Heaven's Pureness

Meaning in Psalm 19

Alfred D. Byrd

TO ALL who can see, the heavens are signs
Of the One Who made all things by a word
That called from nothing both bodies and souls.
An expanse that displays by night the stars
And by day the blue of heaven's pureness
Tells us clearly, "The Great One is here!"
In speech without words, the heavens teach us—
Children of God, wherever we live—
Our Maker's glory, the highest of goods.

To all who can see, the sun is a sign
Of the eye of God, forever watchful,
Catching each deed of evil or good
By us who fill this world so briefly—
Pausing a moment, we're gone in a flash!
The vision of God resembles the sun,
Which moves, unhindered by things of the earth,
On circuits, unceasing, that span the globe,
And which burns, dispersing the clouds that obscure
The deeds of darkness in vain from the light.
Our God is the Light, the heat of which
Refines what's true, but destroys what's false.

From heaven, our God has sent us a word
Describing the way on which we must walk
If we hope to meet our God at its end.
The word is wisdom, rightness, and truth,
Providing knowledge that makes a fool
Who accepts that knowledge a teacher of light
Who can lead a seeker to meet our God.
Beside the light of the word of God,
Both rubies and gold are things of no worth.
The stones and metals that we love to hold
Are nothing but things of the here and now
Created by God to fulfill a role
In a plan in which all glory is God's.
Whoever would take the path of the Word
Must spurn the stones for the hand that made them—
Heaven, not earth, is the source of the light!

I confess to my shame that I fail to hold
The word of truth as well as I ought.
At times, I stumble, shifting my gaze
From the light of God to the darkness of earth.
My God, I need to recall, is the Rock
Beside which all else is shifting, unsafe—
The rock to which I must cling if I hope
To be saved from making darkness my end.
My God, please fill my heart with delight,
And my mouth with praise, because of Your Word,
The source and the goal of all that's good.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

A Storm of Evil

Meaning in Psalm 18

Alfred D. Byrd

ONLY MY GOD can give me the strength
To face a world that's falling apart.
It seems to me that there's come a storm—
A storm of evil brewed up by sin—
Subjecting the land to a rain of shame
And drowning the good in a flood of grief.
If I had to rely on my strength alone,
I'd fail to survive; too soon, I'd drown.

I'll find no escape from floods of the earth
Unless I make its Maker my goal.
When I look on high, the heavens unfold,
Revealing my God upon a throne
Upheld by creatures of fire and of light
Whose wings are wide, whose eyes are many.
Chanting the praise of the One Whom they serve,
They mirror glory beyond description—
Glory that comes from the One Who is all!
My God is fire that burns without end,
Without a source, and without beginning.
No one who sees the King on the throne
Can ascribe to the One a peer, a rival.
Dazzled by God, I rejoice, but fear
To be beneath my Maker's notice.
Surely a worm can't attract the eye—

My God, enthroned, is coming to see me!
At the will of the One Who gave them their life,
The creatures of light and of fire have raised
A storm to drive the evil away.
With lightning and thunder, with wind and rain,
The One on the throne rips open the sky
And shakes the earth, a baby's rattle
Feeling its owner toss it in play.
I marvel at how my God can act,
But fear destruction of one too small
To matter against the might of the storm.

My fear is groundless. My life will be saved.
My Maker, reaching me, treats me gently.
Pulling the fearful and drowning to land,
And washing away the filth of the flood,
My Maker gives me the strength to stand
Against the winds of tempests to come.
Dispersing the clouds that brought on darkness,
My God restores the light to my eyes
And shows me a path to lead me to hope.

The King returns to the heights, but leaves me
Mercy on weakness, and strength for a fight
Against temptations to turn aside—
Against any foe who'd bar my steps—
From the path that takes me again to the King.
Because my God is a shield to me,
I have the faith, the One's gift, to say,
"Whatever problems may lie ahead,
I'll face and solve through the strength of my God;
And I'll reach the heights, the throne of the One,
Where I'll serve my Maker always with praise!"

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

Beneath Your Wings

Meaning in Psalm 17

Alfred D. Byrd

GIVER OF LIFE, my God and my King,
I call to You from a world gone wrong.
I love Your truth, but it's a struggle
Keeping Your ways when I see so many
Violent persons sitting pretty,
Getting their way as they flout Your will.

When I pray to You, I thank You for strength
That's kept my heart from wanting what's wrong,
My mouth from speaking the lies of this world,
My feet from taking a path to death,
And my hands from making harmful devices
Pleasing the world, but grieving the heavens.
Watching my deeds and probing my heart,
You have found in me no trace of wrong
Because, my God, Your love has kept me
Spotless (at least in Your eyes of love)
Amid a world that's drowning in filth.

My God, please guard me like one who guards
One's eye's from those who'd quench their vision.
Keep me, I pray You, beneath Your wings
And beside Your heart, a place of safety.
Wonder fills me when I think of love—
Of Your love, which triumphs above all wrong.

This world is fat from greed and from lies
That give the greedy success awhile.
They hunt the weak like deer as their prey
And slander or slay the speakers of truth,
The ones who try to expose their greed,
But You, my God, when they've had their day,
Will abase the wicked and raise the righteous,
Praising Your coming to bring them them freedom.

Going to bed in a world of grief,
I know that You watch my sleep, my God.
As I trust my life each night to Your hands,
I have Your promise, giving me comfort:
Someday, Your Presence will rise like the dawn
And show the faithful (Your servant among them)
A world renewed, Your kingdom of light
Where I'll sing, among Your children, Your praise.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

To Embrace Your Light

Meaning in Psalm 16

Alfred D. Byrd

HEAR ME, my God! I need protection,
Keeping my life from falling away
To lusts of my heart, to lures of the world,
Or to lies that come from a tongue unseen.
To You alone can I trust my life,
For You are the One Who has made all lives
And shapes them by plans conceived in truth
Before the world took form from Your hands.
Outside of You, all paths run crooked;
Only to You a path can run straight.
My love is for You, my Maker, my King,
And for those who love Your Word and Your works—
For those who've become the children of God
By spurning darkness to embrace Your light.

My God, there are, however, others
Who see in darkness a light deceptive,
A vision of gods of here and now
That offer sensation, riches, and fame
To those who'd trade the future for presents
Starting in pleasure, but ending in pain.
Please keep me, my God, from speaking the names
Of things that are now, but won't be for long—
Of flowers that bloom a day, and then die.
Please help me, my God, perceive Your future,
Chosen for all who will trust in You
Above the foes of the light of the truth.
You've made the food that sustains my life
And mapped a path for that life to travel,
Reaching a goal that is You alone.

Let me praise the Name of the One, my Guide,
Who tells me, even asleep, what to do.
Forever in front of my eyes are You,
Unmoving, but growing ever larger,
Filling the sky as I come to You.
Although the world is filled with evil,
Dooming my body to die at length,
I feel no fear when I think of You,
The One on Whom I can rest untroubled.
Dying, I'll rise to new life in You
Because of the One Whom You sent ahead—
The One Who tasted the pain of death
For all who'd trust in Your blood of ransom—
The One Who knew no decay in death
Because You recalled that One to glory.
Darkness of death will end in the light—
A realm, beyond time, of joy that can't fade—
For all who follow the path of the One
To kneel in worship, my God, at Your throne.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

To Reach the Temple

Meaning in Psalm 15

Alfred D. Byrd

MANY may seek the throne of our God,
But not all will come to see the light.
To reach the temple, to live on high,
Belongs to the few who serve the One.

"Pure heart, clean hands" will find acceptance—
"Welcome to heaven!" — for those who spurn
Deceitful idols, the world's allures
That lead astray the lustful and weak.
No lie fulfills the will of heaven;
Falsehood injures creation's wholeness.
Speaking the truth and doing justice,
Even to those who don't deserve it,
Pleases the One Who has made all lives.
The faithful alone will reach the throne.

To peddle gossip threatens the peace
Ordained by God for kin and neighbors;
Slander is hateful, tearing apart
Relations that keep the world intact.
To lie in court is low and bitter,
Sending the guiltless to rot in shame.
The one who lies does well to recall
That one gets paid back for what one does:
For evil, evil; for good, more good.
The peaceful alone will reach the throne.

The good don't bow to rich and famous,
Looking like gods, but living like dogs
That act on impulse, gulping their food.
The good respect, however, the ones
Who stand in awe of the One Who keeps
Both heavens and earth intact through love.
The one who loves the God of the truth
Will keep a promise, a word sent out,
However keeping may pinch or wound.
The truthful alone will reach the throne.

"The cattle that graze on hills afar
Are mine, not the world's," our God has said.
The wealth that one earns for work well done
Belongs to God, the Source of all things.
The good must use it to build what's good,
Not to take a chance on fun and games,
Or to make one's house a hall like God's.
It's good to employ one's wealth as aid.
To needy, one gives to meet their need,
Not to make one's wealth ten times as great
Through pounds for pence, uncapped repayment.
Keeping paupers ever indebted
Angers the One Who loves all lives
And wants all children to live in peace,
The sharing of lives in truth and love.
The helpful alone will reach the throne.

Not all will see the light of heaven.
Only the ones who please their Maker—
Hater of wrong, Rewarder of right—
Will enter safety, shelter on high,
Where they'll serve the One with lives made pure
And sing with love the praises of God.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

A World Gone Astray

Meaning in Psalm 14

Alfred D. Byrd

LOOKING at us from a throne on high,
Our God determines whether our minds
Have grasped creation as a work of love,
And whether our hearts conceive the desire
To meet the One Who made us, and gave us
Vision perceiving the light, and hearing
Seeking the word, of truth and of peace.

What appears, however, is a world gone astray.
Each person from birth has missed the mark
Of walking with God and doing what's right.
What was pure, rebellion has caused to stink.
Not even the truth has stayed untouched;
Perverted, it forms the grist of lies.

No room is left in the world for God.
"The heavens are empty!" the selfish proclaim.
Their pride desires to deny a god
Who sits in judgment on words and deeds,
And frowns on what the selfish treasure.
Putting the will of oneself on the throne,
The selfish shatter the union of goods
As formed by God, and turn all things
Against each other to fill the earth
With wine of conflict — with blood on the land.

The ones who make their will their own god
Don't seem to learn the lesson of time—
They walk in darkness and feed on despair.
It's not a lie to call them cannibals
Eating the life of the poor and the weak.

The lesson of time? The ones who've lived
For themselves alone will face the dread
Of dying unenvied by those whom they've harmed—
Of dying uncertain of why they've lived,
While they see the ones who've trusted in God
Accepting their end with peace born of hope.

The ones who prey on the poor and the weak
Will puzzle their heads, but fail to see
The refuge of God for lovers of truth.

From the throne on high, salvation will come.
Messiah will lift the chosen of God
From a bed of darkness to a throne in the light
Where they'll sing with joy the praise of their King.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.

The Kind That Hates You

Meaning in Psalm 13

Alfred D. Byrd

SOMETIMES, my God, I feel forgotten,
Beaten with sorrows that come from a world
That uses Your Name as just a curse.
As days go by, it appears to me
That it's best to be the kind that hates You.
Lovers of self instead of the truth
Have things their own way and laugh at the faith
Of us who wait for Your Word to come true.
The lovers of self call out to us,
"For all that we see, your god doesn't care
About your pains of body and mind.
For all that we see, we might be his friends,
And you, his foes, the ones whom he hates.
Just look! You're slipping. It's we who'll win."
They'll throw a party when they see our fall.

Please send me, my God, the light of Your face
To open my eyes before I sleep
In a death in life, or in death for all time.
I need Your answer to why things go on
In a way that pleases the ones who spurn You.
Tell me an answer to ease my fears!

The answer? You give a time of testing,
Showing what lies in the depth of each heart,
To all who live, both the false and the true.
The answer is love, the love eternal
That You showed in telling all things "Become!"
And show by keeping the world in being.
Sunlight illumines righteous and wicked.
Evil may triumph; its end is sure.
The selfish will get the pay that they've earned;
My God will save the faithful from darkness.
Rescued from doubt, I'll sing to the One
Whose work began, and will end, as good.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.