CRICKETS WHO CHIRP A SONG

Meaning in Psalm 109

Alfred D. Byrd

SOMETIMES, our lives are filled with sorrow.
Enemies curse us on left and right.
Their words are hateful, riddled with lies;
Their words accuse us of crimes and sins
Of which we're guiltless. No one will hear
Our plea to judge us by law and fact.
The ones who hate us welcome our fall.
They see us go down, made weak and poor.
We turn to tatters of what we were;
We shrink to crickets who chirp a song
Of being shadows swallowed in dusk.
The ones who watch are shaking their heads
At lives disturbed by the touch of death.

IT'S EASY for us, in times of pain,
To pray to God for vengeance on foes.
It's human to shout, "Give back to them
The pain and shame they they gave to us!
The one who made a widow from wife,
Let his wife become bereaved in turn!
The one who caused our children to cry,
Let him see children of his beg bread!
May he come before a court in chains
And hear a sentence paying his crimes
With life in prison — with death, with death!
Let none recall his name on the earth;
Let God recall his sins at the Throne
And make his name a stain and a stench!"

THE CHILDREN of God should pray for more
Than bad for bad. The world can do that.
Let's seek a revenge of good for bad.
The height of vengeance is love that wins
A heart from darkness to share the light.
If we pray for foes, let's pray in love
That sends a blessing to slay a curse.
May God deliver our foes from hate
To walk in the light and grow in love.
When we see a life redeemed from sin,
The life that hated the light is dead;
New life from God has replaced that life.
Where we saw a foe, there stands a friend
Who shares the work of praising our God.

If you're confused or overwhelmed with debates on the early Church, here are some clear, basic facts about it.

Trinity, Canon, and Constantine: Clear Light on the Early Church