Are We with God?

 

 

Are we with God?

That is the real question!

But in the time of turmoil and strife

It’s the one we shun.

 

A question was asked

So very long ago

Of a warrior in the old times

Who suddenly showed.

 

“Are you for us

Or are you for our enemies?”

Neither, the warrior replied,

And was not being silly.

 

You may have thought,

It must be one or the other

But Jehovah does not take sides;

That’s not his bother.

 

 

One anthem speaks

Of the side the Lord is on

But regarding the world’s nations

There is not one.

 

That error’s been there

For nigh six decades

And none has dared to change it

Though dismayed.

 

It’s a rather silly notion

We ought to confess

For if Jehovah God be on our side

Then we would be best.

 

Better than God, even,

Since He aligns with us,

Isn’t this the tail wagging the dog?

Answer if you must!

 

 

Rather, ask the question

Like a leader long ago,

Who is on the Lord’s side, he asked,

And we ought to know.

 

For the bottom line is:

Who is following God?

Who is willing to walk the path

The Saviour trod?

 

Being on the Lord’s side

Is following his lead,

Not the world powers around

And man-made creeds.

 

It’s, “Are we with God?”

Not whether He is with us,

For His way is holy and righteous

And this means just.

 

He’s no respecter of persons:

Of world leader or Pope

But draws nigh to all who in him

Place their hope.

 

Here’s a word to the wise

And to the foolish too,

And while the latter may be me,

I trust it’s not you.

 

Are we with God

Given our trajectory?

Perhaps no would be the answer

If you see like me.

 

Wither our spirituality

And wither our morality?

The key is not whose side God is on

But whose we be.

 

 

If we be for God

Then we must serve Him

For Almighty God is not pleased

When we legalize sin.

 

Stewart Russell © May 28, 2025

 

Amidst Fear and Anxiety

 

 

 

Once in this fair isle of ours

We felt sheltered from the world,

Nestled in the Caribbean Sea

Barbados, the gem, a pearl.

 

We used to hear of great peril

From many regions afar

But here with our Caribbean neighbours

We were not so marred.

 

And then it began to change

Not suddenly, but gradually

For Barbados, the gem, the pearl,

The pride of the Caribbean Sea.

 

Now amidst fear and anxiety

We wonder what’s to come next,

It is as if the whole world is aggrieved

And everybody is vexed.

 

COVID-19 is raging sore

We thank God for the recent ease,

Delta appears to be losing its grip

Due to the Omicron squeeze.

 

 

But in the midst of the virus ease

Homicide is raising its head,

Just last night on a chat I learned

Another youth was shot dead.

 

Add to that the PSV driver

Who lost life’s battle yesterday,

Shot in the head by his assassin

The gun has become the way.

 

The knife is still being used

To settle disputes and altercations,

Two deaths from separate incidents

The result of great vexation.

 

In the day and in the night

People are trembling in their boots,

In fear of those that are just awaiting

The command to start to shoot.

 

 

With their trigger-happy fingers

Just eager to test their weapons,

They swagger like gunfighters of a time

When looks alone would threaten.

 

And while we battle COVID-19

Another, but subtle fight is raging,

It’s the fight to maintain our sanity

Giving all that we are engaging.

 

Crime and the cost of living

Fierce competitors in these times

Doing their utmost worse, it seems,

To destabilize our minds.

 

Government in its balancing act

On economic ropes, barely visible,

Is teetering and tottering precariously

And so are our nation’s people.

 

 

And all this exponentially adding

To our fear and anxiety,

A day at a time now seems too much

To handle this complexity.

 

Nightmares for taxpayers

As finance debt unabatedly climbs,

How our Government will negotiate this

Is boggling to the mind!

 

New laws appear to be coming,

And many are in favour of the move

But what is certainly obvious to me,

Progressively less are enthused.

 

The identity positions are diverse

From world views to myriad genders,

And many are changing their stance

From acceptance to offenders.

 

Minorities are now more militant

In agitating for their perceived rights

And the apathy of a pluralistic society

Is adding fuel to their fight.

 

 

The church appears to be clueless

Having equated God with our prayers,

It matters not what we do or become

God must show that He cares.

 

Whatever the behaviour or attitude

Just call on God in prayer,

He’ll overlook our every disobedience

And respond to our every care.

 

But we do certainly err

Not knowing the Holy Scriptures

And what we dare believe to be truth

Is our delusional picture.

 

 

Amidst our fear and anxiety

It is important that we turn to God

And as we do this, bear in our mind,

We must align to His call.

 

God is not our convenience

That is unconditionally on our side,

He is I AM THAT I AM, the Creator,

From whom none of us can hide.

 

“With Him still on the people’s side”

Is a grave misinterpretation,

Rather, “Who is on the Lord’s side?”

Is much needed information.

 

In the midst of our fear and anxiety

God is our ONLY hope

And the sooner we come to accept this

The better we will cope.

 

Stewart Russell © December 12, 2021

 

 

Who Is On The Lord’s Side?

Way back in the book of Exodus

A question to a people was posed

“Who is on the Lord’s side?”

Was the Moses’ conducted poll.

In a matter of forty days

Things had really changed

And when he came down from the mount

He met a people most deranged.

All the way from wretched Egypt

He had led them through the Red Sea

Now just “the man” is all he is

In their present controversy.

He had been called up to the mount

To receive instructions from Almighty God

That would direct these chosen people

And protect them from Satan the fraud.

But on retuning he had found out

That they had made a golden calf

And the number that worshipped this idol

Was certainly more than half.

As a result he conducted a poll

To ascertain who was on the Lord’s side,

Consequently there was God’s judgment

And there was no place to hide.

No place to hide for the dissenters,

About three thousand were put to the sword,

For the priestly tribe of Levi

Did according to God’s word.

And so let us now fast forward

Thousands of years to the present

Cognizant of the reality

That we have a similar lament.

The difference, however, is critical

Since the sides have made a change

In the exodus it was the Lord’s side

But our anthem has had this rearranged.

  

“The Lord has been the people’s guide

For past three hundred years,

With Him still on the people’s side

We have no doubts or fears.”

The first stanza you would recall

Spoke to our fore fathers’ achievement,

The second stanza introduces God

But on the “people’s side” is the intent.

The emphasis is now changed

As it propositions the people’s side,

It is no longer we who must take focus

But God who must now decide.

That may not have been the intent

But it surely comes over that way,

God may have been the people’s guide

But it is the people that hold full sway.

With “the people on the Lord’s side”

Would have been a better demarcation,

Since God has no need to choose a side,

His is an eternal position.

He does not have to make amendments

He is the one that changes not,

We are the ones that are dependent

And without God we would simply rot.

It is not uncommon these days to hear

When seeking to win an argument,

“I know the Lord is on my side”

To put down the other person’s dissent.

So God must choose; so we declare

And He had better choose our side:

“Command ye me,” the Lord has said,

Isaiah 45:11 cannot be denied.

Taken out of context as in so many cases

We use God’s word for our own ends,

And so He is on the people’s side

It’s on the people that He depends.

We had better get our theology right

As we respond to Moses’ question,

“Who is on the Lord’s side?” Note!

And not the affirmation of our anthem.

For in the final analysis

Only them on Lord’s side will be saved,

It doesn’t matter your golden calf

Or how much you rant and rave.

Jesus makes it particularly clear

In Luke chapter 11 and verse 23

Concerning the matter pertaining to sides

“He that is not with me is against me.”

So who is on the Lord’s side?

Stand up today and be reckoned,

Bear in mind there is still His amnesty

And to one and all he beckons.

Stewart Russell © July 2017