LOVE IN RETURN

Meaning in Psalm 117

Alfred D. Byrd

NATIONS may speak of gods of their own,
But God, the Maker of heavens and earth,
Has made all lands and belongs to all.
Give praise to the One Who made all things
From love that seeks but love in return.
Give thanks because our God shows mercy,
Giving the ones who turn from evil
Welcome and healing — chances for good!
Although we err, our God is faithful,
Keeping promises, even to us
Who spurn our God and wander astray.
If we had to stand on what we do,
We'd surely stumble, but God is here
To lead us from gloom to halls of light.
Give praise to God, the Giver of life.

Faith and reason in the ancient court of Athens.

MARS HILL: Paul v. The Philosophers

KEEPING PROMISES

Meaning in Psalm 115

Alfred D. Byrd

GLORY belongs, not to us, but to God,
The One Whose Name, I Am, is holy,
Speaking of life as the source of life.
Our God is love; our God is faithful,
Keeping promises offered to us
Although we've wandered, courting judgment.
Skeptics may ask us, "Just where is God?"
Our God is far, as high as the stars;
Our God is near, as close as our hearts.
Our God has chosen a path of works
Without the need for advice from us.

ALTHOUGH the One is the same for all,
How many have turned aside to lies!
Let's think of those who worship idols,
Empty creations, but filled, some say,
With spirits called down from gods on high.
Let's think of those who worship humans,
Idols of fame from wealth and good looks.
Their fame is fleeting; their star will fall —
A streak in the west, and then its's gone.
Whatever we serve apart from God
Will fail in the end and leave us no hope.

OUR GOD set free a nation of slaves
To gain a land, a temple — a king.
Our God made priests, the sons of Aaron,
Serving the King with praises and gifts.
For priests and people, our God was there,
A help in hardship — a shield from harm.
To all who trust in the King on high,
Our God is still a help and a shield.
Our God remembers; our God will bless
The nation of slaves, the house of priests,
And all who worship the One, the King.

THE HEAVENS belong to God alone;
The earth, our God has given to us
To tend with love as a house of praise
For the One Who made both sky and land —
For God, the Giver of life and health!
Don't wait for death to worship the One,
But use your season beneath the clouds
To speak to God, to study the Law,
To come together to sing in praise,
And to do what's right from love of God.

An Epic of the Exile Who Rose to Rule an Empire to Save God's Children

The Stars Bow Down

TROUBLES HAVE PATTERNS

Meaning in Psalm 116

Alfred D. Byrd

THREATENED and worried by things gone wrong,
I yielded myself to pain — to grief.
(I speak for all who've known misfortune.
Troubles have patterns well known to most.
When we see good times turn sour, we know
A pain that's common to all who breathe —
The kind of pain that blinds us to hope.)
I felt deserted by kin and friends;
I told myself, "They're all just liars.
No one is standing by me these days."
I felt like one who's caught in a net
And waiting for death to come collect
A life that's gone back to dust and breath.

BAD TIMES can help us recall our God.
I thought of her who gave me my birth —
A servant of God who taught the Word
To make a servant of me like her.
Amid distress, I called on my God:
"Deliver my life to praise Your Name!"
Amid distress, my God remembered
Someone who'd fallen, but wished to rise.
Our God is far, the King on the Throne,
But also brings us mercy and peace.
Our God can dry the tears from our eyes
And set our feet on paths of service
Leading our lives to meaning in truth.

BECAUSE my God has redeemed my life,
I'll speak of love, the act of hearing
And helping others in grief and joy.
The way of the world is one of death,
But God is life to lovers of truth.
How happy are those who die in God
And know assurance of life preserved
Within the Source and the Goal of life!
To such a Goal, let's offer service.
Promises spoken, servants should keep
In praise of the One Whose Word is truth.
Let's come together to serve the King
Whose Throne preserves the City of Peace.

Four hundred years of silence was broken.

The Bible's Hidden Years

THE BRICKS AND CLAY OF EGYPT

Meaning in Psalm 114

Alfred D. Byrd

OFTEN, we lose our vision of God.
For much of life, each day is the same,
A chain of duties — a time of grief.
We awake, we work, we eat, we sleep —
What place has God in a world like this
Where we see the rich make fun of faith
And paupers, trusting, get by at best?

THE CHOSEN of God lived once as slaves
Who hauled the bricks and clay of Egypt.
Nothing had changed for decades on end
Until our God remodeled the world.
The day of God is a day of change.
A sea went dry, a mountain thundered —
Obstacles vanished before the One
Who spoke a law to form a nation.
Children of slaves would give birth to kings.
The children of God had left their chains
To find a future of hope with God.

THE WORKS of God are both great and small.
The One Who split the seas and the sky
Would also open a rock to give
A gift of water to ease the thirst
Of those who followed their God in faith.
The God Who sits on a throne on high
Can also come down to heal our wounds.
The One Who waits to redeem our lives
Will act at once when waiting is done.

An Epic of the Exile Who Rose to Rule an Empire to Save God's Children

The Stars Bow Down

GLORY DIMMING THE SUN

Meaning in Psalm 113

Alfred D. Byrd

ANSWER: What other is like our God?
The One Who made us from dust and breath
Resides in the heights upon a throne
From which an eye that misses nothing
Zealously watches heaven and earth.
Our God sees all, but none sees our God
Because of glory dimming the sun.
Before that glory, nations are winds
That blow for a time and then die down.

AMAZING to say: the God of heights
Is also the God Who comes below
To see our sorrows and meet our needs.
Our God can make the helpless prosper.
Finding an outcast dressing in rags
And sleeping beneath a bridge at night,
Our God can make the outcast a place
Among the wealthy, who rule the land.
Through God, the childless, living alone,
Can find a home with voices of love.

OUTCOME: Let all who honor the truth
Respond with voices of praise to God,
The One Whose Name is "Life Unending,
Maker of all, Sustainer, and Judge."
From dawn to dusk, let voices resound
With praise for God, our King and our Friend.

A Teenage Girl's Adventure in Ancient Egypt

Asenath's Tale