Blinding and Pure

Meaning in Psalm 90

by Alfred D. Byrd

SOMETIMES, Maker of all, You scare us.
Nearer than heartbeats, farther than stars,
You give us our lives and plan our deaths,
Yet You, our God and our King, exist
Without a start, without a finish.
Thousands of years are like a whisper
Stirring the air, and fading, and gone
To You Who gave forever being.
Seeing Your glory, blinding and pure,
We wonder what gift can win Your praise.
The earth can't change the face of heaven.

Living outside of the reach of time,
Can You know the heart of us who die?
Our lives go past like dreams or nightmares.
Seventy summers — eighty, for some—
Comprise a lifetime beneath the sun.
Amid our joys, the gifts of Your love,
Misfortunes abound and blight our days.
We darken the world ourselves with sins
That strike Your sight like coal on linen.
Nothing escapes the vision of God.
Unless You show us mercy at last,
Our lives will end and count for nothing.

Never forget "Our God remembers"!
Darkness, our God can fill with the light.
The One Who has set the term of life
Can say to dust, "Revive and rejoice!"
The One Who said "Live!" says "Live again!"
Apart from God, we have no future;
Living with God, we share forever.

Maker, teach us to number our days.
They count for nothing apart from You.
Your look can change our darkness to light;
Your touch can change our sorrow to joy.
May You train our hearts to love Your will,
Our hands to do the works that will last—
The works that make our lives a temple
Bringing billions together as one
To sing the praise of You, Who are all.
You made our lives to seek Your glory.
Heaven is home to children of light.

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.