THE ROCK

Free to be bound for where I willed

I tramped; by-ways, cross-paths, bent

My footsteps; what turned my campaign?

What stumbling-block hampered me;

What damped? No end appeared,

However long my feet stamped

Or my muscles struggled. With no lamp

To lead, nothing in which to confide,

What tampered with my will? Justice, that Rock,

Broke me, blocked me, drove me from my own way.

But where to hide? Where I ventured

Storms mock and shafts of lightning

Deride meagre strivings. That Sinai

Cannot provide a shelter. Yet truth

Is my only Rock and Refuge:

Oh grace and truth deploys

The cleft in which, safe, I abide;

Mercy was guide up to this haven.

Blood poured, a saving tide

From the stricken side of the Son of God.

After these ways and such protection

Rescued by mercy and by God's grace,

Saved, sustained and nobly elevated.

From being cock of my own dunghill,

Set among nobles, one stone

In its place; with a princely people.

These feet once grazed now prancing,

Hinds feet, firm on the Rock.

What power to convey a lofty degree:

Co  heirs with the pre  eminent Man!

From my new stance, seeking sweetness

For enhancement of fresh modes of love,

Joy to my countenance, power to make me

Dance, where should I go? The Rock,

Sublime answer to each circumstance,

Seemed to unlock   the honey poured.

No time or chance will now meet me

For which there is no solution: Christ   

For me to gather, His undeviance,

His loveliness, my model, my way of advance.

So long deplored, the old structure

Lies shattered, not to be restored

Nor rebuilt. Where can I Build? The Rock

Rejected once, now adored, constitutes

The only Foundation. Here God has worked   

This sure place. Knock and chisel

The stones till their curbed forms afford

Virtue of the bed-rock; ignore no fault

But relish quality, a good hoard

In each exploring consonances of Christ.

Fruits flourish; the tree sprouts

By the pure spring whose attributes derive

From its source, the struck Rock; psalms

Erupt from hearts; bruiting with joy

Clear compositions. The Spirit's flow

Contributes the music. By still waters

The bright flock, rested in safety,

Imbibes what distributes health,

Fresh responses. Through water free

From pollution or harm the purity wells.

Oil exudes; sucking from the Rock

Let us exploit what God provides

From It to employ our hearts in praise

As anointed servants; let light shine

From us who walk in the Spirit's power

To express God's goodness in voice

And ways. Employ priests lips,

Priest's members in all our days.

From our Rock towards our God loose

Rejoicing, admiration, adoration, love!

(29 February 1992)                                           

  

On the East Lothian coastline, Scotland

MY SERVANTS ...

                 (Isaiah 65: 13) 

His servants shall eat abundance of store

The lamb and the quails and the manna and more;

For Christ suits their savour and makes them replete:

Abundantly furnished "my servants shall eat".

His servants shall drink from heavenly springs

The water of life and the joy that it brings;

More taste and refreshment than this world can think

Refreshes their spirits: "my servants shall drink".

His servants shall sing for gladness of heart

For glory has entered which shall not depart;

The Father, the Son and the Spirit all bring

Such bountiful blessing, "my servants shall sing".

(Dundee 03/11/2024)

Around Loanhead (where I live)

THE FAITHFUL

 

While man in flesh displayed recurrent failure ‑
Failure of life even in such as Abel,
Failure in faith even in such as Abram,
Failure in honesty in such as Jacob ‑
Yet there were some whom God could view as faithful ‑
Enoch so faithful God took him by translation,
Noah so faithful that God desired to save him,
Abraham once restored, and his wife, Sarah ‑
While others yet could presage God's own Saviour:
The promised Isaac when God, in figure, raised him,
The sapient Joseph as leader of salvation
Administering grace among the nations.

And graves of some faithful saints of more recent times, including my father-in-law (DJH) and grandfather (CB), grandmother and aunt.

WHAT HE BECAME

                (John 1: 14)

In spite of a world where death is abroad

Where Satan's devices enthrall and enmesh,

To compass God's purpose, and bring us to God,

He came to redeem us: the Word became flesh.                                                

            (2 Corinthians 8: 9)

He dwelt among man, displaying God's grace,

Though in Him the earth and its forms are secure;

To come to be near to the lost human race

And bring us God's blessing the Lord became poor.                                        

            (Revelation 1: 17)

Betrayed and denied, despised by men, He,

The King of the ages, was shackled and led,

To bear crucifixion, and there on the tree

The One is First and the Last became dead.                                                        

(Hebrews 5: 9; Hebrews 7: 22)

Thus Jesus became to all who obey

The cause of salvation eternal in scope; 

And Jesus became the safe warranty

Of covenant blessing, assuring our hope.  

Near Home

In Glasgow

                                                             

HULDAH

Nelson's column, Edinburgh

 

Firth of Forth, looking north

After they found the writings of the law

Why did they seek Huldah the prophetess,

Who trenchantly expressed what she foresaw

In consequence of their unrighteousness?

She said Josiah's death would have occurred

Before apart from his heart's tenderness.

A woman close to God thus brought God's word.

JAEL

Sisera, finding flight expedient,
Reached Jael, and so fled the battle's clamour;
She gave him milk; he slept within the tent:
She took the tent-pin and the workman's hammer.

She smote his temple – for God had decreed
His death would not enhance a warrior's glamour.

Her hands were practiced for the time of need.

An evening's wander just north of Dundee

EBED-MELECH

Their hatred made the lords of Israel fling
The prophet Jeremiah in a pit,
In mud, till Ebed-melech moved the king
To let him draw the prophet out of it.

Since this was something that God loved to see
His word declared an honour that was fit

"For thou hast put thy confidence in me"!

 

NABOTH

Heaven records, but may not intervene:
As when king Ahab showed that he was bent
On gaining Naboth's vineyard, and the queen
Jezebel worked to further that intent.
 
Naboth, defiant to a tyrant's rage,
Said, as he scorned a tyrant's blandishment,
 
"I will not sell my fathers' heritage"

A view towards Edinburgh Castle from the south.

The square in Dalkeith Country Park in winter