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.