POEMS FOR THE TIRED AND WEARY

By Maurice Dyson

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Submission
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7

Our history was meant to be
A story of submission;
Beginning with the Lord’s command,
With every blessing near at hand,
A test was of necessity
The means of our volition.

Go fill the earth, the Lord did say,
And rule it by commission;
Of every tree you may partake;
There would be neither pain nor ache
If they would trust Him day by day,
Avoiding all sedition.

But from that tree you shall not eat,
For death will be the payment;
Then came the Tempter in a while,
Seducing Eve with simple guile;
His mastery of counterfeit
Was cloaked beneath his raiment.

The woman saw the tree was good,
And pleasant of appearance;
A tree indeed to make one wise;
It seemed to her like paradise;
She took the fruit and ate the food,
Forsaking her allegiance.

She gave it to her husband near,
Who took the fruit and ate it;
The eyes of them were opened wide;
Their spirit-life had straightly died;
Instead of life there came a fear;
Their sin did predicate it.

So history with all its woes
Has proved our disposition;
We cannot leave the story there,
For that would leave us in despair;
A Second Adam died and rose,
In whom there is remission.

 

Substitution
Mercy and truth have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psalm 85:10

The facts of life are built on substitution;
There was no other valid resolution;
As God had long foreknown
The future from His throne,
The sin of man demanded restitution.

The holiness of God was violated;
The place of man could not be reinstated;
For righteousness that’s true,
Calls for a judgment due,
For holiness cannot be abrogated.

Yet God had always seen the situation;
He knew ahead the cost of our salvation;
His Son upon the Tree,
Died there for you and me;
We trust Him or we suffer condemnation.

 

The Anti-Semitic
And God said unto Balaam...
thou shalt not curse the people:
for they are blessed.
Numbers 22:12

The anti-Semitic,
Detractor or critic,
The one who despises the Jew;
Inherits a cursing
By what he is nursing:
His dark indefensible view.

A certain soothsayer
Became a betrayer
While seeking for dishonest gain;
And as he was riding,
He came in for chiding
Because his intentions were vain.

Yet Balaam could never,
Disable nor sever,
The blessings pronounced by the Lord;
His evil pursuing,
Became his undoing,
And later he died by the sword.

A nation intending
By what they are spending
To damage the Israelite cause,
Will find themselves losing
By what they are choosing
And suffer defeat in the wars.

The world has recorded,
Disasters accorded,
For targeting Abraham’s seed.
It also reminds us
Such enmity blinds us,
So we should be watchful indeed.

 

The Ascension
When He ascended up on high,
He led captivity captive.
Ephesians 4:8

The Lord is ascended;
His kingdom suspended,
Till all opposition is quelled;
The time intervening
Has purpose and meaning,
As Bible predictions have held.

A family royal,
Submissive and loyal,
Is being created and fed;
It stays in recession
Until the Procession,
With Jesus the King at the head.

This group of believers
Will presently leave us,
And go to their home in the sky;
The One who will raise them
Will also appraise them,
And set their positions on high.

 

The Battleground
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand.
Ephesians 6:13

Spiritual perception
Overcomes deception
In the daily battles that we face;
We must wear the armour
For this daily drama
Founded on the cornerstone of grace.

Truth is most essential,
Living or potential,
Absolute, eternal and complete;
Humanist solutions
Add to our confusions
Having neither reasoning nor feet.

Let us be specific
Hell-fire is horrific;
Life without the Lord is endless night;
As the gospel preachers,
With the Bible teachers,
Furnish us with promises and light.

Let us be dogmatic,
Truthful and emphatic,
Spiritual perception is a must;
Trusting Christ the Saviour
Without fear or favour,
Will assure our reckoning is just.

 

The Beatitudes
And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain:
and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him:
And He opened His mouth, and taught them…
Matthew 5:1, 2

The blessedness our Saviour taught
Upon the lofty mount,
Anticipates the highest court
When saints will give account.

As virtue love and loyalty
Are practised and pursued,
They show the marks of royalty
In life’s brief interlude.

For blessed are the spirit-poor;
The kingdom shall be theirs;
A crown of joy shall evermore
Enrich these lowly heirs.

And blessed are the ones who mourn;
Who sorrow for the dead;
For on a fast-approaching morn
They shall be comforted.

And blessed are the saintly meek,
Where pride has little worth;
They shall inherit what they seek,
A just and peaceful earth.

And blessed are the hungry folk,
Who thirst for righteousness,
They shall be filled as Jesus spoke,
With lasting joyfulness.

And blessed are the merciful,
Where wrongs are never stored;
Their blessings shall be bountiful;
God’s mercy their reward.

And blessed are the pure in heart,
Whose God is their delight;
For He who has no counterpart,
Is ever in their sight.

And blessed are those making peace,
Where discord has been sown;
As God’s adopted progenies
In light they shall be known.

And blest are those who for His sake
Are persecuted sore,
His kingdom riches shall partake,
And cherish evermore.

 

The Believer’s Hope
For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.
Acts 17:28

Love is in His keeping,
Openly revealed;
Restful, never sleeping;
Daystar of the healed.

Just in all His doing;
Earnest in His speech;
Souls in need pursuing,
Unto them enduing
Solace in their reach.

Crucified, forsaken,
He remained alone;
Rebel hosts were shaken
In the battle zone;
So our Lord was taken
To His royal throne.

 

The Temple of Christ
…I will build My church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18

Since the Church had its birth
For its role on the earth,
It has gone through some difficult phases;
Though its numbers were few,
It increasingly grew,
Like a forest on fire as it blazes.

In its infancy years,
When the weapons were spears,
It was under its military masters;
Yet its royal mandate
Did effectively state,
It would outlive its many disasters.

After Stephen was slain,
It would always remain,
As a target of enemy forces;
For the battle it fights,
Like the flame it ignites,
Is dependent on holy resources.

When its course has been run,
By the victory won,
When that triumphant word had resounded;
It will enter its rest,
With the Saviour it blest,
Where a glorious life is unbounded.

 

The Body of Christ
So we, being many, are one body in Christ,
and every one members one of another.
Romans 12:5

The body is a composite;
Each member has a role;
The hands cannot replace the feet
To balance up the whole.

The local church that God ordained
Is called a body too;
The gift each member has obtained
Should not stay in the pew.

The gift of helps is commonplace,
As help is oft required;
For every gift applied in grace
Is needed and desired.

The gift of pastor is a call
Requiring certain skills,
To know God’s essence overall,
And teach it as He wills.

Each member has a part to play
Within a local church;
The Lord will always lead the way
By Scripture, if we search.

For service is our vital role
As long as we are here,
To edify each other’s soul
In humbleness and fear.

The Church while in its infancy
Had all the gifts ordained,
Like knowledge, tongues and prophecy,
But they have not remained.

For when the canon was complete
There was no further need;
The gospel with its mighty feat
Is here for us to read.

With all the gifts contributing
To edify and build,
The church will be exhibiting
Its membership fulfilled.

As that in Philadelphia
In Revelation Three,
It will be so much healthier,
And be what it should be.

 

The Burden
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
Habakkuk 1:1

The burden that the prophet saw,
How long, O Lord, he cried;
For wickedness perverts the law,
And justice is denied.

The Lord replied in clearest form,
A nation He will bring,
With judgment lacking any norm,
And scorn for everything.

They march on like a mighty horde;
Their horses charge ahead;
With no regard for king or lord;
And terrors full of dread.

The prophet knew this enemy,
And stated his lament,
How could an evil entity
Be such an instrument?

Yet he would wait for God’s reply,
As watching at the gate;
The answer that would clarify
His nation’s dire estate.

The vision will eventuate;
On this he could rely;
So he must write it on a plate
For every passer-by.

The message is for everyone;
For any who have eyes;
The just shall live by faith alone;
The proud are never wise.

The Call
For whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:13

The Lord God has spoken;
The saints have awoken;
The sleepers are lost in the night;
Behold now the portals
For slumbering mortals
Are open with promise of light.

The light keeps on shining
On those still repining,
It brings forth a life that is true;
So let us embrace it
Or else we must face it
With judgment, for that will ensue.

The Lord is our Saviour
With merciful favour;
The Shepherd who cares for His flock;
As time is retreating,
Yet still He’s entreating,
Come now, or be trapped by the clock.

The Cause
They hated me without a cause.
John 15:25

When people consider a cause,
Not sensing deception or flaws,
They need to engage in a test,
For not all the causes are blest.

Some duly are set in a creed,
Which seem to have logic indeed;
Yet words are not all that they claim,
If not linking truth with a Name.

For there is a Person unique,
Unknown in a worldly critique;
Unheard in religions at large
Which have not believed such a charge.

With gladness we covet a birth
Which brought our Redeemer to earth;
Christ Jesus the One prophesied:
The Lord God incarnate who died.

If any religion or cause
Does not have this scriptural clause,
They must be confined to the dust,
Their cause neither valid nor just.

Our Blessed Redeemer arose,
Defeating the grave and His foes;
The cause is the reason He came:
The glory ascribed to His Name.

 

The Cross
For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness;
1 Corinthians 1:18

Let us take a look at the Saviour’s cross,
Where He hung alone to redeem our loss;
History is built on that perfect deed;
Pleasing unto God, meeting all our need.

It was so designed ere the world began;
Having been the aim of the Father’s plan;
Prophesied in full in the sacred book;
Telling how the foe would be deadly struck.

Enmity and sin must be put to flight;
Spiritual and real as the endless night;
It demanded blood of a victim shed;
So the Lord remained till He bowed His head.

Enemies remain for the human race;
Everything resisting the gift of grace;
No one can deny they were born in sin;
That is when the death pangs of hell begin.

Let us be assured there is hope in sight;
In the gospel news there is life and light;
Look unto the cross with a sure belief;
Nevermore will death be a source of grief.

 

The Dearest
We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19

When man was created
From dust of the ground,
His nature was earthbound and earthy;
Then as it is stated
In language profound,
His conduct was found as unworthy.

The Lord did not banish
The creature He made,
Although there would be a reaction;
For He does not relish
A rank renegade,
Nor yet a rebellious faction.

Our Lord knew the suffering
That He would sustain
In saving a race so infected;
God sanctioned the offering:
The Lamb that was slain,
Delivered and yet, resurrected.

Our Lord is exalted,
His love manifest;
He calls us to trust Him sincerely;
For death has been halted,
In Him there is rest;
By faith we enjoy Him most dearly.

 

The Dispersed
 Therefore, to him who knows to do good
and does not do it, to him it is sin.
James 4:17

As James addressed the scattered flock:
The tribes of Israel;
He called them as a living stock
That feed beside a well.

When testing times are prevalent,
So count it all for joy;
For testing has divine intent
With patience its employ.

If any of the brotherhood,
Of wisdom has a lack,
Then let him ask as well he should
In faith with nothing slack.

A double minded man of prayer,
Unstable in his ways,
Does not receive his lawful share
Allotted in such days.

From where do wars and fighting come
Among you? Is it true?
You ask but do not get the sum,
For there is lust in you.

Submit yourselves in lowliness
To God, the God of grace;
For He resists all haughtiness;
The humble seek His face.

If any due to errancy
From vital truth have strayed,
Let one in simple constancy
Restore with love displayed.

 

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