WINGS

How often, said the Lord, I would have gathered

You underneath my wings, as a hen would

Gather her chicks; unmothered and unfathered,

You would not take the way for your own good.

Yet long ago the Gentile Ruth had travelled

To come beneath the shelter of God's wing,

Orphaned and widowed, with her life unravelled,

To find God as resource in everything.

Come into manhood to endure the weathers

Of a sin-smitten world of suffering

Christ knew the refuge of the Almighty's feathers

And knew the refuge of the Father's wing,

Until He underwent the greatest storm

To shelter His new brood, and make us warm.

Blackness Castle and the Firth of Forth

And to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed?

And to whom hath the arm of Jehovah 
Been revealed?

To those whom He has redeemed
With a stretched-out arm.

Whose pursuers, by the greatness of His arm,
Are still as stone.

Who have learned that underneath are
The eternal arms.

Whom His arm is not shortened

That it cannot save. 

On the Union Canal

This May's brood of swans on Straiton Pond

Who hath believed our report?

Prophets had delivered
Their report: telling of God's
Power and love, His Servant,
His coming, suffering and triumph:
A drum roll.  But had to ask:
Who hath believed our report?

Apostles have spoken: trumpets
With more certain sound, for they
Report what they have seen: a Man
Triumphant over sin and death
Sits glorified.  Still they must ask:
Who hath believed our report?

And feeble saints have whispered,
Or roared the report:
Written it on parchment or
Paper; printed it, broadcast it,
Posted it; yet still must ask:
Who hath believed our report?

The Lord Himself testified it;
The Father endorsed it, and Him;
The Holy Spirit joined His help
To men preaching in weakness.
Still They must send the challenge:

Who hath believed our report? 

Cullen, Moray, Scotland

Did you heed the word God spoke?

 

Did you heed the word God spoke?

May His grace be told!

Did you know God's word awoke?

Lo! His grace was bold!

Christ grew as a tender shoot

May His grace be told!

Desert sands around His root

Lo! His grace was bold!

Holden eyes could not discern

May His grace be told!

Beauties God would have us learn

Lo! His grace was bold!

Darkened hearts would not esteem

May His grace be told!

Beauties which are heaven's theme.

Lo! His grace was bold!

Now my lightened heart can see

May His grace be told!

What He bore He bore for me

Lo! His grace was bold!

(This continues thoughts I had on Isaiah 53 in varying poetic forms during 2020.)

St Anthony's Chapel on Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh

Who hath believed ... ?

 

          The trumpet's clear note;

Yet ploughmen plough, tradesmen trade

          And courtiers court.

The Sea Front at Longniddry, East Lothian

The River Esk at Musselburgh

Have you received the message that God sent?

 

Have you believed the message that God sent?        

Have you received His pure since-time-began

Prophets? Consider all that He has spent;

And since men disbelieved He sent His Son

To let you know His heart.  In grace He pleads

And shows you that He longs to fill your heart;

In Christ He has the answer to your needs:

Repent, go out from hence; depart, depart!

 

And has the Lord revealed His arm to you?

It is not shortened that it cannot save;

He will redeem you with a stretched-out arm

And what unbounded blessings will ensue!

He’ll ransom you from all that might enslave

Through One who came here with no worldly charm.

Around the Black Barony Estate, Scottish Borders

LET NOT YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED

 

"Let not your heart be troubled", Jesus told
The eleven as He girt them for their grief:
Knowing their faith in God He could unfold
That He would be their Object of belief.
He told them, "In the Father's house there are
Many abodes"; He would prepare a place
Distinctly ours, above the highest star,
Where we shall be before the Father's face.

"I go", He told them, and the going meant
The cross, the tomb, the garden, and the throne;
He came alone; but through the way He went
The Christ our Lord did not remain alone.

For, taken from the scene where we have grieved,
It is unto Himself we are received.

These are view of the Great Map of Scotland.  As the

link shows it is a massive concrete scale map.

LIPS

"And I said, Woe unto me! 

for I am undone; 

for I am a man of unclean lips, 

and I dwell in the midst 

of a people of unclean lips";

"Asps' poison is under their lips" ...

But there is a Man, 

Of whom it can be said,

"His lips lilies, dropping liquid myrrh":

Pure word, sprung from suffering love,

For grace is poured into His lips.

While "He that loveth pureness of heart, 

upon whose lips is grace" -

May I have this blessing! -

"The king is his friend".

He has His answer in someone

Whose "lips are like a thread of scarlet",

Bright as Rahab's signal.

... One of the seraphim

Took the glowing coal

From the altar, and said,

"Behold, this hath touched thy lips; 

and thine iniquity is taken away, 

and thy sin expiated".

Joshua 2: 21

Psalm 45: 2

Proverbs 22:11

Song of Solomon 4:3

Song of songs 5: 13 

Isaiah 6: 5

Romans 3: 13

Straiton Pond (again)

SENSES

 

Blest Spirit, help increase my appetite

For Jesus whom Thou dost present as food;

I long to savour more of this delight

Since I have tasted that the Lord is good.

Thou didst, blest Spirit, open up my ear

To hear the Saviour when I was astray;

Help me to listen and have ears to hear

Thy word to the assemblies day by day.

Though Moses died His eyesight did not dim -

O Spirit of the Lord control my sight

That with my eyes exclusively on Him

My body always may be full of light.

The Lord of life has touched me in my need:

He lifted me and set me up through grace -

Blest Spirit, help me handle well I plead

The substance of this elevated place.

A life entirely for the Father's will

And death entirely to the Father's mind

Rose as a fragrance - may, blest Spirit, still

Such fragrance rise from those Thou hast refined.

(I was reminded of this old one by https://freshinsightsonancienttruths.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-danger-of-distractions.html?sc=1759662611678#c7761740279406800422

More of the Firth of Forth (from Fife)

THE COMING ONE

 

Once unto Israel’s remnant
Thou wast the Coming One
They saw Thee in the temple
And hailed their rising sun;
And still a waiting people
With opened ear and eye
Desire the Coming One’s face
And long to hear His cry.

The Firth of Forth

THE FIRSTBORN

Thou cause of heaven’s exultation,
Yet in such lowliness displayed,
Thou hast, as Firstborn of creation,
Lived in the world that Thou hadst made!

And such the grace of Thy subjection
That Thou hast died here in our stead,
But in Thy glorious resurrection
Thou art the Firstborn from the dead.

When Thou wast here there were not any
To comfort Thee in time of strife
But now Thou art Firstborn of many -
Thy brethren in Thy risen life.

Come near as Man Thou art distinguished
As Firstborn by the Father’s choice;
Thy praise will never be extinguished
And all Thy worshippers rejoice.

If you look hard you can see Edinburgh Castle top centre, and, a little clearer, Craigmillar Castle to the left, with Arthur's Seat to the right.  This is from the only spot I know of, near Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where the two castles can be seen.

TO YOU WHO BELIEVE

(1 Peter 2: 7)

(1 Peter 1: 19)
What could resolve our need,
And satisfy God’s heart and mind?
Precious blood.

(1 Peter 2: 6)
Men saw a stone, thwart to their building;
God saw a Corner-stone for all His works,
Elect, precious.

(2 Peter 1: 1)
What can avail itself of precious blood?
Or of this precious Corner-stone?
Precious faith.

(Psalm 133: 2)
From the Head, giving savour to all
Down to the hem of the garments flows
Precious Oil.

 (1 Kings 10: 21)
In the expansive house of the forest
Of Lebanon all of the vessels
Precious gold.

(Ezra 8: 27)
What workmanship!  Now God has
Vessels of shining copper
Precious as gold.

(Revelation 21: 11)
What workmanship! Now descends
The holy city – her illuminating,
Like a most precious stone.

Near home in Midlothian, Scotland

"I ASCEND"

 "I ascend":

One Man had the capability to say this.

 "I ascend":

One Man had the authority to say this.

 "I ascend":

One Man had the moral right to say this. 

On The Moray Firth