WE HONOR THE KING

Meaning in Psalm 108

Alfred D. Byrd

DAYBREAK — a time for praising our God.
Awake, make music, and sing to all
Of the One Who sits enthroned on high.
Our God is love, unselfish and pure;
Our God is faithful to do what's right.
Give thanks to God before the people;
Nations should hear, "We honor the King."
The ones who rely on God for help
Are sure of standing through times of storm
Because the hand of God has touched them.

HOLY, the voice of God has told us,
"No one can keep the light from shining.
Mountains and valleys, the seas, the sky —
All things belong to Me, Who made them.
The One Who makes is the One Who owns.
Whatever exists is mine to give
To those who love and obey My law.
For faith, reward; for hatred, disgrace.
The one who denies and fights the truth
Is only dirty water cast out,
A landfill for shoes worn out with use —
A captive gracing heaven's triumph."

FIGHTING the foe, we fail to conquer.
Something keeps us from reaching our goal.
Has God rejected children of light?
Has God refused to aid our efforts?
Maybe, we've tried to do on our own
What's doomed to fail without aid from God.
We live because our God has made us;
Only through God can we stand and fight.
Our God, please help us against a world
That's blind to the light and mocks the law.
Through You, We'll live; in You, we'll be free.

Faith and reason in the ancient court of Athens.

MARS HILL: Paul v. The Philosophers

THE WORKS OF GOOD

Meaning in Psalm 107

Alfred D. Byrd

THINKING of God should make us give thanks
For all of the works of good for us.
The ones who've fallen, foundered in grief,
And scattered across a world gone wrong
Have met with rescue from hands on high
And been joined as one to praise our God.

A DESERT is what the world has been
For many who wander, seeking a home,
A place of rest — a place of purpose.
Hungry and thirsty, they lose their heart
Until they cry to their God for help.
Our God delivers the ones who pray
In the name of the One Whose will is true.
Our God delivers the lost from grief
And leads them safely to reach a goal,
A city of light that comes from God.
Let's thank our God for works of love
That fill with hope each soul that hungers.

REBELS against the teaching of God
Have found in darkness shadows of death.
Imprisoned in chains in pits of gloom,
The rebels labor without a goal
And fall at night onto beds of pain.
Alone with shame, the rebels recall
The Name of their God; they cry for help.
Our God delivers the rebels from chains.
From gloom to light, the rebels ascend.
They thank the One Who opens prisons.
Freedom begins with the help of God.

HOW SELFISH we are! We act like fools
When we do our will instead of God's.
What seems to us delightful at first
May turn to sorrow before our eyes.
When we taste the fruit of what we've done,
Our food is ashes, and death draws near.
Amid our sorrow, we think of God.
We seek reprieve, and we find release.
Our God will heal us from shame and pain;
Our God will free our hearts to feel joy.
Let's thank the Maker for works of love,
The wonder of help for lives gone wrong.
Let's give our God unceasing praises.

SAILORS who brave the face of the sea
Have seen the Maker through acts of might.
Our God may speak, and a calm becomes
A gale of fury — nightfall by day!
The sea and the sky are linked as one;
The clouds scud low, the waves are rising —
Mountains and valleys tumble wildly,
Flinging a ship — a thimble, a cork —
From heights to depths without a rudder.
Sailors clinging like limpets to ropes
Are waiting for death, a plunge unchecked
To a bed of stone beneath the waves.
The sailors recall the Name of God
And cry to the King of Storms for help.
The waves subside, and the sky grows clear.
A ship once helpless now makes its port,
And sailors give thanks before a crowd
For what their God, their Savior, has done.

WHEN WE TURN from right to seek what's wrong,
Our God can make a river run dry
And turn a garden to heaps of salt.
When we set our hearts to seek our God,
A desert can bloom, and springs gush forth.
The ones who wander will find a home,
A city of light that comes from God.
They'll plant, and reap a harvest of fruit,
A blessing of life redeemed from death.

RECALL this truth: our God is the King
Of all that is. The King is peerless.
Princes may rise among us and say,
"I have the wisdom to change the world."
They flourish awhile and then depart —
How often in shame too deep for words!
The proud will fall; the humble will rise.
Our God determines the fate of each.
Whoever is wise will seek the Throne
To look on light, the glory of love.

Four hundred years of silence was broken.

The Bible's Hidden Years

AND SOON WE'RE LOST

Meaning in Psalm 106

Alfred D. Byrd

BLESSINGS from God are soon forgotten.
Easily, humans dismiss the past.
It's pleasant to think, "We've learned the Law
And do what's right in service to God.
We tell the blessings of God to all."
How glad are those who say so in truth!
How few, however, can keep the path
Through times of hardship testing our faith.
We wander aside, and soon we're lost
Until our God comes looking for us.

WE'RE LIKE the slaves who lived in Egypt.
Rescued by God through wonders and signs,
They sang from joy as they left for home.
When they reached a sea, their joy was lost,
For soldiers followed, bringing new chains.
The slaves considered only the now.
They said, "We'll die like dogs in the sand."
They'd lost their faith in the One Who saves.
The sea was parted; a path was dry.
The hand of God had opened a way
For those beloved despite their doubts.
The slaves went forward, reaching safety;
Soldiers who followed got drowned like rats.

SOME DAYS went by, and the way grew hard.
The rescued murmured, "We'll starve unless
We lose our lives beforehand from thirst."
They got their food and water from God,
But also a plague, a curb on doubt.

FROM GOD, the slaves had gotten leaders —
Moses, the elder; Aaron, the priest —
To make a people both free and holy.
Many were sure of doing better
If only power would come to them.
A crowd came up to follow rebels.
Dathan, Abiram — those were their names.
Our God upheld the rulers by right.
The earth split open, and fire came out,
Consuming rebels to end debate.

OUR GOD called Moses atop the heights
To learn the Law, a standard of truth.
The people, waiting below, grew weak.
They wanted a god of sight and touch
And made for themselves a calf of gold,
A thing of Egypt, pretty, but vain.
They forgot their God, above the worlds —
Beyond whatever our mind can think.
They danced before their image like fools.
Our God would've put the fools to death,
But Moses stood up to place his life
Between the fools and the rage of God.
In a time gone wrong, a savior appeared
To free the people from what they'd earned.

THE SLAVES were bound to a home long lost —
A gift from God, the Land of Promise.
Seeing the land, the slaves grew wary.
"Giants live there. They'd crush us like ants."
The slaves had lost their faith in the God
Who'd worked with wind and fire in Egypt.
Hearing murmurs, our God decided,
"No one is ready, so all must wait."
Four decades, the slaves would pound the sand
Before they reached a land of honey.

WAITING, they fell again to idols.
Meeting strangers who lured them with smiles,
The slaves adored a god without life.
They gorged on flesh and writhed in orgies.
No one would call them holy just then.
Their hope would be a son of Aaron.
Phinehas, faithful servant of God,
Would slay the worst to redeem the rest
And lead them onward, heading homewards.

SADLY for Moses, the rescued rebelled
One time too many. Moaning of thirst,
They made him angry. He struck a rock.
Our God had said, "Just speak, and I'll give,"
But he'd had too much and lost his head.
How many of us would do the same!
He lost his chance to enter the Land,
But all remember what good he did.

HOW MANY the ways to go astray!
There's time to mention only a few.
A people rebelled, but God prevailed;
The slaves attained their homeland at last.
Whenever we turn from shame and doubt,
Our God is there to hear and help us.
Nothing can part us from love of God.
Because of weakness, humans forget,
But God remembers, coming with aid.
Let's praise the name of the God Who saves,
Despite our deeds, the ones who go wrong.

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

The Stars Bow Down

g.

FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE

Meaning in Psalm 105

Alfred D. Byrd

CHILDREN of God, remember the works
Performed by God for the sake of love.
A people chosen, our God protects
Throughout whatever the world inflicts.
No wrong escapes the One on the Throne.
No act of love will be lost to time.
Our King made much emerge from little.
Abraham, living humbly in Ur,
Received a call: "Get out of this place
And seek a home selected by Me!
The Land of Promise belongs to you —
To you and your heirs — for all of time."
The pact of God endures forever,
Bearing the Name of the One Who is.

THE PACT of God came down through fathers —
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, their names —
A handful of lives who lived in tents
And roamed the nations in search of rest.
Because of God, a fence around them,
Nations in darkness honored the line
Of those who passed their lives as strangers
Seeking afar a city of God.

WITHIN the line, betrayal took place.
A boy of beauty sold out by kin
Became a slave who grieved in Egypt.
Joseph, through lies, was sent to prison.
Shackles circled and bruised his feet;
A collar of bronze weighed down his neck.
He lived in shame until his Maker,
Having a plan for a slave in jail,
Decreed the world a time of famine.
Joseph advised the king of Egypt,
"Gather the grain that's growing today
And save it for when the times grow grim."
The king, respecting the man of God,
Promoted a slave to be a lord
Who said to princes, "Do this! Do that!" —
Who spoke to elders wisdom from God.

THROUGH JOSEPH, the line of God left home
To live in Egypt — as guests, at first.
When he died, his line gave birth in hordes
That frightened the king. Inspired by fear,
He put the children of God in chains
To labor by day — to weep by night.
They murmured in bed, "Our God forgot."
Our God remembered, sending servants —
Moses, a ruler; Aaron, a priest —
To lead the people from grief to joy.

A TIME of signs — a time of judgment —
Enfolded a land of slaves and lords.
The eye of day was lost to darkness.
River of life, your water was blood.
Wherever one went, one stepped on frogs.
The air was thick with flies — and with gnats.
A shower of hail beat down the trees.
The strokes of lightning fell fast and hard.
The locusts arrived and stripped the fields.
The land was bare; its harvest was lost.
The first to open the womb all died.
Let drops of wine recall the torments
Suffered by Egypt to free the slaves.

THE CHILDREN of God who left that land
Bore silver and gold, the gifts of lords
Rejoicing to see the backs of slaves
Who'd made a land of glory a waste.
Our God remembered the slaves again.
A cloud by day and a fire by night
Marked out a path to lead them back home.
Our God, a shepherd, pastured the sheep.
With flesh of quails — with bread from the sky —
Our God maintained the children in health.
In a time of thirst, a rock was struck,
And water flowed out, a stream through sand.
Not only body, but soul, was fed.
Our God instructed the line to keep
The account of what our God had done —
The Law of God, provided for life.

WHEREVER you are — at home, afar —
Remember blessings coming from God.
Recall the works of God in the past;
Recall the law of truth and of love.
In God is life; in God is the hope
Of meaning that lifts our lives from gloom.

A Teenage Girl's Adventure in Ancient Egypt

Asenath's Tale

A VEIL OF LIGHT

Meaning in Psalm 104

Alfred D. Byrd

NO ONE has seen the face of our God.
The One is great beyond description.
Only a veil of light has appeared
To show us glory worthy of kings.
Behind the veil, what wonders exist,
We guess, but can't say, for God is All.
From a throne that holds the light on high,
The heavens spread out, a home for God.
A place for the Throne, a place for stars,
A place for clouds through which there moves
A thing of light desired in visions —
Heaven's chariot, bearing the King.
Beside our God are hosts of angels,
Creatures of breath and of fire who serve
The will of the One Who made us all.

OUR GOD has fixed the earth in its place
And covered the earth with robes, the seas,
Which mounted the heights, but now obey
The will of God, a promise to all:
"No flood will destroy the earth again."

THE WATER is life for all that lives.
From heights that feel the lash of the rains,
The water flows down to gush in springs
That ease the thirst of beasts and of birds —
That fill the branches of trees with fruit,
A gift from God to feed creation.

CATTLE eat grass, and humans eat grain
That grows from the land prepared by God.
Our God has made three blessings for us:
The wine that cheers us when used with care,
The oil of olives to smooth our skin,
And bread, which gives us the strength to work
On what our God has told us to do.
Our God cares for more than us alone:
From moss, which seeks the shelter of rocks,
To redwoods, whose crowns may touch the clouds,
Our God has fashioned the homes of beasts
That trust their Maker blindly, but well.

ABOVE the earth are signs in heaven
Telling the world when to work or sleep.
The moon will grow from darkness to full
And wane again to describe a month.
The sun will rise and set in a day
And circle the sky to mark a year.
The beasts have learned the signs of the sky.
Not even rulers like us deny
The call of days, of seasons — of years.
In darkness, we sleep; at dawn, we rise
To do what we must to stay alive.

WHAT WONDERS — countless — our God has made!
A wisdom beyond our words designed
The world around us — the stars above.
The seas conceal in their depths such things
As seem like fables to us on land.
The beasts in the depths are not for us.
A truth slips out: our God has made them,
Mighty, but pointless, simply for play.
Behind this truth lies one far deeper.
Nothing exists apart from our God.
All things were formed from dust and from breath
And return to dust, their breath withdrawn.
Whenever our God may breathe again,
What's lost will be found; what's dead, revive.

THE WORKS of God will last forever.
Heaven takes joy in what God has done.
The one who sees the glory of God
Will sing throughout life in joy, in praise
Of the One Who changes darkness to light &mdash:
Who finds a sinner and makes a saint.

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

The Light

FOR LOVE OF US

Meaning in Psalm 103

Alfred D. Byrd

CHILDREN of God, remember how much
Our Maker has done for love of us.
Our God, Who lives in light forever,
Spread out the heavens and set a throne
Above all else to tell the worlds,
"The will of God is life and is law."
The worlds are here because the Maker
Called out a word and made them appear.
From dust, a body; from God, a breath —
We humans depend on God for life!

TOO OFTEN, we fall because we're weak.
Before our God, we're grass that withers,
Shaken by winds and murdered by drought.
We come and go, but our God remains.
Our God remembers how weak we are
And makes provision for life restored.
Recall the past: a people enslaved
Cried out to God, "We're facing our death."
Our God remembered, sending Moses,
Leading them elsewhere to learn the Law.
Each year, they recall the gift of God,
A life of freedom to serve the King.

OUR THOUGHTS, our words, and our acts deserve
A judgment of death, but God is life
For all who turn from darkness to light.
The gift repentance restores our hope
When we've gone astray and lost our path.
Our God is ready, even eager —
Judgment delayed, we find a reprieve —
To hear our plea and grant us pardon.
Mercy, not justice, our King desires.
Our sins have earned us only the pit,
But all who come, repenting of sin,
Will find a welcome before the Throne.

OUR GOD is worthy of love and praise.
Let all draw near to offer worship,
Heartfelt and pure, to the One Who is.
In praise of God, we'll find companions.
Angels who hear and obey the King
Will sing together with dust and breath —
We humans redeemed from death to life —
The praise of the One Whose Name is Love.

An age-old story retold in verse for a new millennium.

A Song of the One

MY HEART GROWS FAINT

Meaning in Psalm 102

Alfred D. Byrd

MANY who suffer today might pray
A prayer written in days gone by:

"CREATOR, hear me! I need Your help.
My days are swiftly passing away.
My body trembles from waves of pain.
A fever burns me, my heart grows faint,
And food is only ashes and dust.
My grief has turned me to skin and bones.
I'm like an owl that moans in darkness;
Lonely, it sounds. Does it look for friends?
Without a friend, a life is empty —
Nothing but words unspoken, unheard.
Without my God, what Friend do I have?
While I lie awake, I think of foes
Who laugh at me for all that's gone wrong.
They'll say to me, 'Your God rejects you.
Picking you up, He'll cast you aside.'
The shadows lengthen. The days grow short.
Unless, my God, You come to my aid,
I'll be like grass that withers and fades."

OUR GOD has been the same forever.
Seated upon a throne in the heights,
Our God sees lives and nations go past
Like shadows of clouds on days of wind.
It's easy for us to say in pain,
"Our God is distant, above our griefs."
Our God is distant; our God is near.
Amid the stars, there's also mercy,
Comfort for those who suffer today.
Our God remembers; our God will come
To raise again the walls of Zion.
Nations will turn from darkness to light
When they learn, "Our God has heard our cries."
Our God is with us. Our God sets free
The one in chains to sing in praise,
"Let all come near to worship the King!"

THE ONE who suffers is free to pray:
"My God has touched me with pain and grief
That caused me to think, 'My days are short,'
But life resides in the hand of God,
Who made indeed the heavens and earth,
But, soon, will sweep them away like dust.
The worlds will vanish, but life remains
In the hands of God, the Strong, the True.
I trust my God to bring me to light
Where I'll greet my King with praise and joy.
Before my Maker, I'll change my clothes
From garments of cloth that fades and rots
To garments of light, untouched by time."
The children of God will live secure,
Their grief forgotten, before the Throne.

One misunderstood system of faith and practice explained to another in its own terms.

Kabbalah for Evangelical Christians