Evil Won't Have Its Way

Meaning in Psalm 53

Alfred D. Byrd

SOMEONE who wants to live for himself
Will deny the claims of God above him.
Hardship for others is often the price
That he pays without thought to have his own way.
Tomorrow, for death; today, for pleasure!

Looking below from the Throne on high,
Our God desires to see a people
Living with wisdom in peace born of love.
Instead, what meet the eye of our God
Are hatred, bloodshed, deceit, and grief.
A people created to share in joy
A world that God Made as a home for life
Has turned aside from the path of hope
To fight in darkness a war of despair.

The children who follow the path of light—
The children who come at the call of God—
Have been the victims of those who spurn
The light of God for the lure of darkness.
Slandered, plundered, beaten, and murdered,
Children of God are nothing but food
To those who hunger to live for themselves.

Can we face such a world and not live in fear?
Our God has said, "What you fear is nothing."
Evil won't have its way forever;
Justice will come when we see our King.
Today is a day of pain and sorrow.
Seemingly endless, minutes tick by.
At a time, however, chosen by God,
The ones who've lived without love or shame
Will be swept away like dust on the wind.

"How soon?" the victims of evil cry out.
In a time of pain, we can think of nothing
Other than finding a way to relief.
Indeed, the time of pain may linger;
Abraham's children have suffered so long!
Our God, however, has granted a space
For lovers of self to turn from their ways
To the path that runs to the home of peace.
The ones made captive by lovers of self
And the ones made captive by love of themselves
Will be freed by God to live in the truth.
United with all who've turned to the light,
We'll rejoice to see the day 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.