Thursday 31 October 2013

AMIABLE

If God's word came quickly
To name Solomon Jedidiah
- 'Whom Jehovah loveth'-
How much more God delighted
To own as His Beloved
The true Solomon.

If the sons of Korah
Ranged across the King's glories
And his features of nobility
How right that the production is called
'A song of the Beloved'.

If we are constituted righteous
What has been the cost!
For who is the One in whom
We have redemption; through
Whose blood is it? He whom
God names 'the Beloved'.

If the pure in heart receive this blessing
To see God; if he who
Loves pureness of heart
Has the king for friend, God's
Pure words are beloved to him.


Wednesday 30 October 2013

PURE

Lamp-stand

The substance
Unalloyed by man's effort
Its glow answering the glory of God
A talent of pure gold.

To light the lamp continually
The children of Israel
Were commanded to bring
Pure, beaten
Olive oil.

And the whole
Distinctly among the furniture
Of the tabernacle
In Exodus:
The pure lamp-stand.


4/10/13

Tuesday 29 October 2013

JUST

There He is set down, our Advocate,
Pleading His greater accomplishment:
Jesus Christ
The
Righteous

There in the heavens
Is the Accomplisher
Who has been made
To us
Righteousness.

But we are here
Fruit of His accomplishing,
Through His bitterness,
God's righteousness
In
Him.

Netherlands12/09/13

Monday 28 October 2013

NOBLE

The divine concept in His heart
- 'My assembly'- He observed the materiel,
Stones from His Rock; His securing
According to purpose and grace. His forming,
Shaping according to what answered
To the heart of God: till the city shines:
The noble devises noble thing.

Himself the product of divine remastering
The apostle Paul, as a wise architect,
Laid the foundation. The noble devises
Noble things: but will my building
Survive the fire? Only as the materiel
Has been won by deep mining:
Gold silver and precious stones.

The noble devises noble things:
See Noah and Jochebed and Moses, devisers
Of arks: despised things in the world,
Treasuries of what was precious to God:
God's creatures nesting from destruction:
One fair-to-god child swaddling
The tables of God's law housing.

From an ignoble root, but grace
Having preserved them, grafted onto
A virtuous shoot, the sons of Korah
Rehearse what they have compose -
The noble devises noble things -
That also which is fruit of grace
Their occupation, 'touching the king'

9/13

Sunday 27 October 2013

TRUE

Their illumination constrained
To the sparks they had kindled
Men lay in sorrow: when
Christ came they preferred
The flickering of their caves
Yet we can know in its brightness
The pure illumination
Of the true Light.

A faithful Creator provided
Food for the journey:
They ate, and lived, and died.
But now the Father gives,
As a spiritual reality
For lasting life, lasting substance
And lasting satisfaction
The true Bread.

One on a fruitful hill,
Dug and relieved of stones,
Was planted that unsatisfactory vine,
Israel, bearer of wild grapes;
Now He stands, to God's satisfaction,
Without earthly moisture,
Clusters ripening into grapes,
Christ, the true Vine.

Blind, and unaware
Of poverty and nakedness,
How could Laodicea give
Testimony? The source of eye-salve,
Of gold and garments speaks:
What words the Amen asserts!
What can He not introduce
The faithful and true Witness?

What dignity He has
The reality of every type,
The One who supersedes every
Shadow. Who has the right
To the key of David - who
Maintains everything for God
But the One who can call Himself
The holy, the true?

 

Still thinking of Philippians 4: 8.

 

Saturday 26 October 2013

SPEAKING

God in His goodness
- The medium is the message -
Has spoken in Son.

Friday 25 October 2013

CROSS

There is no shadow
Now to the cross, since the sun
Is at noon to it.

To the cross there is
No shadow now, since on it
The sun is at noon.

Since the sun is at
Noon to it there is now no
Shadow to the cross.

Thursday 24 October 2013

THE GRACE OF GOD

Does God wish me, who wanders from His will
Following the inclinations of my pleasure
Within His presence? Does He wish to fill
His great eternal home with doubtful treasure
Such as I am? Can He find pleasure in
Unstable, weak, and self-regarding souls
Ensconced in lust and garrisoned by sin
Within whose life a selfish mind controls?

He, as a just and holy God, cannot
Tolerate sin - how can He wish for me,
The sinner? If, as sinful, I am brought
Before Him judgement must be His decree:

Yet such the grace of God that I am won
Into His presence, righteous in His Son.

Wednesday 23 October 2013

SEEING A MAN

Seeing a Man
Who harboured in His heart
The detail of God’s will,
And forged out thus to do it,
God is satisfied
In Jesus.

Seeing a Man,
Light to a heart’s dark,
Food to a famished heart,
Joy to its grimness
I am satisfied
In Jesus.

Seeing a man
Acquired at the cost of His blood,
Clad in His excellence,
Blessed and re-forged by His Spirit
Jesus is satisfied
In me.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ME

For me He gave His life:
No angel stayed the knife;
No other took His place:
He bore it all in grace;
Against Him was God’s judgment stroke;
On Him God’s storm of anger broke.

For me His life He gave -
Such His desire to save!
Such His desire to bless
Despite my worthlessness!
His grace and mercy made Him die
When I was far, to bring me nigh.

He gave His life for me
So that I might be free;
So that I might rejoice
To listen to His voice;
So that I might be sanctified
And all of one with Him who died.

Monday 21 October 2013

BEFORE CHRIST JESUS EVERY ONE SHALL FALL

Before Christ Jesus every one shall fall
Of heavenly, earthly, and infernal things
Acknowledging that He is Lord of all.

When He, whose humble birth was in a stall,
Appears as Lord of Lord and King of kings
Before Christ Jesus every one shall fall.

Since He has known the wormwood and the gall
We love Him for the sweetness which He brings
Acknowledging that He is Lord of all.

He was before all things, and He could call
On winds and storms to cease their buffetings:
Before Christ Jesus every one shall fall.

And God has been delighted to install
Him on His throne, while each redeemed one sings
Acknowledging that He is Lord of all.

He has a glory which will never pall
While in His praise the court of heaven rings;
Before Christ Jesus every one shall fall
Acknowledging that He is Lord of all.



Sunday 20 October 2013

FLOCK

We came together,
Seventeen persons, to pray -
A flock of trusters.

Saturday 19 October 2013

GLAD TIDINGS

Upon the shameful tree
Christ suffered to atone;
He bore the judgment due to me
And made my sins His own.

When all was dark and grim
- The sun as black as night -
God’s righteous judgment fell on Him
In concentrated might.

The penalty of sin,
The prison-house of death,
For me the Saviour came within
When yielding up His breath.

His precious blood was shed,
In grace no words can tell,
By Jesus, as He hung there dead:
He has done all things well!

They laid Him in the grave -
But in God’s timing He
Rose omnicompetent to save;
All this He did for me.

All this He did for me
And now upon the throne
He blesses me, He sets me free
And makes His place my own.

Praise for what He has done
In working out God’s ways;
Grace crowns what mercy has begun:
Praise without ceasing, praise.

Friday 18 October 2013

SON

I love the Father since He gave
His well beloved Son
That love should bind me as His slave...

You can choose now
From a variety of endings
Or even produce some for yourself:

How does “And made me like that One”
Suit you? Or would you prefer:
Since Jesus’ work is done”.
Rhyme can force a meaning
Not intended - how about
A trophy Christ has won”? No doubt
You can provide one of your own.

Thursday 17 October 2013

GOD IS SUPREME

God rules in majesty and might
And all things serve His will;
Unrighteous rulers do the right
He binds them to fulfil,
While He has acted that His mind
Should be His prophets’ theme
And saints secured from humankind
Acclaim Him as supreme.

But God, desiring that His heart
Should no more be concealed,
Came out in Jesus to impart
Truths richly now revealed.
The Father, Son and Spirit now
Abide in hearts of saints
Secured as worshippers who bow
As freed from sin’s constraints.

If sin had made this sphere impure
Before the dawn of Man
God worked in wisdom to secure
His own eternal plan.
In Christ He challenged Satan’s power
And seized his panoply:
Then, in the darkest, weakest hour
Christ won the victory!

In answer to Christ’s loving heart
God has secured the Bride,
His helpmate and His counterpart,
Derived, as from His side.
It is the fulness of the Head
The assembly now displays,
While in Christ Jesus being led
To give God endless praise.

Wednesday 16 October 2013

BETHANY

He came to Bethany - there
To speak, adjust, and depend,
And love. To make the place
His hearth, the home where
It was suitable for Him to be distinguished,
In resurrection power, as Son of God.
There nard acknowledged
His moral path, nard gave savour
Of man according to God.
And in that place He last
Touched earth - leaving on earth
Something resonant with heaven.


Tuesday 15 October 2013

GRACE

All the handwriting set out against me
Christ took up, on the cross, to efface;
He removed what was contrary to me:
I am saved through His wonderful grace!

I am waiting for Jesus to call me;
I am longing to gaze on His face:
I will sing in His presence for ever:
I am saved through His wonderful grace!”

But while waiting for Jesus to take me
Do my garments display their blue lace?
Do I show in my walk and demeanour
I am saved through His wonderful grace?

Monday 14 October 2013

“POEMS ABOUT GOD”

I picked up a book of
“Poems about God”: there was
Some sense and wonder but
It did not give a pure note
Because it missed
The Man who best knows love.

Sunday 13 October 2013

A MAN IN BONDS

They came within the hall in state
With all the pomp and power accrued
By those the world considers great.
Yet happy in their presence stood
A man in bonds.

What caused the happiness of Paul?
He was the freest there because
Each other soul within that hall
Under sin’s awesome burden was
A man in bonds.

Moved by the Saviour to repent
And finding Christ as his reward
Paul could be happy and content
To be, as “prisoner in the Lord”,
A man in bonds.

Saturday 12 October 2013

VIRUS

So what was He thinking as He created
The AIDS virus? First, of course,
Of that benign purpose known to Him only
In the scansion of creation - to which it may
Revert in the world to come. But also of the ways
In which its terrors would apply in the time
Of the felled species (the contorting
Virus itself morally unfallen), His skill
Would make it the scalpel to sever
Saints from their sins; the knife to slash
Sinners from their sins - each particular
In the operation required. Grace, ready for all,
Would inject after the virus for many;
For many the death would expel from burgeoning sin.

Friday 11 October 2013

A TIME TO KEEP

Now is a time to keep Christ’s word
And not deny His precious name,
Although church failures have occurred,
And all that leads to public shame.

Now is a time to keep your heart
From sin, the world, and Satan’s wiles
With grace Christ wishes to impart
To guard you when their power beguiles.

Now is a time to keep your foot
On God’s straight way when you approach
The house of God that you may meet
With happiness, and not reproach.

Now is a time to keep your eyes
Where God has chosen now to reap -
In all these things you will be wise
And with those saints Christ loves to keep.

Thursday 10 October 2013

LOVE

The love of God sought
Persons for it to love, and
Made them loveable.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

THE LORD IS NEAR

The Lord is near
To cast out fear;
To cleanse from sin
And dwell within.

The Lord is near
To bring in cheer;
His gracious voice
Makes saints rejoice.

The Lord is near
Who is so dear;
His charms impart
Joy to each heart.

The Lord is near
Whom we revere;
Before Him now
We gladly bow.

The Lord is near -
He’ll soon appear
And take His own
To share His throne.

Tuesday 8 October 2013

HOW MUCH THE FATHER MEANT TO HIM

When Jesus walked His earthly way
How much the Father meant to Him!
He loved to hear at break of day
The words His Father had to say.

Should one betray, and one deny
While priest-led crowds called “Crucify!”
How much the Father meant to Him
As Christ went to the cross to die.

Upon the cross when all was done
Which He endured for everyone
Who owns Him God’s beloved Son
How much the Father meant to Him!

How much the Father meant to Him -
When glory brought Him from the dead,
When glory’s light was freely shed,
And glory crowned the Victor’s head.

Monday 7 October 2013

DIVINE

The Christian's feelings thrill
To know that he is sanctified
By the divine will.

No taints of evil lurk
Upon him in the sight of God
Through the divine work.

He knows he has this fitness
In virtue of the Spirit's word
In the divine witness.

Sunday 6 October 2013

STORM

Hailstones, sleet, lightning-showers:
Man's hatred broke
On one Man
On a cross.

Sheltering walls or roofs
- Family, friendship, nation -
Shattered
To that Man.

Driving the storm
The icy winds
Of Satan's malice,
Converging on the Man.

But more
The tide of divine wrath
In intensity
Broke
One one Man,
Stark on a cross.


1/10/11

Saturday 5 October 2013

MEPHIBOSHETH

How good it is that Christ has shown
Himself as model for His own
Through suffering and death;
But too He gave a model in
A person not immune to sin:
His saint, Mephibosheth.

"In word" he witnessed that his place
Depended on the sovereign grace
Which was so welcoming:
'What further right therefore have I -
And for what purpose should I cry
For more unto the king?'.

"In conduct" in humility
By which he showed the loyalty
With which his spirit burned;
If rebels ruled Jerusalem
His deeds would give no place for them
Until the king returned.

"In love" which hastened to accord
The true place to his absent lord
Despite the world's disdain;
"In love" which would not make a claim
For self, but honoured David's name
When he had come again.

"In faith" that waited on God's will
In days of fortitude until
The king returned in peace;
"In purity", recoiling from
The world that followed Absolom
Until God brought release.

A wisdom which is glorious
Portrayed Mephibosheth to us
For us to imitate:
Blest Spirit may we learn this grace
Until the time we see the face
We eagerly await. 


"Let no one despise thy youth, but be a model of the believers, in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity", 1 Timothy 4: 12.  And see 2 Samuel 9 & 19.

Friday 4 October 2013

REFLECTIONS xii

Like a luminous ribbon,
Stretching forward,
Yard by yard increasing
In fluorescence
and phosphorescence
The path of the righteous
Advanced toward
Perfect day.

Thursday 3 October 2013

REFLECTIONS xi

John was the burning
And the shining light.

The appearing light
Was evident to the sighted.

And he was content
To be consumed.

For as the shining light shone
The burning light had burned.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

REFLECTIONS x

The cattle surge in their pen,
Shifting and flowing,
To the roped gate.

Spring has come. The farmer
Senses the ardency
Of their senses.

The gate swings wide.
From the shadows cattle
Trample, bucking

Into the sun.
Its warmth balms the joints
Of their plump bodies.

Tuesday 1 October 2013

REFLECTIONS ix

The moon is not
Tossed
Upon cloudy seas - it moves
Fixedly in its orbit.

To men it may
Change and fluctuate -
To God’s eye
It remains in its orb.

And the seas it never touches
Rise and fall under
The rhythm of
Its influence.