burning bush

Church is canceled for me today because of ice so I'm having my own little study time.

Here are 2 poems from the collection I just recommended, inspired by the Old Testament. Too many to love...

PRAYER

I asked for bread; God gave a stone instead.
Yet, while I pillowed there my weary head,
The angels made a ladder in my dreams,
Which upward to celestial mountains led.
And when I woke beneath the morning's beams,
Around my resting place fresh manna lay;
And, praising God, I went upon my way,
For I was fed,

God answers prayer; sometimes, when hearts are weak,
He gives the very gifts believers seek.
But often faith must learn a deeper rest,
And trust God's silence when He does not speak;
For He whose name is Love will send the best.
Stars may burn out, nor mountain walls endure,
But God is true, His promises are sure
For those who seek.

--Author unknown

SOME SINAI

"And Moses when up unto God, and the Lord called until him out of the mountain."

--Exodus 19:3

Each soul much seek some Sinai
Where God's great truths are told;
Must find God's revelations
Writ on shining plates of gold.

Some high and sacred place, apart;
Some sky-touched mountain peak
Where he may hear the thunders roll
And all God's voices speak.

Each soul much find some silent place;
Some high and holy shrine
Where all the stars and suns and moons
And plunging planets shine.

Here are God's revelations;
Here are His thoughts, sublime
To guide all human hearts and hopes
Through space and tide and time.

Each soul must seek some Sinai;
Some vision-haunted place;
Some silent, sacred, singing shrine
To see His lighted face.

--William L. Stidger

Art credit: Burning Bush by Sebastien Bourdon (Wikimedia Commons)