands this worst of griefs.
The Son, becoming human to save us,
Gathered around Him a circle of friends
Whom He taught the truth, and with whom He shared
The bread of peace in joy and in grief.
A man who had known the bread and the truth
Grew filled with envy, and spurning the Son,
Betrayed Him to foes who had sought His life.
Among the griefs that He took to His death
Was grief for a friend whom He'd lost forever.

Here is the hope for which we've waited:
Dying wasn't the end for the Son.
He rose to open a way to life
For all who will call on His name in faith.
We have no god who's deaf to our cries
And blind to the sin that mars this world.
Our God understands our pain and our grief;
Our God has felt them within the Son.
Our God is with us on paths through darkness;
Heartbreak is eased when shared with our Friend.
At the end of our shame there lies our glory,
Sharing with God the bliss of His home.

Our hope is not for heaven alone,
But should spur our hearts to love this life
And our hands to try to heal its hurts.
Until the day when we live in light,
We can bring a piece of heaven to earth
By showing the love of God in our lives—
The love that is left when we lose all hope
But our hope in the One Who has shared our pain.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Humble and Pure

Meaning in Psalm 40

Alfred D. Byrd

MANY of us are pleased with ourselves
Because of good that we've done in this world.
We give till it hurts; we shun false pleasures—
Certainly, persons as fine as we are
Manifest blessings of God on high.
We can point at Scripture and say, "Right here
Is the law I've kept. I deserve some honor."
Isn't our doing what's good in our sight
Enough to make us children of God?

We learn with shock when we read the Word,
"Your God rejects the work of your hands
Unless your heart is humble and pure.
You may give the blood of beasts to Me,
And say, 'I've fulfilled the law of my God,'
But lose the rewards of what you've done
Because your surface is false to your heart:
Your lips may say 'Love'; your heart says 'Hate.'"
(Can I say, "My cup is clean outside,"
But deny corruption that stains me within?)
When we do a thing commanded by God,
But do it with evil defiling our heart,
Our act displeases the One Who made us:
Motive, not means, is the test of faith.

The one whose service pleases our God
Is the one who says, "Not my will, but Yours."
Our food and our drink should be to do
Whatever our God has chosen for us.
Our model in life should be our Savior.
Leaving a home of glory, of praise,
He came to the earth to do the will
Of the One Who sent Him to die in our place.
Amid a world that opposed His work—
A world that saw itself as righteous,
Turning its gaze from shame at its heart—
He proclaimed the truth most precious to God:
"Whatever you do will come to nothing,
Empty of fruit enriching your life,
Unless you die to yourself and live
In the light, in the love, of God, your Maker.
Heaven belongs to the ones reborn.
The one who offers one's life to God
Produces new life that has no end."
What He spoke with His lips, He showed by His death.
Of Him, the blood of beasts was a sign:
His blood would purge forever of sin
The life of all who'd trust in His name.
The world took His life; our God gave it back
And raised Him to sit beside the Throne
And win us mercy whenever we fall.

The world in which we live is evil.
Loving the world too much will gain us
Only the heartbreak of love betrayed.
The one who embraces the world will feel
The anguish of thorns that pierce one's flesh.
How happy we are because, when we hurt,
We can turn to God and find the Savior
Granting forgiveness to those who weep,
And giving new purpose to lives once wasted!
Singing replaces murmurs and moans
In all who accept the gift of love
From One Who died submissive to God
And lives to lead the lost to the light.
Let us live for God and do the will
Of the One Whose death restored our hope!

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

The Way of Conflict

Meaning in Psalm 39

Alfred D. Byrd

SILENCE is better than speaking our mind
If we want to avoid the way of conflict.
Letting our feelings erupt as they will
May seem just right at the point of offense,
But may prove the worst of things to have done
When we see what comes from words unchecked.
How often I've let a fire within me
Lead me to speak what I'd come to regret.
In the heat of anger, that fire may seem
To us who heed it the voice of God.
Let us cool, however, and we may find
The voice of Satan within the feeling.
Nothing will last unless it begins
Within the will of the One, our God.

If we put our trust in mind and in might,
We'll find them fading before we can blink.
How long our life may seem at its start!
How short, however, when viewed from its end —
A breeze, a stillness, and then it's gone.
How empty it is for us to be great,
Or to flaunt the fruit of wealth, in this world,
When we'll die, both great and small, together,
Leaving the goods that dazzled our eyes
To others who'll fail to recall our names.
"Let's eat and drink; we'll die tomorrow."
Nothing will last unless it is held
Within the hand of the One, our God.

The fire of anger, the ice of riches—
Neither sustains us in age, in illness.
Hopeless are all who have put their trust
In things of this world, foredoomed to decay.
Beyond the world, however, is God,
The Source and the End of all that is.
What we have has come from the hand of God;
What we earn will remain if it goes to that hand
As a gift of our love for the Love Who made us.
Knowing our frailness, let's call amid tears
For God to hear us and keep us from falling
Deeper in darkness, empty and fearsome.
Nothing matters unless it's reborn
Within the love of the One, our God.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

The Cause of Our Pain

Meaning in Psalm 38

Alfred D. Byrd

TROUBLES will find us wherever we go,
And we want to know just why we face them.
Sometimes, the cause of our pain is dark,
And we groan because the world is senseless;
Sometimes, however, that cause is clear,
And we find in knowledge a kind of healing.
Many may suffer for reasons unknown,
And none should say, "Because of your sins,"
But I confess that I meet with hardships
Mainly because of what I've done wrong.

A list of my sins could go on for pages.
Given so much, I've done so little
Pleasing to God or helpful to neighbors.
Selfish concerns have wasted my days,
Yet given my heart no pleasure that lasts.
Amid distractions, I lose my way
And forget the One Who made and saved me.
Giver of life, I'm living in vain.
How often I'm deaf to what I should hear
And blind to wrongs that go on around me.
Speaking, I sound at times like a fool,
But I fail to speak when I have a chance
To praise my God or to help the weak.
How dare I complain when I see for my sins
The roof cave in and the floor fall through?

What I do, or fail to do, affects
Others around me — myself the most.
I feel as if I'm stuck in a swamp
The waters of which, revolting and slimy,
Cover my head and stifle my breath.
Bad thoughts can harm one's body, you know:
My flesh grows weak, my head is swimming,
Twinges of pain enfeeble my joints,
And I want to rest, but must go on.
How absurd I must seem to the eyes of God.
I wish to run off, but flight won't help:
Wherever I went on my quest to be free,
I'd take along my problem, myself.

My sins are clear to the world around me.
Neighbors regard me as strange and worthless;
Kinsmen, I've pushed away from my door.
I fancy to hear outsiders whisper,
"Nothing is real with that guy over there.
He calls himself a child of his God,
But does no better than any of us.
He's acted so big, but now he's little.
Someday, I tell you, he's going to fall.
He'll get what's coming and give us a laugh."
My neighbors have problems enough of their own,
But find the time to make fun of others
Fallen in sin and feeling its sting.
Just watch the news. You'll know what I mean.

It's time for me to confess my sins,
To turn from the world, and to turn to God.
The One Whom I've spurned is faithful to me;
The One to Whose words I've shut my ears
Will listen to me when I slay my pride
And fall on my face before the Throne.
My God has ordained for the world a law
That gives each act its judgment in kind,
In good for good, in evil for evil.
Often, I've tested this law to my hurt.
If all that could come to me were justice,
"Hopeless," you'd call me; I'd yield to despair.
My God, however, provides me with grace,
The freedom of God to bestow on the bad
A gift of goodness created in love.
My God, I come to accept Your Grace.
Reshape me, I beg you, as what I should be,
And make me a beacon drawing my neighbors,
Spurning the dark, to the light of Your truth.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Trouble the Seekers of Wealth

Meaning in Psalm 37

Alfred D. Byrd

ENVYING doers of wrong makes sense
If you see their success as destined to last.
The ones who care for themselves alone
Will do what it takes to get ahead.
They make their plans for gain and for ease
Without regard for truth and justice,
Troublesome concepts for seekers of wealth
Who want the world no matter what comes.
To them, the poor are no more than prey
That they hunt for the sake of a coin or two—
Enough of the poor, and the coins pile up.
The ones who speak of truth and justice
Trouble the seekers of wealth in their work
And become a target for lies and for laws
That favor the worldly ahead of the just.
The ones who want to get rich right now
Will borrow a bundle and scorn to pay back
A penny as long as evil prospers.

Anger arises within our hearts
When we see our neighbors do well from wrongness.
Anger at best can yield us redress
When we keep control of how we respond
To what has moved us to rise and do battle.
Anger, however, can be deceptive,
Leading the righteous to wrongs of their own.
The fire of anger within our hearts
Can burn out reason and lead us astray.
The counsel of anger seems strong and sure
To one who gives in to a fire of rage;
At last, however, that fire dies out,
And ashes alone may remain behind
To mock the one who trusted in feelings.
Often, one's anger destroys oneself.
To hold a grudge is to eat one's own heart
With envy and grief, the jaws of despair.

How little or much a person possesses
Matters far less than how one gets it.
Serving our God is why we are here.
To work with one's hands the thing that is right
And to share with others truly in need
Fulfills the will of the One Who made us.
Honor the light and work while it's day.
Although the world rewards the wicked,
Even the worst prefers to rely
On one who's faithful in doing one's job.
Our God has told us to give good value,
Never to slack, or renege on a debt,
And to pause at times to honor our Maker.
Doing our tasks as servants of truth,
We may hold without guilt whatever we earn.

In time, we'll see what comes of evil,
Pleasant without, but rotten within.
As it grows, it bears within it a seed
That will sprout to yield destruction and death.
How often the one who draws a sword
Will sheathe that sword within one's own heart.
The One Who designed and shaped the world
Has decreed for each act a return in kind:
In good for good; in evil for evil.
Briefly, wrongdoers may flout good counsel;
Finally, justice will have its day.
The fat that builds up from greed and from theft
Will burn at length in a fire of judgment;
Nothing but smoke will remain in the end
Of what one has done apart from our God.
The one who borrows and means to default
May laugh and dance in a time of grace,
But will mourn at the words, "Your payment is due!"

For those, however, who seek to do good,
Desire the truth, and bow to their God,
The road ahead will reach salvation.
Rescue will come from the Throne on high
To those who call on the One in faith.
The world is the work of the hands of our God,
Who retains the title to all that is,
Whatever voices of evil may claim.
Our God will give the wicked nothing—
Darkness and death, not life and light!
To others, however, humble and trusting,
Setting their Maker above all else,
Our God will give the status of heirs
Who share a world created for good.
If we trust our God amid the darkness,
Heaven will bless us at length with light.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Until the Bill Comes Due

Meaning in Psalm 36

Alfred D. Byrd

MANY who treasure the world too much
Have said in their heart, "The One is nothing."
Finding the laws of our God restrictive
(Keeping the strong from robbing the weak),
They cross the line and do as they will.
If they gain the present, the future may rot.
The ones who cling to the world remember
Flattering speeches instead of the truth.
"You're a man who grasps just how the world is:
You're out for yourself, and you'll do what it takes
To reach the top and enjoy the best.
Go eat and drink up! Tomorrow, you'll die."
The man who gets fooled will stay awake
And think in bed of what he can do
To gain advantage over his neighbors:
"Evil is good if it yields success."
Until the bill for one's sins comes due,
What's wrong can yield one a season of glee.

Above all others, however, there stands
The Righteous, the Faithful, the Loving — the Judge.
To those who seek their Maker's shadow
(Heaven's wingspread is shelter and shade),
The One will give the water of joy
And the food of the Word that proclaims the truth.
To those, however, who trust themselves,
Prideful actions will bring destruction.
Heaven has willed for evil to end;
The hateful will fall, unable to rise.

Each soul awoken by God to life
Must choose within it evil or good.
If you wish to live in the truth, you must seek
The fountain of life that flows from the One
And drink of water that quenches all thirst.
The water is life, the life of the One,
The life that fills believers with light.
The One is the Light, amid which darkness
Vanishes, leaving no image behind.
When we see the light of the One unveiled,
We'll recall no longer our loss and our pain,
The fruits of evil confined to this world,
But we'll know our hope in the Word to be true,
And we'll sing evermore in praise of our God.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Apart from Evil and Death

Meaning in Psalm 35

Alfred D. Byrd

LET US call out together in praise,
"No other is like the One, our God!"
Without beginning, without an end,
Alone the Maker of heavens and earth,
The One is apart from evil and death.
A worker of wonders, fearsome and awesome,
Heaven's ruler grows angry at sin,
But greets with joy the one who repents,
Rejecting darkness in favor of light.
In the end, our God will rescue the weak
From the hands of the strong who prey on despair.

The ones of us who have turned from our past
Desire in our heart to be like our God
In showing mercy and kindness to others
Fallen in evil and feeling unloved.
At our best, when we yield our hearts to the truth,
We weep for others as much as ourselves.
When we hear of harms and of grief in the world,
We deny our bodies pleasure and comfort.
Kneeling in prayer until we are heard,
We rise to give the clothes on our back
To those who wander, tasting disaster.

Many, however, answer our kindness—
Evil for good — with fear and with hate.
Without a cause in terms of the truth
(Perhaps the light brings pain to their eyes),
They watch our steps and seek to trap us,
Heedless of danger, whenever we slip
As creatures of flesh are prone to do.
If we fail to fall, our foes will lie,
Accusing the guiltless of shame and deceit
To end the reproach of lives lived well
Against the one who prefers a pigsty.
Sometimes, we, too, must face disaster;
No one escapes the griefs of this world.
Whenever we suffer, guilty or guiltless,
Enemies mock us, holy, yet hurt.
It seems to our fears that we serve as food
To those who honor cannibal instincts,
Preying on humans, helpless and weak.

How good it would be for those who hate us,
Mercy prevailing, to open their eyes
And be filled with light that changes their lives!
From foes to friends, from killers to kin,
Our God can turn the doers of evil.
Nothing can part from the love of the One
The one who listens to words of the truth.
To those, however, who choose the darkness,
Sudden destruction will come unforeseen.
The one who has set a trap will spring it—
Victim, not victor, the trapper will be!
The one who mocks will mourn for evils
Funny in others, but foul to oneself.
Confusion will come to those who were sure
Of paying no debt for laughing at light.
In the end, the haters of truth will be
Like dust on the wind, untreasured and lost.

To those of us who have called on our God
To come to our aid amid misfortune,
Rescue will come, though we have to wait long.
(A lifetime may be to the One but a day,
But to us is endless when filled with grief.)
Our God will open the jaws of our trap
And free us to follow the path to the Throne.
Our God will heal our wounds and fill us,
Holy vessels created for good,
With joy poured out in praise of the One.

In the day of our God, when we see the light
Undimmed by darkness, unsullied by evil,
Nothing but songs of praise can express
The love that we feel for the One on the Throne.
Assembled together unfettered by fear,
But joined as one by faith and by hope,
We proclaim evermore the goodness of God.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

The Exile Returned

Meaning in Psalm 34

Alfred D. Byrd

DRIVEN away from his home and from God,
An exile destined to rule his people
Groveled before a king of strangers.
Hoping to find acceptance, a refuge—
Somewhere to linger apart from his foes—
The exile received, however, rejection.
Even foreigners called him accursed.
In the night of his soul, in the depths of despair,
The exile returned to his faith in the One
And called on his God in hope and in trust.
Our God would listen! The exile would find
A path that led on to the throne of promise.
Here is a song of that man of faith.

"ANSWER a question! Who is the one
Who wants to live on because there's good
In a world that shows us often but evil?
The one who lives on is the one who trusts,
Though it seems to some that we have no hope,
In our God to hear and answer our cries
For rescue from those who despise the truth.

"The truth is simple: the One is fearsome,
Able to do whatever is needed.
Rescue will come to those who bow down;
Judgment, to those who stand defiant.
Fearing the One Who can do all things
Is the path of reason leading to life.
For the one who turns away from darkness—
Evil's abode, where we win for a while,
But come up empty paying the bill—
And seeks the light of our God, the Maker,
Blessings below and above await.
The evil, however, are empty of hope:
What they do will be done in turn to them,
And none will recall their deeds when they're gone."

("Not a bone," the exile told us, "will break
In those delivered by God from the world."
The exile's promise would find fulfillment
Centuries later within Messiah.
Falsely accused and tortured to death,
He stayed intact throughout His ordeal
Until He chose to send His spirit
Heavenward, having completed its work
Of making a way from darkness to light
For all who will call on His Name in faith.
Messiah has shared our pain and our grief,
And wishes for us to share in His joy.)

"BECAUSE the One is Light and is Love,
And because our God will listen and act,
I'll sing of the Name of God forever.
Join me, brothers and sisters of faith,
In shouting the Name of God so loudly
(Lovers are known for showing their love)
That it shakes the world from sloth and from sleep
And brings the humble, broken in heart,
To a place of healing and joy with our God!"

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Our God Spoke Out

Meaning in Psalm 33

Alfred D. Byrd

FOREMOST of truths of the One is this:
Our God spoke out, and the worlds became.
The heavens above and the earth below
Appeared at a word, a command, from on high.
From nothing, the One has made all that is,
From the heights of the stars to the depths of the seas,
As a home for life that serves its Maker.
Even our hearts were shaped by our God
To perceive the light, to obey the law.
Before we were made, our God had planned
The goal of our lives. The plan will prosper!

Many, however, have failed to perceive
The scale of being. They see themselves—
They're giants, perhaps, in a world of dwarfs—
As able to do whatever they wish.
A man may seem tall until he stands
Beside a mountain — much less beside God!
The ones whom we choose to lead us may trust
In guns and in tanks, in planes and in bombs,
To keep us secure, to make us mighty.
Weapons, however, can do no good
Against a force of decay from within;
Our God will make whatever empire
Topple at last, dominion over.

Only the one who trusts in the One
Will reach the goal apart from sorrow.
Only the nation that honors the law
Of justice and truth can be secure
Amid a world of greed and of lies.
The One Who made us and loves us watches,
Keeping an eye on all that goes on,
To free the loved ones from hardship, from death.
Our God is a shield for those who trust,
But a sword against the ones who defy,
The word of truth: our God is the One!
Whatever we do, for good or for bad,
Goes on beneath the eye of our God:
Let's do what's righteous to please the One
Who is First and Last, without an equal.

Heaven has blessed us with music, with song.
Let us use these gifts to honor the One
Who gave us voices for use in praise.
Let's play with skill, let's sing with delight
Of the One Whose word is faithful and true.
Let's sing with love of the One Who is Love,
The love that's made and sustains our lives—
The love that gives us a life without end!

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Forgiveness of Wrongs

Meaning in Psalm 32

Alfred D. Byrd

HAPPY are we when we get from God
Forgiveness of wrongs that we think or do.
We were made for good, but have turned aside
To seek whatever pleases our eyes.
What leads us astray need not be evil:
Excess of good can put us to death,
And things that are good in their place and time
Can be our bane when we leave the path
Designed to lead us safely to God.
Whatever we do that ends in grief,
We do with things made good by the One
Whose light we ignore and Whose gifts we abuse.
When we see a sign that says, "Don't do it,"
Something within us bids us rebel
Against a law to keep us from harm.
At our worst, we become, apart from God,
Like beasts of burden — horses or mules—
Led on by a bit that tugs us wherever
Sinful master desires us to go.

Amid a life devoted to self,
The ones beloved of God receive
Unpleasant summonses calling us homeward.
Holding our peace when we look at wrongs,
And praising those wrongs with word and with deed,
We feel in our hearts the goad of God—
A goad that drives us to reach a place
Where we see what's true — and ourselves as false!
Unable longer to flout the truth,
We cry, "We've fallen! We're lost to what's right
Unless, our God, You've made us a way
To turn from our dark to the Light that is You."

How happy are we because, out of love,
The One Who made us also redeemed us!
Innocent, precious, the blood of a lamb
Has covered our sins from the sight of God—
The blood of the Lamb has washed us and made us
Holy and spotless, able to stand
Accused of no wrong before the throne
Where we see the Light, our God, revealed.
The Throne provides for us a refuge—
Nothing evil abides the Presence,
Awesome and pure, of the One Who is all—
From a world condemned to be purged by fire
To end what's wrong and to show what's right.
Let's say to each one who comes from darkness,
"Follow the path that leads to the Throne!
Don't look aside to left or to right;
You'll stray and stumble, either direction.
Only ahead will you find your goal,
A place for praising our God with joy.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

To Trust in Follies

Meaning in Psalm 31

Alfred D. Byrd

MANY of us have languished in troubles
Making our lives too harsh to be borne.
The world around us despises our faith
In a God perceived as absent or cold.
The world prefers to trust in follies,
Empty promises, glitter and gloss.
To those who look no further ahead,
Today is all the time that exists.
The here and now is all that matters;
Nothing is left for the world to come.
The ones caught up in buying and selling
Slander the lives of persons of faith
And lay a net to catch us in deeds
For which the world can put us to death.

Within the world, we have no refuge.
Battered and broken, we wander about
And sigh for how weak our hands have become.
When we look for help, our neighbors run off,
Afraid of our faith, though it seems to them
No more than the cause of our pain and grief.
To be in the world without our God
Is to feel forgotten, destined for death.
If we had no hope beyond this world,
How empty and useless our lives would be!

Rejoice! There is hope beyond this world.
When we call to God amid our sorrows,
Heaven opens, and blessings come down
On lives redeemed and restored to hope
By love that defeats the lies of the world.
Amid its testings, we find a refuge—
Heavenly fortress, a rock of strength—
On which we can stand while we sing from the heart,
"The goodness of God is too great to be told."
Because our God is both Light and Love,
The pride of the world will come to nothing;
Heaven will reign, and the truth will prevail.

We yield our spirits to God in faith
Because our God has known our sorrows.
Sending a life of the One among us—
Taking our likeness, the Life endured
A life of testing, a death of shame
To raise the fallen to hope on high—
Our God has felt each pain that we face,
And has made a way of escape for all
Who turn from darkness to light that shines
Forever undimmed in the house of faith.

In days gone by, we would curse our foes
And ask our God to put them to death.
The triumph of Love, however, gives us
Courage to bless the ones who curse us.
Enemies, heaven can turn to friends
When we find within us the will to forgive
And the words to ask our God to send
The Spirit of Light into hearts grown dark.
The will and the words are gifts from our God.
We were once, ourselves, the foes of the One;
We are now, through our God, the children of light.
May You send, our God, Your light to those
Who wander in darkness, and turn them about
To bring them, renewed and transformed, to You
As children of light, our friends in the truth!

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Giver of Life

Meaning in Psalm 30

Alfred D. Byrd

CHILDREN of light that comes from the One,
Let us sing our praises of God, our ruler,
Giver of life and shaper of living—
Singing of God is why we are here!
Remember each breath the One Who lives
Above all darkness, despair, and grief,
And has set the children of light apart
From death in life to life in the truth.

The truth is easy for us to lose
Amid the world of cares around us.
Seeing the world with eyes of flesh,
We look at evil and fear its triumph.
Nothing, it strikes us, can stop the march
Of greed and hatred to seizing a throne.
We fear the silence of death and the grave—
Confined to a box, we'll lack the strength
To raise our hands or our voice to God—
And we let despair deprive us of hope.

The night's embrace enfolds us in terrors
Making the mighty cry out like a child,
But morning will come, and then we'll rejoice
To see the light disperse all phantoms—
Frightful when glimpsed, but weak when revealed.
The face of God grows angry at lies—
At seeds of darkness that sprout in shame
And yield a harvest of evil and death.
The One, however, by nature is love.
The face of God is ready to change:
To show forgiveness — a smile of hope—
To all who turn from lies to the truth.

By turning from God, we have made our lives
A life in death and a death to the truth,
But this death need not be the end of hope.
In this death, we can still receive from God
The eyes of spirit that see past the grave.
We receive from the One unclaimed by death
The will and the strength to send our pleas
To the King Who sits on the Throne on high
For mercy, forgiveness, and life renewed.
The One rewards sincere repentance—
Turning away from lies to the truth—
By taking a life that has lived for itself
Within the circle of life on high.

The truth is plain to the one who hears:
Our lives are not our own, but the One's.
By right, the made must serve the Maker.
Only a life that is lived for God
Endures forever untouched by death.
To live in the light, reject your darkness—
Nothing within it will earn a reward—
And accept the life that comes from the Throne—
A life of praising the glory of God!

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Beauty and Terror

Meaning in Psalm 29

Alfred D. Byrd

LET US GIVE to God the praise that is due
The One Who made both heavens and earth.
All creatures — humans or angels — are dust
Before the King Who sits on the Throne.
The glory of God exceeds description.
Beauty and terror unite as one
In the face of our God — in the rays of light
That pierce the veil that shields our gaze
From splendor too great for our eyes to bear.
(To see the Maker unveiled would be
The moment of death for flesh and blood.)

When we see our God appear before us,
Earthquake and storm assail our senses.
Treetops bow down, and mountains tremble—
Mighty on earth, to heaven they're weak—
Whenever the voice of God is heard.
Our God has made both mountains and trees
To withstand the tests of sun and of rain,
But has brought a flood upon the land
To sweep them away, and someday will send
A testing of fire to measure the worth
Of all that exists. The dross will burn,
But ore that is true will last forever,
Precious to God, in sight of the Throne.
The one who is weak before the Maker
Gathers a blessing of guidance and strength.

When we turn our thoughts to the One on high,
Our voices should break at once into song.
If we see our God as high and mighty,
Nothing on earth should keep us from saying,
"Glory belongs to the One alone!"
As we leave the things of this world behind us
(Baggage slows us en route to our goal),
Let us speed our steps towards the Throne
On which the One presides in glory
Over a throne room, the temple of light,
In which the ones who bow will be raised
To the heights of hope — to a home of peace.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

A Silence Coming from Heaven

Meaning in Psalm 28

Alfred D. Byrd

SOMETIMES, our God appears to be deaf
To our cries for help in times of grief.
We dread a silence coming from heaven:
Only the grave, we fear, awaits us—
Creatures of flesh whose lifespan is brief—
If we get no word from the One on high.

We seem at times to be one with the lost—
With those who are blind to the light of God
And go their own way to do what seems right
In the eyes of those who see death as the end.
They may smile at us and call us their friends,
But need or greed will make them our rivals,
Taking our goods or our lives for themselves
To feed the moment — forever be scorned!

If we see our lusts as pets to be fed
And spurn the future for thrills of the now,
We have no cause to complain of woes
That come when we see the future arrive
To test the works that we build today.
How easy it is to break and to burn;
How hard it is to build and to learn!
The One has told us, "The one who sows
Will reap a harvest of what is sown.
What is sown to darkness will end in death;
What's sown to the light will blossom with life!"

Both we who mourn and those who mock us
Needn't despair. The One remembers
Children of flesh and has opened a way
For all to turn from gloom to the light.
To God, both righteous and wicked are kinsmen
Needing only forgiveness for peace.

Beyond the darkness that fills this world
Resides forever the light of the Throne—
The place of the One, the goal of hope—
To which we all who are lost in this world
Can turn our gaze and find acceptance.
Heaven is open to all who seek it.
Shepherd, Fortress, and Giver of gifts—
The One, our God, awaits our response.
To those who persist in raising their hands
To the Throne of light, the temple of hope,
Will come a call to advance to receive
The blessings of light in a home of peace.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Heaven Sends Us the Light

Meaning in Psalm 27

Alfred D. Byrd

HEAVEN sends us the light of the One—
A light like the sun's, but more than that;
The light shines on throughout the darkness:
Nothing can dim the light from the Throne!
The light of God allows us to see,
Enables the weak to rise from falls,
And restores our lives as gifts of love.

At times, however, the light is veiled.
We cry in despair, "Our God is gone!"
The way ahead is wrapped in darkness
Holding terror for those who wander,
Leaving the path that leads to the Throne.
A world in darkness suffers from war,
The siege of the weak by those whose strength
Is to cut with lies the ties of truth
And to eat the flesh of those defamed.
To tell a lie is to take a life;
To take a life is to end a world.

In darkness the love that binds all things
Is missed, and sorrow can end our joy.
We turn the love of parents to hate:
Abuse, desertion, neglect — they're real!
They turn the hearts of children bitter,
Seeking revenge on a world of grief
And spurning a god that goes unseen.
What upsets a home upsets the world:
The heart that sees revenge as a right
Is the hand that lights the fuse of war.

Despair, however, can end in hope
Because the One remembers the lost.
Within the darkness, some hear a call
To turn from lies to the light of truth.
Within the darkness, some call to God
For mercy and grace — release from fear!
A glimmer reveals a path ahead—
A path that leads a seeker onward
Through traps that lie to left or to right
Away from war to a place of peace—
The place where we see our God revealed!

A refuge is there for all who come
To ask for pardon for lies once lived
And to claim the gift of love restored.
A tent provides the weak with shelter.
Scorching sunlight, unbridled tempests—
Neither can touch the guests of the One.
A temple on high awaits the eyes
Of those who look for the path of truth
And follow, trusting the light as guide.
The beauty of God awaits the eyes
Of all who come in faith to the Throne.
The ones who see the King in glory
Never will cease to sing from delight.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

The Children Created in Love

Meaning in Psalm 25

Alfred D. Byrd

SEATED in glory above the world,
The One is holy, apart from wrong,
And calls the children created in love
To walk on a path of truth and of peace—
A path that runs straight and lies in the light.
Our God has revealed to us, those children,
Teachings of truth to guide a journey
Ending in light at the Throne on high,
But we too often have gone astray,
Desiring the lies provided by darkness—
Blessings to blindness, but curses to sight!

In fire of youth, in folly of age—
Whenever we take our eyes from our God
To look with longing on things of the earth
And let them replace our God in our heart,
We miss the mark and stray from the path,
And we live in danger of judgment — of death.
Compassion arrives from the One on the Throne!
Our God remembers how weak we are
And has made a way for us to escape
The snare of death that awaits our deeds.
By turning from darkness to light, we receive
Both mercy and grace, which spare us and spur us—
Mercy commuting a sentence of death
And grace restoring the guilty to love.

Our path through life is far from easy.
Sorrow can find us wherever we go.
The world opposes the truth of the One
And seeks to darken the light that guides us.
Enemies eager to see us fall down
Are watching our steps and laugh when we slip.
If we lived on our own, our steps would falter;
Only our God can lead us safely,
Children who take a hand that they trust
To stay at their side whatever the danger.
Safety resides in the One alone!
The nets spread out by the world for our feet
Will not wrap around us if we keep our eyes
On the light that guides us — the light of the One.

The meek will find a way to the Throne—
The meek, not weak, but strong in their faith
In the One Who made them and saved them from death.
The secret of God is learned through awe
Of the One Who lives forever unchanging,
Never beginning, never ending,
Perfect alone, but Maker of all!
The One has made a promise to all
Who call with trust on the Name That is true:
Our path, though hard, will not end in death,
But will run through darkness to reach the Throne,
The place of light, of life, and of love
Forever reserved for the children of God.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

The Source of All Things

Meaning in Psalm 24

Alfred D. Byrd

NOTHING but God belongs to itself.
The One Who made both heaven and earth
Is owner of both and King of all.
Beside the Throne at the heart of heaven,
Cherubim, spirits of fire, adore
The One, their Maker, the Source of all things.
The stars and their worlds belong to the One;
The winds and the clouds obey their Maker;
Rivers and seas respond to the will
Of the One Who founded the earth upon them.
Even the humans who say, "We're free!"
Have freedom only because the One
Produced them from dust and filled them with breath.
Our lives are gifts from our King on high.

The One didn't turn aside from the earth,
Or leave us humans without instruction.
Loving the creatures summoned to life,
The One has built a house of worship—
Temple of God, a focus for love—
Amid our darkness to call us to light.
Whoever desires the light may come
To see the Presence of truth and of peace.
The one whose heart belongs to the king
And whose hands are free of blood and of guilt
Is welcome to join the song of praise
For the One who gave us the light for guidance.
No one, however, arrives on one's own:
The one who comes to praise and to serve
Obeys a call that comes from the One
And answers that call with the gift of faith
Created by God to seal us to love.
A Face of light, of truth, and of peace
Forever illumines children of God.

As we stand beside the gateway of praise,
A song is starting. The King is coming!
Lift up your heads to look at glory,
Heaven on earth, fulfillment of hope!
Processions of angels serving their Maker
Herald the Throne where sits the King,
The One, the being of light eternal
Too bright for eyes of flesh to behold.
Beside the Throne, but One with the Light,
Messiah has come to hand down justice.
Conquering evil and serving the good,
The King, our King, has finished a work
Begun before time for the sake of love.
The King has entered the temple, and we
Who have watched our King arrive may follow,
Coming to live forever in light
And to sing the praise of the One Who is all.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

The Shepherd Coming in Love

Meaning in Psalm 23

Alfred D. Byrd

WE ALL like sheep have wandered away
And placed ourselves in the hands of foes
Who steal our fleece and dine on our flesh.
We've lost the way to heaven's temple.
Shadows of doubt and shadows of fear
Have filled our hearts with the dread of death,
The loss of God amid the darkness
Destined for all who reject the light.
Within the shadow, order is lost:
The wrong is called right, and right seems wrong.

Our hope was gone until the Shepherd,
Coming in love, conveyed us to light.
He searched for us until He found us
Scattered beneath the clouds of despair.
He lifted our lives from doubt and fear
To hold us closely under His heart.
Aware of the needs of sheep just saved,
He carries the weak and leads the strong
Along a pathway both true and straight
Until the flock together reaches
Fountains of water of life from God.

(The One Who came is called Messiah,
Heavenly Shepherd Who gave His life
To save the sheep for the sake of love.
A Lamb Himself, He suffered our death
And rose to give us the hope of life.
Ascended on high, He builds a fold
For all who come like sheep at His call
To become His flock and share His love.
When He comes to lead His flock on high,
The Shepherd will wipe away our tears,
And we will see Him upon a throne
And give Him our praise, the fruit of love.)

The Shepherd prepares for us a feast
At which our foes, still lost in the dark,
May gape in wonder, or mock in scorn,
But God will make our table secure.
(Perhaps, the Lamb Who led us to light
Will turn our foes into sheep like us.
If we love the One Who saves the sheep,
We pray for others to know His love.)
The table is filled with food of God:
The bread, the body of death made life,
That sustains the life of all who eat;
The wine, the blood of the grape poured out,
That becomes for all who drink delight;
And oil, the sign of heaven's Spirit
Making our faces glisten with health.
Sustained by God, we fear no evil.
Earthly sorrow is heaven's reward:
The temple of God will be our home.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Living in Light

Meaning in Psalm 22

Alfred D. Byrd

THE ONE, our God, the Maker, is holy,
Living in light that reveals the truth:
The One is unique, without an equal.

Praises of angels and praises of humans,
The Maker's creatures who know of the One,
Resound forever before the King
Who sits on the Throne at the heart of all.
The ones who trust in the One Who made them —
Crying to God in times of trouble,
Faithful servants of God are heard —
Receive salvation, freedom from fear
Of sins as chains, or of death as the end.

The One is holy, but humans have fallen,
Going astray from light to darkness.
Seeing passing delights of the world,
The eyes of mortals lose sight of God,
And the feet of mortals wander on roads
That end one's journey only in death.
From worship of God, we humans have turned
To worship of things that make us seem great.
From service to God, we humans have turned
To ruling the earth — to making others
Subjects or slaves, the weak to the strong.

The One Who made us has not, however,
Left us alone to perish in darkness.
Loving us always despite our fall,
The One has sent us, to save us, a Shepherd,
Making a way for sheep that have strayed
To come to safety beneath His staff.

A few who met the Shepherd rejoiced
At seeing His light, the light of heaven
Carried to earth to guide our steps
Away from darkness to light eternal.
Others, however — the many, the proud —
Rejected the Shepherd, hated for calling
Hypocrites persons who treasure the dark.
A world of worship focused on self
And a world of rulers focused on power
Mingled their wills to put out the light
Of the One Who came with freedom from darkness.

Evil has found a time to be strong.
The Shepherd is seized! Like beasts of the field
That feast on death or that hunt for lives,
The children of darkness, both priests and rulers,
Fasten the Shepherd in chains and take Him,
Innocent victim, declared by judges
Guilty of deeds that are right to God.

A death of shame awaits the Shepherd.
Carrying something of what will kill Him ‐
Timber, once living, reshaped for death! —
He staggers onward to heights of scorn.
The ones who are blind to the light of God
Are mocking the Light Who walks among them.
Heaven begot Him, virgin conceived Him —
None of this matters to those who desire
To see the Shepherd forever silenced.

(Many today consider one nation
Guilty alone of killing its King.
The ones who say so are blind to the truth:
They, too, took part, through lies and through crimes,
Of putting to death their King, the Shepherd.)

Clothing removed is used as a prize
In a game of chance for those who gamble,
Caring nothing for nails that have pierced
The hands and the feet of the One Who loves,
Despite their hatred, the ones who hurt Him.
Darkness is hiding the light today.
They raise Him aloft for the world to see
The response of darkness to light and to truth.
The ears of the world mishear when He cries,
"My God, my God, You have left My side!"
They think, "He knows, 'My cause has been lost,'"
But they fail to perceive the will of heaven:
Something other than what they have planned
Has occurred before their eyes this day.

The One has sent the Shepherd to die
To pay the debt to justice of humans
Flouting their God, but summoned to turn
From darkness to light when they hear the Word.
The Word? The Shepherd has risen from death.
The hand of God has brought renewal,
Rescue from dark and from death for all
Who accept the message of peace with God.

Although for now corruption goes on
With rulers of death and with priests of lies
In charge of a world that takes its own path,
The ones who serve the Shepherd arisen
Savor a promise given by God:
The reign of evil is not eternal;
Heaven looks on, and has set a time
For kings and for priests to fall from their thrones,
And for God alone to reign unchallenged,
Welcoming children once dead back to life.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.