[339]. A Message From A Poem - What We See Is Great Sadness

[338]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM - WHAT WE SEE IS GREAT SADNESS

This world is a hurting, and it’s a sad place and so much misery is everywhere. Christians in western nations tend not to notice the terrible suffering in the world because they don’t seek out information about it. It is certainly there and greater than you think.

People try to isolate themselves from grief and suffering, even thinking about it, because it is sad. That is what we focus on here, the sadness caused by wickedness. The sin of mankind is responsible for the world’s suffering. Sorrow is married to sin.

Do men and women want to move away from sin and enter God’s peace, joy and understanding? Frankly, no, they don’t, as they love their sin too much. The poem continues to explore this and a lot more and at the end the need for repentance is made. Only the gospel can deliver this world from spiritual poverty and sorrow.

This poem needs to be read thoughtfully and not rushed.

The true Christian desires for friends and family to come to faith in the Lord Jesus but we can force no one. We feel like the prophets who could not persuade the nation. Jesus also faced that dilemma – {{Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, AND YOU WERE UNWILLING.”}}

{{John 5:40 “and YOU ARE UNWILLING to come to Me that you may have life.”}}

{{Isaiah 30:15 Thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you shall be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength,” BUT YOU WERE NOT WILLING,”}}

It is sad to see sadness. That is one reason why some people use that fact as an excuse maybe to turn away from God. “If there is a god why does he allow people to suffer great pain?” Of course we know the Christian answer for that but the unsaved person does not understand Christian principles. {{Romans 8:18 “for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”}}.

Some may see this as a negative poem but it explores a world of reality, for sin produced the curse, judgement, sorrow, separation and penalty for actions’ consequences, if you like.

The most important stanza in the poem in my opinion is the last one, for it puts the finger on suffering and sadness. God bless the readers.

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WHAT WE SEE IS GREAT SADNESS

Wickedness and spitefulness like kings reign over all.

Selfishness and sinfulness along with those rise tall.

Look out and observe the state of the world we live in -

Dreadful conditions, and battered lives, because of sin.

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Man has programmed his own course; his own way of living;

What he is reaping is sad fruit that sin will keep giving.

“News highlights” these days give just frustration and sadness.

Who can be joyed by constant exposure to badness?

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Many words apply to the current state of affairs:

Misery, warfare, rejection; personal nightmares

Connected with safety, finance, health and the future;

Concerns, the search for solutions; most we can’t cure.

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God created the universe with power divine;

Made the whole infrastructure with organised design;

Set the galaxies with great glory in their courses;

Organised, they interact through physical forces.

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God who created the universe also made man;

In the image of God, fashioned from the earth’s dustpan;

Puny man, when with God’s innate majesty compared;

Placed him on earth as “head of creation”, God declared.

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Blessed is the man who from tragedy is excluded;

Whose life sails on the calm seas, whose accord is secluded.

In trials God’s grace is extended in serenity,

To rise above the pits of this world’s obscenity.

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But so many live with turmoil, hardship and warfare;

Poverty, sickness and privation – nothing but despair.

Their lives show no meaning, empty without second birth;

Products of creation, unsaved and living on earth.

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Be not deceived, that people given time, will improve,

For that is humanism stuck in the devil’s groove.

Human nature can’t advance for it’s flawed from the start;

Its problem is sin that has invaded every part.

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God wants to recreate men and women through His love,

Regenerated with mighty power from above.

He who made the universe to function and obey

Will certainly order the Christian life in His way.

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What is required through honesty to make things right,

That man can live forever in God’s abiding light?

Repentance of sin, so that the old life is ended;

Forgiveness of sin, and a life fully surrendered.

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6 September 2021 R E Ferguson 13 throughout AABB

Alternate line = “In the image of God, fashioned according to plan” in the 5th stanza.

Poem was begun 1 to 2 months before the finished date on 6 September 2021.