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.