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