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.