A World without Light

Meaning in Psalm 77

by Alfred D. Byrd

SOMETIMES, I lie awake at night
And think of all that's wrong in my life—
Of all that's wrong in a world without light.
In darkness, it's easy for us to conclude,
"The light of God is gone forever."
Feeling the night grow cold around us
(Troubles seem thickest when we're alone),
We may come to doubt the help of our God.
"My God rejects me," I'll think as I toss
On a bed that gives me no comfort just now.
"He's angry with me. I've lost His favor.
Judgment, not mercy, is what I'll face—
If I come, that is, to His mind at all."
At night, our fears — our weakness — tells us,
"Even the love of our God can fail."

A person of faith can reflect on the past—
On Scripture, which tells us of hope of rescue.
Children of God were living as slaves
In a land apart from the Land of Promise.
Crying to God from the depths of pain,
They got an answer of judgment — of freedom.
Moses, a prophet, a speaker of truth,
And Aaron, his brother, a priest of the One
Who redeems with blood a people from death,
Confronted a king of wealth and of pride—
A man who thought his neighbors cattle.
Wonders of water and wonders of wind
Persuaded the king, his land destroyed,
To let the Children of God go free.
The Children of God would pass through a sea
That parted before and closed behind them—
Water will turn to walls for our God!
They came to a hill that glowed with fire,
And they heard the voice of God as thunder
Giving them orders to live in the truth.
The God Who spoke was the God Who'd lead
The children, once slaves, now free, to their home.
If you look for them, you'll find them today!

Each night has ended at length in dawn.
Our God remembers. Our God restores.
The presence of God is with us in darkness.
Comfort of knowing "Our God redeems"
Allows us to reach a time of rest.
As I toss on my bed at night, I can say,
"My God, I trust You. My God, You're here.
When I sleep, You'll wake me again to light.
If I sleep, You'll wake me again to life."

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 Story Repeats Itself

Meaning in Psalm 76

by Alfred D. Byrd

OFTEN, we've seen oppressive rulers
Trample the rights of children of God.
Each time, a story repeats itself.
A ruler will brag and strut for a while
As he does much harm while he has his way.
At times, the children who feel his whip
May say, "Our God has left us to die."
Our God, however, remembers justice.
Payment for evil will come in kind.
A man who made the nations tremble
Dangles in space at the end of a rope,
Or takes his own life in a hole in the ground.

In Scripture, we read of God's response
To one who claimed the world for himself.
A king of the east, "a wolf in the fold,"
Came west to besiege the City of Peace.
He sent a herald, both loud and crude,
To tell its people, "Your God won't help you.
No one has found a god to oppose
The strength of Asshur, the god of my king.
The ones who've tried to resist his might
Have gone to their grave, their names forgotten.
Show me some sense! Give up, and you'll live,
Though you'll leave behind the homes you've known.
If you fight, you'll lose, and your death will be bad.
As you starve, you'll stuff your face with filth
That stinks so much, it'd gag a jackal."

Laughing, the herald went back to his king.
The son of David who ruled the city
Pleaded, however, with God for help.
Our God responded to pride with death—
To meekness with life, a gift of love.
By night, there was sent a plague to the camp
Of the king of the east. At dawn, he found
A camp of corpses. The siege was lifted.
Running for home, he prayed for help
From gods no more than statues and names.
While he prayed, his sons rose up against him.
Slaughtered by kinsmen, he came to his end.

The One Whom we've met is sometimes fearsome.
Caution is best in dealing with God.
If you make a vow, it's best to keep it.
Cheating ends badly, we've learned from the past.
When you come to a king, you should bring a gift.
For the King on the Throne, the gift that's best
Is the fruit of a life that spurns what's wrong
And does what's right for the sake of love.
The one who loves both neighbor and God
Receives from God a gift in return—
The gift of knowing "Our God is Love."

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.

We'll Look at Wonders

Meaning in Psalm 75

by Alfred D. Byrd

THANKING our God for the gift of life
Is the start of living a life of peace.
When we turn our gaze from a world gone wrong
To the One Who caused the world to be,
We'll look at wonders and learn to rejoice
In being the works of the hand of God.
The earth exists, persists, and will end
Because our God has spoken a word
That turned a thought into what we see.

Our God has said, "At a time of My choice,
I'll judge the world by the rule of truth.
The one who boasts and the one who loves wrong
Are like bulls that wave their horns in a rage.
Unless the bull is restrained, it causes
Terror and harm to persons of peace.
I'll bend the necks of bulls in a rage
And put an end to their hate — to their pride.
The horns of the proud are signs of trouble.
Righteous persons have horns just like theirs,
But bow them before the will of God.
The horn that bows is the horn that will rise.
If it bows to God, it'll rise in the world
With the strength to do what's right in the truth."

WHAT'S RIGHT appears in the use of wine.
The ones who reject the way of peace
Have changed the wine, a gift of our God,
From a balm for pain to a cause of grief.
The one who drinks to slake his desires
Will strike a neighbor, abuse his own kin,
And kill a stranger without a thought.
For the ones who defile the wine of God,
Our God has prepared a wine of their own:
A wine of judgment, foaming and red.
They'll drink to the dregs, but drink no more.
The ones, however, who long for peace
Will drink a wine that brings communion:
Union with neighbors united with God.
To the One Who brings the peace of the truth,
Let us bow our horns as we sing in 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.

The Wicked Stand Strong

Meaning in Psalm 74

by Alfred D. Byrd

SOMETIMES, we think, "Our God has left us."
Nothing goes right, the wicked stand strong,
And we hear in the mouths of the rich and pretty
Slanders against the Name of the One.
We looked for prophets to give us the light,
But men with scriptures have led us astray
With tales of an end that failed to come true.
The laughter of skeptics is harsh in our ears.
In our fears, the reign of darkness will grow
Till it fills the earth and leaves us no room.
In times of darkness, our path grows dim.
It's easy for us to feel abandoned—
Nothing but sheep in a ring of wolves.

We need to recall the past of our faith.
Misfortunes have come to those before us.
Hammered by hardships, they staggered and fell,
Yet they lived to pass on the word of the truth:
It came through a fire to be learned by us.
Remember the Temple, Solomon's glory!
Haters of God, like loggers with axes,
Hacked it to pieces, plundered its gold,
And set it aflame. It burned to the ground.
The ones who trusted in wood lost hope;
The ones who trusted the Word found sight.
A building was lost, but the Word went on
To change the lives of all who could hear
The voice of the truth — the summons of God.

Our God is hardly an idol of wood,
Or a ghost that haunts us in dreams by night,
But turns to mist when we glimpse the dawn.
Our God has made the sun and the moon
And set them amid a heaven of stars
Too many for sages to count and name them.
Slanders can't reach as high as the Throne.
Our God has shaped the bed of oceans,
Emptied rivers, and opened fresh springs.
The darkness of night and the depths of the sea
Can hold no terrors for God, their King;
They obey the will of the One on the Throne.
Against the One, the Maker of all,
The laughter of skeptics is croaking of frogs
That fail to perceive the bear in their swamp.

When we think of the One Who made the world
And the faith that outlived the fires of war,
We should pray for God to uphold the Word
And show the skeptics, the selfish, the vain,
And the ones who wander for lack of the light
How great is our God — how small are we.
May our God remember suffering children,
Comfort the grieving, give strength to the weak,
And show a people that seeks in darkness
Glimmers of light to lead it to hope—
The path to the Throne, where we'll look at our King
And praise the Source of life and of love.

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.

Neighbors Living in Sin

Meaning in Psalm 73

by Alfred D. Byrd

PURENESS of heart is pleasing to God,
But wins no praise from the lips of the world.
When I turn my eyes from the throne on high
To look at neighbors living in sin,
I lose my way and feel self-pity.
Nurturing anger, the fruit of envy—
Measuring others, I shorten myself—
I lose sight of my goal in things of the now.

Today, the ones who ignore my God
Are doing just fine. They earn a bundle,
Gobble good food, and guzzle good wine
In houses to awe the kings of the past.
The houses are empty; the wealthy have flown
On wings of the wind to a land of gold.
On carpets of crimson, they mingle and smile
To be seen by those who would sell their souls
To stand in their place, at least for a night.
A crime has been done? A lawyer will fix it.
Nothing need trouble one's flow of delights.
The one who lies escapes a whipping;
Murderers ponder no date with a noose.

For the high and mighty, the world is enough.
They speak of my God with doubt or with scorn.
"A king on a throne? Please, darling, be real!
Any god that may be is too far away
To bother its mind with thoughts of us.
A god of judgment? How lame can you get?
Don't lose perspective! Nothing awful
Happens to persons as pretty as us."

It's easy for us who recall our God
To let the worldly trouble our faith.
The lure of riches — the fear of laughter—
Causes the faithful to go astray.
Filled up with the earth, we lack room for heaven.
Only by turning to things of our God—
To the words of seers who looked at the light;
To the place for many to meet as one —
Can we see what lies beyond the present.

Flouters of God are standing on heights
From which a fall will end in heartbreak.
Beauty, though sword, is seldom a shield.
The rains may come, or the earth may shake;
The house on a cliff will slide to the sea.
A treatment to keep one's looks from aging
Makes one a target for gossip by friends.
A drug to turn one's pleasure intense
(Or to dull one's mind to a life misspent)
May stop a heart and stagger the world.
The one who tracks the flow of riches
Gathers how fragile their glory has been.
Today, a star may shine on a stage;
Tomorrow, detectives are prodding a corpse.

The life that's lived for the world alone
Is bright for a while, but goes down to darkness.
Only a life that's lived for the One
Extends beyond the curtain of death.
The one who accepts the guidance of God
Will walk on a path that leads to the light,
The glory of One, Who sits on the Throne
Where we'll see our lives conjoined to the life
That starts, endures, and ends in our 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.

A Path That Ends in Peace

Meaning in Psalm 72

by Alfred D. Byrd

SETTING a ruler upon a throne,
A people should seek the guidance of God.
What starts in the truth goes on in the light;
What starts in lies goes down to darkness—
Terror for all who live in the land!
A ruler who governs by ways of the world
Has chosen a path that ends in grief;
A ruler who governs by ways of the One
Has chosen a path that ends in peace.
A person who wants the best for the land
Will pester our God to lead its ruler
Wisely and well for the sake of that peace.
To pray, however, is hardly enough:
One must work with one's hands the thing that's good
To produce a harvest, a time of joy.

The peace of God depends on justice,
Righteousness forming the basis of acts.
True justice combines both mercy and strength
To produce the beauty of peace in the land.
True justice respects the rights of each,
But leans to mercy, protecting the weak.
The ruler who causes the poor to prosper,
Comforts the sick, and crushes oppressors—
Haters of peace find none for themselves!—
Has done the will of the One on the Throne.

A ruler who governs in mercy and strength
Will receive the honor of nations afar.
Their rulers will greet that ruler at home
With gifts that strengthen the bonds of peace.
All nations that guard the people's due rights,
Protect the weak, and restrain the strong
Can live together secure from war.
The ruler, however, who leads a people
Downwards to darkness shatters the peace.
A ruler who hides his eyes from the light
Can ruin a land and ravage its neighbors—
Bloodshed in rivers, we've seen in our time!—
Before the cause of justice prevails.
Unless, untiring, we seek the light,
A time of darkness will end our safety.

Some day — the One alone can say when—
Our God will come to redeem the world.
Messiah, a ruler Who comes from the Throne,
Will walk through the land and restore the light
To eyes whose hope has gone down in darkness.
Hungry for hope, we'll see a harvest.
Hidden in darkness, a seed of God
Will sprout from the land, grow tall, and blossom,
Filling the earth with the fruit of peace.
In hope of the day when we see that peace,
Let's praise the Name of the One on the Throne—
The One Who rules with mercy and strength
To produce the beauty of peace in the light.

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 Place of Troubles

Meaning in Psalm 71

by Alfred D. Byrd

ONLY in God can I hope to be safe.
The world has become a place of troubles
Threatening daily distress and death.
In tempests, temblors, and tumults, I see
How fragile one's hope of life can become.
The worst of threats are neighbors who hate me.
Speaking against me, they work for my fall.
They say, "A child of God? Unlikely!
Really, he's flesh and blood like ourselves.
He feels temptations just like our own
And may fall to depths he'll share with us."
I defend myself and learn a truth.
When I fight on my own, I fall, outnumbered;
No one alone can take on the world.
When I flee, however, to God, my Rock,
I find in the heights secure defenses.
"Fortress" is one of the names of the King.
The One Who made me will keep me from harm
As long as I trust in the word of truth.

My God concealed me within a womb
And brought my mother safely to term.
My God was with me throughout my youth,
However distant I felt from the Throne.
Despite distractions of self and of world,
I learned the words revealed to seers
Sensing the Spirit Who moved in their hearts.
The words have helped me in times of troubles
Coming from nature, from humans — from God.

It isn't false witness for me to say,
"Sometimes, my troubles have come from God."
To lead me to turn from wrongs I've done,
To help me develop a strength of faith,
To teach me the folly of trusting the world,
My God has let misfortune touch me.
Often, I've failed to learn a lesson;
Nothing is easy for us of the Fall.
When I gain, however, a truth from the Throne,
I may find a hardship redeemed as blessing.

Watching the years march on, I've become
No longer a youth. How strange to be old!
As I feel my joints grow stiff and painful,
Confidence falters. Facing the world,
I think, "Have I lost my use to God?"
I feel like a car with a lot of miles;
It makes sense for God to make a trade
Replacing a wreck with something with style.
This wreck, however, has mastered lessons
Worthy of passing to youths on the rise.
They seem as naïve as I was first.
Please let me, my God, keep speaking of You.
Let me send to the world the truth it needs:
"Our lives are empty unless our God
Has filled us with purpose, to love and be loved
With the love that starts and ends in the One."

Let's pray and look for an age to come
In which our God is enthroned in light
Amid a world both peaceful and holy.
Harpists, flutists, and singers as one—
May we praise with joy the One on the Throne—
The One in Whom our lives are renewed.

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.