I Am Not That Bright

 

Concerning the poems I write

I am not that bright,

To take the credit for them

Just does not seem right.

 

The ability is not my own

It must have been given to me,

Nothing originates with me

I am just a conduit, you see.

 

All that is required of me

Is to keep the channel open,

I am like an electric wire

I do not make it happen.

 

Recently I was complimented,

It could have gone to my head

But I quickly checked myself,

Giving God the praise instead.

 

I would be plagiarizing

If I took to myself the credit,

Like when I knew no better

That would be my habit.

 

But there is nothing that I have

That I did not receive,

I am so glad that this critical point

I have come to believe.

 

I know you will see my name

At the end of each poem I write,

But I am not trying to impress you

That I am really that bright.

 

There are many conduits,

They are not one and the same

And so at the end of my poems

You will see my name.

 

Feel free to use all of them

In any way you deem fit,

There is no copyright infringement

I am just the conduit.

 

 

If you don’t acknowledge me

It would not make me sad,

The fact that the poem is being used

Is what makes me glad.

 

If you take the credit

You would have to deal with that,

A conscience that is not working

Is a very frightening fact.

 

Remember this if nothing else:

I am not that bright,

Hence, neither you nor I should take

The credit for the poems I write.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019

 

Some Famous Words

 

 

 

Naked came I into this world

And naked I shall go,

The gist of the words of patient Job

A fact we all need to know.

 

Vanity of vanity; all is vanity

The words of the wise King Solomon

Convinced it was folly he fell for

As he ruled over Israel’s kingdom.

 

Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by?

Words of the prophet Jeremiah,

A reminder to offer a helping hand

To others when going through the fire.

 

Thou art weighed in the balances

And art found wanting,

This prospect of a Babylonian King

Must have been quite daunting.

 

If I perish, I perish, said Queen Esther

What an unselfish resolve!

In breach of the law of a foreign land

For the lives of her people involved.

 

Thou art the man shocked the king

After David had sentenced himself,

Adultery and murder he had committed

And was lacking in spiritual health.

 

 

 

 

God will provide himself

A lamb for the burnt offering,

A prophetic response to the young Isaac

Abraham was committed to this slaying.

 

Whither thou goest, I will go

Words of the grief stricken Ruth

Her resolve to her mother-in-law Naomi

As the book of her name bears proof.

 

Can too walk together

Except they be agreed?

 Amos’ question pertaining to life

Rhetorical in nature but profound indeed.

  

Am I my brother’s keeper?

What petulant insolence!

But this was how Cain answered God

After ending Abel’s existence.

 

Here am I, send me

Isaiah’s response to the heavenly call

To declare to the people the word of Lord:

A people blind with hearts like a wall.

 

 

 

 

Like a lamb led to the slaughter

Spoken by Isaiah in chapter 53

Concerning Jesus the righteous servant

That would die to justify many.

 

Spare the rod and spoil the child

Ancient advice from the wisest man

But rejected today as a backward step

And on faulty ground we now stand.

 

In the sweat of thy face

Thou shalt eat bread

God’s judgment on the first couple

When they disobey what He had said.

 

Choose you this day

Whom ye will serve

This is still as pertinent a question

As in Joshua’s day when we first heard.

  

As for me and my house

We will serve the Lord

So take a leaf out of Joshua’s book

Or better still out of the Holy Word.

 

Stewart Russell © April 2019

 

Praying or Prying?

 

 

 

You ask some people to pray

And they have to know for what

As though God must hear from them

As to what a person has got.

 

God does not need information

So, who really has to know?

More than likely it is they

So that they can tell someone so.

 

Praying or prying

Which of the two would it be?

Think my friend, when the request is made

And you would easily see.

 

Prying is my straight-up answer

And I make no apologies,

For God Almighty knows everything

And everything He sees.

 

If you must know my situation

In order to pray for me

I have no doubt you are prying

That’s what it has to be.

 

Yes, we can go to God

And intercede on a person’s behalf

But to claim that we must know

Is going down the wrong path.

 

And it is not praying amiss

If we do not have the details,

Just pray for the person’s wellbeing

And that is not likely to fail.

 

There is absolutely no need

To deprive someone of prayer

Unless that one is already dead

Or you just don’t really care.

 

A person should be free

To say if he thinks he should

And not be force to give any details

Based on how we judge.

Pray but do not pry

If the details are not available

And concerning any on social media

Please be very careful!

 

Stewart Russell © November 10, 2021

 

Our Future or Theirs?

 

 

Revelation 1:7

 

Behold, he cometh with clouds;

 and every eye shall see him,

and they also which pierced him:

and all kindreds of the earth

shall wail because of him.

Even so, Amen.

 

In whose future is this?

The popular view says ours,

Thus, let me share with you

My study of several hours.

 

When studying the Scriptures

Audience relevance is vital,

Not everything that is written therein

Is for every people.

 

As I read Revelation 1:7

In conjunction with Matthew 24

I get the clearest of impressions

It’s their future more and more.

 

Whose future you may ask?

The Future of those Jews

The very ones that Jesus was addressing

In that prophetic view.

 

 

John on the Isle of Patmos

Picks up this very intent

That it’s to his brothers in tribulation

That this revelation was sent.

 

These were scheduled events

That must shortly come to pass,

John was certainly clear on this

And the urgency of his task.

 

Not only would they happen shortly

But the time was at hand,

Note the imminence of the prophecy

This was a short-term plan.

 

In their future not ours,

It was to happen in their time

Or why this intense urgency?

It’s time we disabuse our mind.

  

Written to seven churches then

Not to churches in our time

Though these specified characteristics

Are applicable to yours and mine.

 

There is a message there for us

That we should take to heart

But this would be so in every era

Post Pentecost and from the start.

 

The events of that 1^st Century

Affected the entire world,

Not long after Jesus left

Began the chaotic whirl.

 

The Christians were persecuted

Firstly, by the Jews

And the Romans subsequently joined

According to historic reviews.

 

 

In the Olivet discourse

As in the events of the Revelation

Jesus spoke to the horrid times at hand

Also known as the tribulation.

 

The disciples were apprehensive

Not for us in our time

But for themselves and others,

Fear and distress racked their mind.

 

Remember this is pre-Pentecost

Jesus is still with them,

However, soon he’ll be going away

Herein lies the problem.

 

 

The temple will be destroyed

Jerusalem will be laid waste,

Nothing like this had they experienced

And it was coming with haste.

  

Like an oncoming storm

With little chance of escape,

The disciples understood its imminence

Let us make no mistake.

 

Do not be deceived

Jesus warned his disciples,

That they bear in mind what he said

Was absolutely vital.

 

It was vital to them

Because it would happen to them,

Not in two thousand years

But imminently back then.

 

In their time I must repeat

Certainly not in ours,

The urgency was as clear as could be

Concerning the oncoming horror.

 

 

Then shall they deliver you up

To be afflicted and killed,

The audience that Jesus addressed

Was standing before him still.

 

Many shall be offended

And shall betray one another,

It was of them that he spoke

Hence why they were bothered.

 

When would these things be?

The disciples had enquired,

And Jesus’ response was

Before that generation had expired.

 

When you shall see these things

Know that it is near,

It was the generation that heard him

 Right then and there. 

 

Matthew 16:28; Luke 9:27

 

There be some standing here,

Which shall not taste of death,

Till they see the son of man

Coming in his kingdom.

 

Matthew 24:15-21

 

When ye therefore shall see

The abomination of desolation,

Spoken of by Daniel the prophet

Stand in the holy place.

 

Let them that be in Judea

Flee to the mountain

And let him that be on the housetop

Not come down for anything.

 

Neither let him that be in the field

Return back for his clothes,

All this would befall Jerusalem

In this time of woes.

 

Then shall be great tribulation-

In that time, not now

But for a reason unknown to me

It will be in our day, somehow.

 

Daniel the prophet

Prophesied of this occasion,

Matthew 24 is Jesus’ confirmation

It will happen to that generation.

 

That generation, not ours

More than two thousand years hence,

Read the Scriptures as they are

And I mean no offense.

 

 

Coming with clouds

According to chapter 1 of Revelation

But this does not speak to the end

As in the final consummation.

 

And even if it did

None knows when that would be,

To say it would be in our time

Would be to say so mistakenly.

 

Their future, not ours

Speaks to the end of that age,

The end of the old Jewish covenant-

This was the transitional stage.

 

It speaks to Jesus’ lament

Over the city of Jerusalem

As he bemoaned their rejection

And their coming desolation.

 

Matthew 23:37-38

 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

thou that killest the prophets,

and stonest them which are sent onto thee,

how often would I have gathered thy children together,

even as a hen gathereth her chickens under hew wings,

and ye would not!

 

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

 

Revelation1:7

 

Behold, he cometh with clouds;

 and every eye shall see him,

and they also which pierced him:

and all kindreds of the earth

shall wail because of him.

Even so, Amen.

 

Revelation 22:10

 

 

Daniel 12:4

 

 

Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book:

For the time is at hand.

Very unlike the instructions that Daniel had:

Shut up the words and seal the book was the plan.

 

In their time not ours

Not our future but theirs,

I have given a condensed summary

But I believe the point is clear.

 

Stewart Russell © October 27, 2020