Psalm 77
We all have them—those times when doubts creep in. They can last anywhere from a second—Man, believing that there’s an all-knowing, all-powerful guy up in the sky who created everything and sees me right now sounds like a Star Trek movie!—to a full-blown season of doubt and depression. Sometimes you just can’t stop the questions.
Photo © Unsplash/Patrick Hendry
There was no food to be found
growing in the land
but there was
a bumper crop of fear.
Jacob was afraid
he was going to starve to death
or lose Benjamin
trying not to.
Jacob's sons were afraid
of being overpowered
captured
and forced into slavery
in other words
exactly what
they had done
to Joseph.
Fear, fear everywhere
as if there was
no God of our fathers
no Yahweh-Elohim
no Jehovah-Jireh.
What would it have mattered
if Israel had no shortage of food
when there was such a
famine of faith?
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God said
I am your God, and I am with you.
Jacob replied
If God will be with me, then he will be my God.
This, this!
is the human problem—
Always adding doubt to God's steadfast recipes.
Always placing conditions on God's unconditional offers.
Always suggesting a coalitional approach to God's unilateral operations.
Photo © Unsplash/Eutah Mizushima
the rain has been falling how long i don't know
the last time i saw land was so long ago
the trees have all drowned and the mountains are gone
the water obscures every trace of the dawn
within me the rivers of doubt overflow
the rain has been falling how long i don't know
alone on this ocean i bobble afloat
i must have been crazy to get in this boat
it would have been better to die with the world
and not have to see what's familiar unfurled
the rain has been falling how long i don't know
i wonder how far down the flood waters go
this sea-weary vessel will anchor at last
but life as i've known it will be in the past
until then i'll wonder what's lurking below
the rain has been falling how long i don't know
Quatern: A sixteen-line French form composed of four quatrains, with a refrain that is in a different place in each quatrain. The first line of stanza one is the second line of stanza two, third line of stanza three, and fourth line of stanza four.
GENESIS 17
There are so many things I could write about God from this chapter of Genesis, but I’ve just got to write about God’s sense of humor. Are you sometimes lulled into thinking that God is a stern, distant Deity who frowns over you as you trudge through life? Even if you picture Him as one who wants to have a relationship with you, are you tempted to think that He is more like a harsh, exacting parent who keeps a watchful eye on His children, lest He see any hint of indiscretion?
