AN ANCHOR, A ROCK

Meaning in Psalm 124

Alfred D. Byrd

FACING the world is hardly a task
To be done alone, deprived of aid.
Around our feet there rises a flood
Of anger of those who hate our ways.
Unless we have an anchor, a rock,
We'll be swept away like leaves afloat.
Perhaps, it's better to say, "Our foes
Resemble a beast that hunts with fangs
And claws to rip the helpless apart.
They long to sink their teeth in our flesh
And take what's ours to fatten themselves."

WE'RE LIKE a bird that's caught in a net —
Deprived of flight, we flutter in vain —
Unless we find ourselves a helper.
Bitter are those who fight on their own!
What better helper than God, Who made
Both heaven and earth with words of might?
Unless our God appears at our side
When we face attack by foes gone wrong,
We'll fall, unable to rise again.
Let those of God, the Chosen, reply,
"Without our Savior, our God, we'd fall."

Four hundred years of silence was broken.

The Bible's Hidden Years

TROUBLES SWARMING LIKE FLIES

Meaning in Psalm 123

Alfred D. Byrd

MERCY is what we ask from our God
Because of troubles swarming like flies.
The Light has told us, "Do right by all
And honor the King Who sits on high,
On a throne above the world's deceits,"
But evil is here, and things go wrong.
We wish that we stood before the Throne,
Where we'd see no shame and feel no pain,
But here, in a world that mocks what's right,
We face injustice from those on top.
We see a world awash in error.
Many are doomed to toil for little;
Others are carefree, showing contempt
For those who give them pleasure and praise.
It's hard to detect the hand of God
When we see the proud and vain at ease.

WE NEED to claim a sense of mission.
Servants of God is what we should be.
Like soldiers summoned to stand in line
To hear their sergeant giving orders,
Children of God should study the Word
And beg their Maker for light to see
The good that we have a chance to do.
In serving our God, we reign as kings.
The way of the world will end in death,
But God gives life beyond destruction.
Mercy is part of the heart of God.

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

The Stars Bow Down

A ROAD THAT ENDS IN CONFLICT

Meaning in Psalm 122

Alfred D. Byrd

CITY of Peace is the name of where
Our God has chosen to build a house.
The temple of God was where we came
To offer praises, the fruit of love,
To the One Who spoke to us the Law.
Our judges, nobles, David's children,
Taught us to do what's pleasing to God
And just to neighbors who share the Land.
The Children of God who shared the Land
Came up to look at City of Peace
And bring their gifts to the House of God.
As long as worship, justice, and love
Inspired the people, the Land knew peace.
What's right with God was good for the Land
And those who shared it, Children of God.

WITHIN an apple, one finds a worm.
The will to do what pleases oneself
Defeated the will to please our God.
The people forgot the ways of peace
And took a road that ends in conflict.
Weakness within is weakness without.
The lands around us, seeing our wounds,
Moved in to finish the work of sin.
The temple of God, they sacked and burned;
They left no hope in City of Peace.
We walk these days a road of exile;
Nowhere is home while we seek our God.

OUR GOD has left the lost a blessing:
City of Peace remains in our heart.
We long to see the temple rebuilt;
We long to see unselfish judges
Speaking the Law to all who will come
To offer praises to God, our King.
Let all who honor the law of God
Kneel down to ask the King, our Savior,
"Hurry! Rebuild the temple, Your house,
And bring together from near and far
All lives that honor Your way of peace
To give You worship — to serve the King!"

A Teenage Girl's Adventure in Ancient Egypt

Asenath's Tale

THE SUN BEATS DOWN

Meaning in Psalm 121

Alfred D. Byrd

MOUNTAINS of worry bear down on us
When we face a world gone wrong, at war
With justice, with truth — with life itself.
We fight, but fail to end the conflict.
Nothing beneath the sun can help us.
Surely, we'll fail, unless we receive
A help from above, beyond this world.

OUR HELP is God, the Maker of all.
The One Who made both earth and heavens
Knows them too well for their plan to fail.
Our God is a guard who fights for us.
Police and soldiers must sleep at times,
But God is watching by day and night.
Our God is shade on a day of heat
When we feel the sun like flame on flesh.
The sun beats down, but our God bears up
Whoever will sit beneath the shade.

OUR GOD protects our lives from evil.
Hardships may come and test our faith,
But the one who puts one's trust in God
Will find relief, both now and now on.

The story of Divine Light as revealed by Hebrew and Christian Scripture.

The Light