Our earthly lives are busy and stressful. Life has a way of pushing us into extremes like despair or self-centered pride, fear or over-confidence, anger or tired indifference. God’s Grace, Salvation and his powerful Word are such a cure for this distracting and sin-warped daily life. The end of Philippians has such great encouragement and important reminders for us as we live life in this sinful world. The next few weeks I’ll be writing poems that explore themes found in Philippians 4:4-9
. Today, the first Non-rhyming portion sets the overall background for the poems, the second rhyming portion focuses us on Philippians 4:4.
We pursue life
Run races, chase dreams, go for goals
Overwhelmed
We work and worry
Care and complain
We grind on, muscles flexed
So stressed
Marshalling our world
Conducting our orchestra
Commanding our environment
Passionate for perfection
We beat ourselves onward
So unsatisfied, so empty, so alone
Or perhaps not
Perhaps we watch life change
And we stand, side-lined and scared
Feel pursued and overwhelmed
We whine and worry
Care and complain
Pained and paralyzed,
Depressed and stressed
Fighting hard with a thousand excuses
Crushed by experience
Hide from a world out of control
Frozen in fear
So unsatisfied, so empty, so alone.
Look inside and see sin, see mess, see crazy
Look around and see sin, see mess, see crazy
Where death and disease and disaster destroy
Where dreams die hard and problems annoy
Where work never ends and weariness wins
We are dust, sin-ruined, often chasing the winds
Yet God cries, “Rejoice!” He repeats it again!
Rejoice in the Lord, not in this life of sin
Rejoice in his promise, firm rock in life’s sands
Rejoice for your future’s in God’s loving hands
Rejoice in a Savior who lived this life true
Died your full death and gave his life to you!
Rejoice always. I will say it again. Rejoice!
In the midst of disaster? In stress? In pain?
We rejoice in his Holy unshakeable name
In the midst of confusion? In fear? In doubt?
We rejoice in his grace which can never run out.
In the midst of loss? In tears? In distress?
We rejoice in the truth of each perfect promise.
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