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.

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

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

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

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.

 

SPEAKING

God in His goodness

- The medium is the message -

Has spoken in Son.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

FLOCK

We came together,

Seventeen persons, to pray -

A flock of trusters.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

“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.

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.

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.

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.

LOVE

The love of God sought

Persons for it to love, and

Made them loveable.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.