To Read the Word
A new year begins,
a new commitment is made;
The words You bestowed on us,
it was my job to read.
To have read it all just one time,
I dedicate the whole endeavor as worship to Your blessed name.
I begin to notice a change,
the way my everyday is now different.
On the rainiest of days, Lord,
You were the single ray of light;
You were reason enough to smile.
Freedom grew like seeds planted on paper,
my chains became instruments of praise,
clanging together to sing praises to You!
Friends only strengthened the words that surround,
Your words gave them their strength.
The pressures the world leaks collapse on me,
I fall and fail You,
tears were not enough for me to allow Your grace to cover me.
Summer and sun comes over me,
friends become snakes,
or am I the one with the double tongue?
Your words, though read, weren’t heard,
they lost their flavor, the sweetness.
The reading stopped, how grievous,
nothing could have been worse to do;
My heart began to eat its own fruit,
fruit You say that withers (John 15:6);
how bitter fecal matter is!
In Your timing I am reminded that Your words are sustainable fruits,
nothing tastes sweeter, or brings healing;
The daily struggle of self and word,
fail, succeed; win, lose.
On the day You celebrate Your creation,
I complete the task before me,
I read Your whole Holy Word.
This thing I learn from my joys and my trials:
read the tasty and the dreary words,
all of them are perfect, beautiful gifts of our Father (& His Son);
These words alone keep sin at bay,
keep us walking on the roads which take us to the Throne.
