The Joy of Glory

Every year, I try my hand at poetry as a Christmas gift to the body of Shades Valley Community Church. This Advent season, we’ve been reflecting on the strangeness of God’s faithfulness in how he brings his promises to pass in unexpected ways. The poem below is my attempt at expressing the truths we’ve seen in a way that leads us to see and celebrate the strangeness of God’s faithfulness in our own lives.

Merry Christmas, 
Pastor Jonathan

And it came to pass…

And it came to pass 
Cesar gave a decree,
yet devoid of power,
in reality empty.

For Caesar’s heart was a river 
in God’s hands, 
Turned where he willed,
according to plan.

And that plan was to keep
promises made.
That plan was a Christ
coming to save.

But the promise was kept
in the strangest of ways.
God’s sovereign power
in a manger was laid.

The savior was swaddled
and rocked by his mom.
The almighty looked weak,
anything but strong.

But that’s how God works,
his faithfulness strange,
yet it is unfailing
day after day.

Whether sovereignty swaddled
or Christ crucified,
his word comes to pass
every time.

So when you look at your life
and he’s hard to see…
when evil overshadows
the light of his glory…

When the world makes you doubt
if he really is faithful…
remember sovereignty 
once laid in a cradle.

And remember the cross…
the place we confess
that what looked like failure
was faithfulness.

So when life is hard,
or when we breath our last…
may we cling to his promises…
they shall come to pass.