I've said this before, and I'll say it again... I know nothing of true poetic verse and meter and all that good stuff. But once in a while I feel so compelled to write poetry. I'm having one of those moments. So here it goes. Enjoy it. Hate it. I just had to write it b/c it's part of me. I am an Israelite There’s nothing new in drawing comparisons and finding self in the life of a wandering Israelite.
I’ve heard the story in church in Bible studies in random places... at random times.
But today
the story is mine. I am no longer the spectator. I am a participant, A character in the drama.
I am an Israelite slave to the Egyptians, toiling in a land where I do not belong.
I am an Israelite longing to be free, as my advocate -like Moses for His people- pleads on my behalf, to let me go.
I am an Israelite who lives to see the day when God leads me out of slavery guided by his pillar of cloud by day and his fire at night.
I am an Israelite in awe of his miracles like the parting of the Red Sea so I can find refuge from those who pursue me.
I am an Israelite so easily forgetting those miracles, suddenly discontented when my life is not what I think it should be, want it to be.
I am an Israelite who stomps my feet and demands water from rocks and better food from heaven who neither trusts God’s provisions or sees the goodness in what he gives.
I am an Israelite who always wants more who cries out in bitterness and wanders in confusion as a blind man with scales covering my eyes.
I am an Israelite ruled by my self-centered fear my self-imposed rules my greed and ungrateful heart.
I am an Israelite who so easily forgets all God has given and all he has promised when the going gets rough and my heart is deceived.
I am an Israelite so quick to hand over my gold as did the ones who grumbled after Moses left to commune with God on that mountain.
I am an Israelite so quick to kneel down to idols like the one Aaron helped fashion like the golden calf so ridiculously unworthy.
I am an Israelite who wanted something more to fill me something to make me whole in my loneliness and dark nights.
I am an Israelite who wanted every need met, every discomfort relieved, every problem made right.
I am an Israelite whom God calls with a beckoning love to wake me from the lies I have hidden in darkness and untangle the webs I have sewn around my depraved heart.
There’s nothing new to this story as it occurs century upon century as God continues to bring light to darkness and frees the captives from prisons of their own making.
But today the story is mine as he restores me back to the life he intended for me back to the life where his glory is revealed.
Today the story is mine as he melts my idols of gold to a burning river of minerals to serve as a holy reminder.
Today the story is mine as I am reminded that walking too close to the edge of that river means I can fall into its lava-like current where I will burn in the waves of deception.
Today the story is mine as God continues to reveal that he is the author of life of all things good like joy and peace mercy and forgiveness grace.
Today the story is mine as I enter into the redemptive life that life that has been resurrected and made new within the life of his Son, where I dwell in Him and He dwells in me.
Today the story is mine as truth illuminates the pathway toward the promised land, where I will arrive tattered and torn but made new and whole.
Today I live the story. the story of the Israelites; the story of me; the story of God; The story.