It’s hard to believe
summer is coming to a close and fall is around the corner. God blessed me with a beautiful and busy
summer; the most beautiful part of my summer was being reminded anew of his
beauty. As we enter fall, I am hoping to
return to writing blog posts on a more regular basis. Today, I would like to
share a couple of poems I wrote over the summer.
I wrote the first poem as
I fought against sin. The fight against sin is a daily, hourly, moment by
moment battle for the believer, fought by the grace of God.
John Calvin rightly describes our condition: “Man's
nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.” “The gospel is not a doctrine of the
tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, but it is
fully understood when it possesses the whole soul and penetrates to the inner
recesses of the heart.”
Psalm 96:4-5 shows us that when we worship idols,
we worship things that God made, rather than the Holy Creator. “For great
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared
above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens”
By God’s grace, believers worship him in spirit
and in truth (John 4:24.) Our hearts still churn out idols, but God casts them
out and our hearts worship him.
As I struggled with sin and looked to the LORD
who is my deliverer, this is the poem I wrote:
My eyes are plagued with
sin
I cannot see you as I
would
My love for you is weak,
so weak
Your love for me O’ Lord,
so strong
The light of your
countenance shines upon me
With zeal you sought me
and seek me still
Once a sinner lost,
redeemed by the Lamb
I’ve been found but still
a wandering sinner am
Idols are plucked from my
hand
Behind me they shatter
I look with distain upon
that which you hate
I hate my fleshly acts
By grace I am saved
My sins are cast behind
your back
I’m kept with rod and
staff
Though I’m weak, my eyes
are fixed on Christ
I walk in good works
you’ve ordained
My feet tread the narrow
path
Onward I go, for you
carry me
Each day is a step closer
to home
Where I’ll ever your glory
behold
Often a great idol in our
hearts is ourselves. In unbelief we seek
to establish our own righteousness and put our hope in good works which cling
to us like dirty rags (Isaiah 64:6.) By
God’s grace, believers are set free from idolatry and trust only in the
completed work of Christ on the cross for salvation.
The following poem was
written as a reflection on an outreach where the love of God was shared with a
people needy for the gospel. This need is common to all mankind. In Christ
alone, salvation is found.
Your world is darkness
You’ve hungered and
tasted pain
You’ve been told of a
Creator
But the One who formed
you is unknown
Safety you think, comes
from being good
You’re in terrible danger
You’re clothed with rags
of sin
In the darkness you see a
candle flicker
A child of the One who
made you
Shines as a beam of light
You bask in the warmth of
love
You are told the gospel
story
Of God’s Righteous Son
who died
To save you from your sins
O child, glory not in the
dim candle
In the weak love of a
saint
Look to the One who made
you
To God who died to save
you
For his name’s sake
Taste and see that the
LORD is good
Drink and you will be
filled
One of the verses shared at the outreach was “On
the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has
said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-38
There are many references in the Bible of God
filling our hunger and thirst for righteousness through Jesus Christ. We have
no righteousness in ourselves and we fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3.) Our labors will never satisfy God. Salvation is only through
God who paid for every one of our sins on the cross, crying it is finished as
he died.
In John 4, we see a story of how the Lord gave a
sinful woman a drink of living water. By God’s grace we awaken from spiritual
death and drink the living water he gives us.
In Isaiah, the Lord uses the following passage to
illustrate how he fills our spiritual need through Christ.
Come,
everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy
and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not
bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what
is good, and
delight yourselves in rich food. Incline
your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; Isaiah 55:1-3a
I am so thankful for my Savior who died and rose
again so I can be filled. He calls everyone who thrists. He alone can
satiate our thirsty souls.
