Your Attention Please!

 

It’s a while

I haven’t mused

Now too tempted

To refuse

Now is the time

That I choose

So very sorry

You’re not enthused

Trying to keep

These lines short

If too long

I will abort

Hope by now

You get my drift

Between you and me

Avoid the rift

Is that sense?

Or is it not?

Read on some more

See what we’ve got

Your attention

Is what I need

Don’t stop now

Continue to read

In the beginning

Adam was created

Having seen Eve

He was elated

Eve ate the fruit

Adam participated

God’s only law

They had violated

Driven out of Eden

After this first sin

Adam and Eve

A new life begins

  

First get together

There was Cain

Next came Abel

And then some pain

Cain killed Abel

Through jealousy

First homicide

Then misery

Sent away

To the land of Nod

His just punishment

At the hand of God

Next came Seth

Adam’s third son

But Adam’s work

Was far from done

Sons and daughters

He did beget

And that record

Is not broken yet

So many children

And mouths to feed

God did supply

His every need

Children got children

And filled the earth

Hundred and hundreds

Since Cain’s birth

The population grew

And men rebelled

Wickedness everywhere

Began to swell

Noah built an ark

Out of gopher wood

Preached God’s word

Then came a flood

Floodlights on the ark

All during the flood

After the rains

Only eight people stood

Noah and his family

Would disembark

Into the world

To make a fresh start

A beginning in Eden

A beginning away

A beginning for Noah

Three beginnings I say

A fourth beginning

God called Abraham

From Ur of the Chaldees

To Canaan’s land

God had told him

To leave his family

But he took along

Some for company

Lot his nephew

Also went with him

He was trouble

Right up to the chin

Abraham journeyed

Till he reached the land

It was not easy

But he took a stand

God had delivered

On His promise to him

Now Lot and Abraham

Gazed from the rim

Lot chose the better

Or so he thought

But not long after

He was sore distraught

Abraham lived in Canaan

And soon came strife

A son from his servant

And one from his wife

One was of the flesh

The other of promise

In the second his seed

Would be blessed

Hagar was banished

And Ishmael too

A feud commenced

Muslim and Jew preview

Isaac begat Esau

Followed by Jacob

But the younger

Formed Israel’s hub

From Jacob to Israel

His name became

Father of Israel’s tribes

Is still the claim

The most famous were

Judah and Joseph

Former: the lineage of Jesus

Latter: in Egypt rest

Joseph was Prime Minister

In the land of Egypt

Whatever he ordered

Became Pharoah’s edict

His bones were removed

During the exodus

The Israelites left Egypt

After Pharoah’s fuss

On Joseph’s request

Prior to his death

They were taken to Canaan

For their final rest

In the wilderness

Moses would lead

And very often

To God he would plead

Because the Israelites

Were a people stiff-necked

That made the journey

A much longer trek

Moses viewed the land

From a mountain peak

But never entered there

On his two feet

The only ones to enter

Were Joshua and Caleb

After the original group

Had foolishly rebelled

Moses, Joshua, Judges

Then the book of Ruth

Kings and their Chronicles

The Old Testament truth

David and Solomon

I must also mention

Of the kinsfolk of Jesus

Our Lord and salvation

Into the New Testament

Hear the angels sing

In tribute to Jesus

Hail the newborn king

Herod did his worst

But to no avail

He went to his grave

Knowing he had failed

Jesus was crucified

Died and was buried

But in three days

Rose triumphantly

No sting in death

No power in the grave

Jesus defeated both

And added the knave

Salvation is grounded

In resurrection power

Jesus will come again

Any day any hour

Advent number one

Jesus came and died

By cruel men’s hands

He was crucified

Advent number two

He will come to reign

King of kings, Lord of lords

Thus paradise regain

I intended to muse

Then changed my mind

Thought I would leave it

For another time

Stewart Russell © 2017

Sodom and Gomorrah

Three men approached as Abraham sat in his tent,

Looking them over he wondered what it meant,

He ran to meet them then; he bowed to the ground

And hoped that in them a favour he had found.

He washed their feet while they rested under the tree

Then requested Sarah prepare a meal in measures of three,

Then he ran to the herd and there fetched a calf

And it was not long after that Sarah had a good laugh.

Imagine in their old age they would have a son,

What a huge joke!  What side splitting fun!

But the Lord shared with Abraham all that would occur

Including His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Well aware that his nephew Lot was living there

You could well imagine the extent of Abraham’s fear

So he begged that these cities the Lord would spare

But not ten could be found that about righteousness cared.

After Abraham’s pleading with the Lord had been done

That very evening two angles visited Sodom,

There they met with Lot who was sitting at the gate

And who invited them into his tent to there on them wait.

After much persuasion and begging on Lot’s part

The two angels demonstrated a change of heart

And entered Lot’s tent and with him shared a meal

Knowing on the morrow Sodom’s fate would be sealed.

However, during the night some fellows of the base type

Wanted to have their way with the angels that night

So Lot offered them his daughters to do as they pleased

But the angels inflicted them all with a blinding disease.

The morrow came and with it the twin cities’ demise,

They were burnt to the ground and all that had God despised,

Lot and his family were rescued…well…not quite his wife…

She became a pillar of salt and that was the end of her life.

It was mighty difficult for Mrs. Lot to leave Sodom’s wealth

To the extent that it eventually caused her death

Like many today who want the world at the expense of their soul

She reluctantly left but Sodom and Gomorrah was still her goal.

  

Looking back was a way of questioning why she had to leave,

Leaving Sodom and Gomorrah caused her to pine and to grieve,

She looked back with the hope that those things she could retrieve

But her faith was misguided; in the wrong things she believed.

So is everyone who puts trust in this world and its goods

Which quickly dissipate like the bubbles in soapsuds

Today’s Sodom and Gomorrah will only spell your doom

Heed the Spirit and get out!  Don’t let there be your tomb!

Stewart Russell © 2016