You Ask Why
Don't ask why.
When death intrudes.
When tsunami strikes.
When evil strides triumphant.
Instead I ask you My beloved.
Do you trust Me fully?
I allow evil and death.
I allow danger and disaster.
Pain and suffering oft result.
I offer you real freedom.
You can choose whom you will serve.
Will you follow Me or be the devil's pawn.
"Why" is far beyond comprehension.
Yet "why" is easy to understand.
If you truly love you give freedom.
Prodigal's father lets him go knowing son can die.
Yet patiently he waits for beloved son's return.
He gave him freedom to fail in order to succeed.
It's not that in Genesis garden myth
devil won when Eve the "apple" bit
and Adam joined her in the bitter fall.
A myth that seems to say
twas mistake to offer freedom they chose
it was their fault and I was not involved.
You think that I am a distant God.
I love you more than any parent
who lets go a bicycle so child
can learn to ride like the wind.
I sent My son and came for you.
To save you from your sin.
Death didn't/doesn't win.
Evil's triumph is not the end.
Hope is real and true.
I love you far beyond your knowing.
Do you love and trust Me?
I give you freedom to come to Me.
What is your choice?
© Presbypoet, January 4, 2005
This one was heard after the Tsunami. It seems appropriate today, as so many are asking:
Why?
What do you think? Do you know Him in the midst of this awful pain? In your
Pain of uncertaintly do you hear Him say; "Be not afraid." and do you trust Him?
posted by PresbyPoet at
11:08 AM
7 Comments:
Very Nice.
Suggest you put it at the top of the list for a week or so, after this past week.
I have a great deal of trouble reading the Bible.
(Perhaps problem is like Organic Chem was for me?)
It was "impossibly hard" the first time, and then when I committed enough material to memory it became easy?
---
Anyway, Hewitt had on two great Pastors who also tried to explain
You Ask Why
I really couldn't follow, or perhaps accept, easily.
Doug,
Thanks for the comment. Many of these poems are on this same concept. Best summed up by:
Joy in midst of suffering.
Hope in midst of despair.
I let you go so you can come to Me.
What is it you find hard to understand?
What is so hard to accept?
It may be easier for a four year old. They haven't learned not to trust.
The current set of poems about the woman taken in adultery speak of hope, yet in the paradox of such a hopeless position. If she can find hope, there is hope for us all.
"What is it you find hard to understand?"
---
In your explanation, nothing.
In the Bible, I have trouble getting through the sentences with their structure etc, remembering names and places, and relationships, and etc. and that becomes my excuse for laziness.
---
Was what I consider the extreme clarity of this particular poem related to the great amount of thought you must have put into the subject, as indicated by your Prayer for your son?
Don't bother answering if I am prying.
It is certainly a less child friendly culture than when I grew up.
The other Pastor's explainations just used words and more complex constructs in what apparently was an attempt to communicate what your poem says to me.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Doug,
It comes down to intimacy. I've been born again over 50 years. I've know His presence so long it is part of me. The strange thing to me, so highly intellectual(I read 100 to 400 pages a day,)is how many of the poems come from within and without at the same time. A strange dualistic union. Scripture and revelation, both at the same time. To know the word, yet hear God.
There are two things that help.
The first is pain and struggle we've gone through. Suffering will either draw you closer to God, or drive you away. My son is sure, a good god wouldn't have allowed the awful things that have happened to him.
The reason the rich have a hard time finding God, is they don't think they need Him. When my son calls at 3 AM and speaks of suicide, you know you can't deal with this on your own.
The second, is knowing the stories so well, i know when one is applicable.
How familiar are you with the story of the Prodigal Son? For me, it is so familiar, I've lived its many parts.
I am the prodigal. I come with nothing. My best; like a cat dumping a rat on its owner's pillow.
Yet this strange, inexplicable essence of the story, that God is like the mother of a son who wins in the big leagues for the first time, and can't sleep for joy. This is how he feels about me. When I do the slightest thing right, he is joyful.
As the father of a son; who for two years every time I said "I love you", he responded, "I hate you." I identify with the father. Now when my son says "I love you.", it is the greatest joy. I can truly glimpse the joy the father experiences in the story.
As a responsible eldest brother, with a younger brother who hadn't been home in five years; I can identify with the elder brother. Being responsible, taking time to care for my 80 something father, while my brother lives free of responsibility, except when he drops by to tell me what I'm doing wrong. (I lived the story even more directly. I'm the one who got my brother to come home. Then had my father say how wonderful it was he was home, and take me for granted.)
I haven't turned this parable into poetry, but maybe that will be the next one. You can see i know the story, so as I live, it helps me understand. (Actually some of my poems express its thoughts, like one where the son comes home and demands the rest of the money).
Have you been following the poems about the woman taken in adultery? Have you read those verses in John? I wonder if you will give me feedback if my poems help make the story real.
The weirdest part is poems that come unbid. Where I wake up and write. Clearly this was nothing I planned, yet I wrote it.
Perhaps the reason the poems are so clear is that they are only the essence. You can see how long it takes me when I'm not writing poetry to get to the point.
Do you go to church? Is there any small men's group you can join? I know it helps to have others walk alongside.
Blessings,
Beautiful stuff:
I have some chores today but will return with further comment.
Several areas/family incidents you relate brought a smile of recognition. At an earlier time would have brought up the anger like that you relate your son sometimes experiences.
My wife and I wasted much time earlier in battle, but we feel blessed that by the time we had a child we were grown up enough to be passable adults/parents but wish we had learned earlier so we might have had more/learned more.
You probably missed it, but I once related at BC that of all the chestnuts of folk wisdom my mom passed on, the one that was more evident more often than any was:
"You learn who you are." (When you raise your children.)
I will stick with this poem and the prayer for a while before moving on, as they are so helpful.
Same with the group idea:
I'm sure you are right, but right now I want to devote that energy to some older relatives/people while they are still here.
I can't read at the rate you do unless it is very readable and overwhelmingly interesting.
Easily distractible:
Think that's part of my problem w/the Bible.
I just bought a Children's Version!
...if that doesn't work, maybe I'll buy those vegetable videos!
Thanks for being there.
I'll be back.
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