OUR LOSS, THEIR GAIN!

Meaning in Psalm 143

Alfred D. Byrd

ENEMIES chase us from dawn to dusk
And give us no chance to sleep by night
Because our wealth, as poor as it is,
Can enhance their own. Our loss, their gain!
Like grain within a mill, they grind us;
Prisons of darkness will be our home
Unless we do whatever they say.
In lives like ours, what hope can we see
Unless our God will answer our pleas?

OUR GOD, please hear our request for help!
We ask because You're truthful and kind;
We ask because You've done for others
Wonderful actions worthy of praise.
You made all things with Your hands and breath;
You've kept a people faithful to You
Throughout misfortunes that kill the lost.
A god of mercy, the Giver of life,
Are You, in Whom we trust for rescue.

SAVE US, our God, from haters of right!
Our spirits, of breath that comes from You,
Are feeble, battered — ready to fail.
If You hide Your face from what we feel,
We'll be like corpses filling a grave.
We need to see Your mercy revealed.
On You, our Maker, heaven's Ruler,
Enemies stumble, losing their way.

OUR GOD, we know ourselves as sinful.
No one is perfect beneath Your gaze.
If You judge our hearts by law alone,
We'd all fall down, condemned by our lies.
Please spare our lives from judgment deserved;
Please teach us, our God, what's right with You.
Please lead us gently on paths of peace —
On paths of service, praising Your Name —
As far as the Throne from which You reign,
The King Whose Word is perfect in all.

Faith and reason in the ancient court of Athens.

MARS HILL: Paul v. The Philosophers

WHEN HE HID IN CAVES

Meaning in Psalm 142

Alfred D. Byrd

DAVID, chosen by God to be king,
Was having troubles. The man in charge,
A man of courage, but not of sense,
Desired his life and chased him with swords.
His death by Saul would end a promise
Spoken by God, and therefore secure,
But there seemed to him no hope of life
On nights of fear when he hid in caves.
In times of darkness, he called on God,
And God remembered, easing his fears
And sparing his life to gain a throne
That comes from God — the Maker's blessing:

"SOMETIMES, it seem to us that we live
In a world in which our lives don't count.
We feel like prey, as deer are to wolves;
Our foes pursue us from dusk to dawn.
When we say, 'We've found a place of rest,'
We spring a trap. Our foes are clever,
Blocking our path behind and ahead.
If we turn to fight,, we'll find our strength
Too little to make our foes retreat.
We're all alone. No help will arrive
From those who face distress of their own.
Our life's a prison without a door.

"IN DEPTHS of bondage, let's think of God.
Our God remembers. Our God will hear
Our cries from a heart in pain for help.
Our God, though far away, like the stars,
Is as near to us as life itself.
Our God understands how weak we are,
And listens with love to what we say.
Our God is a rock on which we stand;
Our God is better than gold for wealth.
The one who has the riches of God
Will find a place among the righteous,
Lovers of God rewarded with love."

Four hundred years of silence was broken.

The Bible's Hidden Years

TO SEEK OUR KING

Meaning in Psalm 141

Alfred D. Byrd

SOMETIMES, our lives get thrown out of step,
And we turn to God with cries for help.
Misfortune turns out to be our friend
When it leads our hearts to seek our King.
Let's pray to God, "Come quickly to us.
As we raise our hands to point to You,
Accept our words, though broken and strained,
As if a priest were burning incense,
Holy upon an altar of gold."

HOW MANY pathways lead us astray!
We need a guard to protect our mouths
From falling open with lies and hate.
The world around us bubbles and pops
With lovers of wrong, robbers and thieves,
Who prey on us and take our living —
Little, we have, yet it should be theirs —
Or, worse, they tempt us to take their path
And become at length far worse than they.

WE NEED a mentor to say, "Wake up!
If you go ahead like this, you'll fall.
Today is the time to change your life.
If you spurn what's wrong and choose what's right,
You'll be recalled as a friend of God."
The anger of friends does more for you,
If it leads your steps away from death,
Than the smiles of those who take your life.
Their way will lead them over a cliff.
They're planting their seed within a grave,
A place of beauty cluttered with bones,
And nothing will grow but weeds with thorns.

WE LOOK to you, our God and our King.
You offer refuge in times of storm.
Please keep our lives from shame and from death.
The ones who hate the light of your truth
Have littered the world with traps of lies.
It's only justice for those who trap
To be trapped in turn by what they've set.
Please keep us from traps — we set our own —
And lead us safely homewards to You.

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

The Stars Bow Down

LOVERS OF TRUTH

Meaning in Psalm 140

Alfred D. Byrd

KNOWING of God's protecting the weak
And granting justice to those in need
Should move the righteous, lovers of truth,
To praise their Maker and give their thanks
To the One Who fills the world with life.
The ones who love their Maker love peace,
But many will choose a way of war.
Protect us, our God, from those whose will
Is to break the peace, to start a fight,
To soil their neighbors with lies for gain —
To make the lives of others bitter.
Poisonous serpents, humans can be
When they sting a friend with words of shame.
Another likeness: trappers who set
A snare beside a path to deprive
A neighbor at peace of home and hope.
The world is heartless without our God
To light us a path to reach the Throne.

LET'S SAY to God, "We belong to You,
The Mighty to save, our Friend in fights.
Please hear our pleas for rescue from harm.
Don't give the haters of truth their way.
Success will feed their pride in evil.
Mocking their God, they'll grind their heel
Against the face of the poor and weak.
Please show the wicked how wrong they are
By turning their plans against themselves.
May they feel the heat and spring the trap
Intended for us who love what's right.
Defeat their evil and turn to good
The hearts of those who love to do wrong.
You win, our God, by changing a heart
From choosing darkness, hiding its deeds,
To seeking the light that comes from You."

A Teenage Girl's Adventure in Ancient Egypt

Asenath's Tale