[140]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – IN DESPAIR BUT NOT ALONE
There is some personal sorrow in this poem and some of the poem’s content comes from experience, not a pleasant one.
When writing this – a task that was difficult because of the way I used the rhyme scheme – I appealed to the Psalms and my personal expression. Treat the poem like a prayer for it is one.
The first stanza might seem strange to Christians in our Church age, as if it is calling for vengeance. Jesus asked us to pray for our enemies – {{Matthew 5:43-44 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU”}}
That is the principle in the Church age but in Old Testament times we have prayers for enemies’ downfall. That was correct for them. I believe there is a sense that it is correct to pray for the enemy’s defeat. Many were the prayers in WW2 that Hitler and Germany would meet their end. Many are the prayers that Hamas will be defeated.
The first stanza is based on these verses – {{Psalm 31:4 “You will pull me out of the net which THEY HAVE SECRETLY LAID FOR ME for You are my strength.”}}
{{Psalm 35:7-8 “Without cause THEY HID THEIR NET FOR ME. Without cause they dug a pit for my soul. Let destruction come upon him unawares and LET THE NET WHICH HE HID CATCH HIMSELF. Into that very destruction let him fall.”}}
{{Psalm 141:10 “LET THE WICKED FALL INTO THEIR OWN NETS WHILE I PASS BY SAFELY.”}}
{{Psalm 38:12 “Those who seek my life LAY SNARES FOR ME and those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction, and THEY DEVISE TREACHERY all day long”}}
{{Psalm 64:2-7 “HIDE ME FROM THE SECRET COUNSEL OF EVILDOERS, from the tumult of those who do iniquity, who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, to shoot from concealment at the blameless. Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose. THEY TALK OF LAYING SNARES SECRETLY. They say, “Who can see them?” THEY DEVISE INJUSTICES, saying, “We are ready with a well-conceived plot,” for the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep. God will shoot at them with an arrow. Suddenly they will be wounded.”}}
The great message of the poem though lies in its Title. Through all our needs and difficulties, our God walks with us in the journey. We need to reach out to Him. The third stanza is the victory.
Apart from saying that some lines have the first and last word rhyming, you can study the poem to map out the rhyme scheme.
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IN DESPAIR BUT NOT ALONE
Let them fall in their own net:
The one they laid for me.
Care they not about the snare,
Of its iniquity.
Map they my path for their trap,
They lay there secretly.
Lord, You keep me from their sword,
While I pass by safely.
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Faint the spirit of this saint,
But You, Lord, know my way.
Troubles rise up like bubbles,
As methane from decay.
No strong fort where I can go,
No haven ends the day.
Concern from none, I discern;
No care do they display.
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Need I have: this I concede.
Hear my cry of despair.
Lifted up, my voice then led,
Pleads Your merciful care.
Gently hold me lovingly,
For God our hurts will bear.
Love will stream down from above,
So God’s smile given, wear.
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Last quarter, 1997 R E Ferguson 7-6-7-6-7-6-7-6
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