Puzzled

 

 

The featured post on my blog

Has been unchanged for a while,

You would all know

That is not my style.

 

The reason for this, you see,

Is that I am still puzzled,

Five in a single year

Sounds more like a riddle.

 

What could we have done

To have altered that course?

Believe more, maybe trust more,

Prayer till we were hoarse?

 

Five in a single year

And every one a youth!

So where does this place us

Regarding God’s truth?

  

“Ask and it shall be given you”

“Seek and you shall find”

“Knock and it shall be opened”

Instantly comes to mind.

 

“Ask anything in my name”

And “only believe”

Believe that you already have it

And you will receive.

 

I trust you are now seeing

Why I am puzzled,

Five in a single year;

This must be a riddle.

 

All serving the Lord

Five wonderful individuals,

No trouble and no worry

All beautiful people.

 

Prayers for their protection

Yet two by the murder route,

Prayers for their healing

But three less of this group.

 

What is the use of praying

If our loved ones still die

Causing many sleepless nights

In which we just cry?

 

What more can one do

To reverse this trend?

If prayer doesn’t seem to work

What is there to defend?

 

Can we tell unbelievers

That our God is real

If our prayers ascend to heaven

And come back as fail?

 

We declare and decree

On the foundation of the Word

And when it does not happen

To the world it looks absurd.

 

We comfort the aggrieved

With “It’s going to be all right”

But what good is that

When theirs is all night.

 

Fast forward to this day

Where 2020 is being repeated

And the born-again believers’ pain

Is particularly deep-seated.

 

Hurting very deep down

And oft pretending to trust

But how ever hard they try

They still feel crushed.

 

Make some sense of this

I can hear them cry,

Lord, please tell us,

Why did you let our loved one die?

 

How can God comfort

If no situation merits His comfort?

And how can we grow

If there is never any woe?

The answers to some questions

We will never receive here

And it won’t matter afterwards

When we get over there.

 

Old things will all pass away

Everything will be new,

Old troubles will never bother us;

Neither me nor you.

 

We’ll be caught up with Jesus

And the home he has prepared,

There’ll be no loss of loved ones

Hence, no shedding of tears.

 

Until then

Take in the following verses,

They are required for life’s journey

No matter the courses.

 

 

Stewart Russell © September 3, 2021

 

Trust God Regardless of Outcomes

 

 

An extraordinary year

In so many ways,

2020 has been problematic

Almost every day.

 

Ordinarily we do not know

What a day will bring

But it has been exceptional

Regarding 2020’s sting.

 

The greatest sting of all

No doubt, has been COVID

And at the end of the year

It will be stinging still.

 

Our faith has been tested

In more ways than one

And over the year

Some loved ones have gone.

 

It is quite normal

For old stalwarts to pass on

But this year our hearts hurt

For some children are gone.

 

The Wesleyan church family

Has taken a hard hit

And two of their deceased

Were not even sick.

 

 

Two died at the hands

Of deranged human beings,

Numbered among the murders

We’ve been recently seeing.

 

 

The others confronted challenges

To which they would finally yield,

Prayers went up aplenty

But they were not healed.

  

Which brings me to the title

Of this present poem

That seeks to enlighten us

When we lack understanding.

 

It is hard for a child

When a mother or father dies,

But this is the accepted norm

Which no one denies.

 

 

But when the child passes

There is so much more grief

That it is a very long time

Before the parents find relief.

 

No parent looks forward

To burying a child

But I can recall five such cases

That 2020 provides.

 

Christoff and Tanya:

Two by the murdered route,

Sharika, Joshua and Shaunelle:

Sickness took them out.

 

Regarding the sick ones

No doubt there were prayers

Like I said, prayers aplenty

Each and every day.

 

 

There were prayers for healing

Believing God would hear

But all three of them died

Yet God was there.

 

Was our God unable

To heal these lovely children?

For, if in fact he was,

Then we have a problem.

 

Clearly, He was not

But he allowed them to die

And do not expect me to explain

Because I do not know why.

 

We could beat up our chest

For not praying enough

But I must admit

I no longer believe that stuff.

 

Yes, I am still at a loss

Why some die and some are healed

But to the Sovereign God

I continue to yield.

 

I have moved past clichés

Like God knows what is best

For while that is the truth

It does not ease the stress.

 

I know some will rebuke me

And question my faith

But in every believer, there is doubt

If only but a trace.

 

I think the key is to be real

And not pretending to be strong

For the “fake it, make it” crowd

Will always be wrong.

 

Trust Almighty God

Regardless of the outcome

And never in any circumstance

Ahead of Him run.

 

He does not need our help

Only our childlike trust,

And he will do what pleases Him

Even when we pray up a fuss.

 

Put your confidence in God

Not in your prayers

And remember, whatever the outcome,

Our God always cares.

 

Be confused if you must

But don’t ever give up hope,

Trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ

Is our only way to cope.

 

There’s much we don’t understand

First, we must admit

Then trust God to move us on

Rather than to quit.

 

To the memory of:

 Christoff and Tanya,

Joshua, Shaunelle and Sherika

 

To their parents,

To all relatives and friends

And to every reader,

Trust God regardless of outcomes

 

Stewart Russell © November 25, 2020