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.