His Handmaidens

I enjoy poetry. My family does not, but I read all sorts of it. Good poetry is a gift of God and can express beautiful things especially those written for the Lord. This coming week is Passion Week and we will be reflecting on the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Here is a poem I wish to share as we consider all that has been done for us worthless human beings who can claim a place in heaven, not by our own deeds, the grace of a merciful God and a humble Savior.

Jehovah Tsidkenu

(The Lord Our Righteousness)

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,

I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;

Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

I oft read with pleasure, to soothe or engage,

Isaiah's wild measure and John's simple page;

But even when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,

I wept when the waters went over His soul;

Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu-twas nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,

Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;

No refuge, no safety in self could I see,

Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.

Jehovah Tsidkenu, my treasure and boast!

Jehovah Tsidkenu, I ne'er can be lost!

In Thee I shall conquer by flood and by field,

My cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield!

E'en treading the valley, the shadow of death,

This watchword shall rally my faltering breath,

For while from life's fever my God sets me free,

Jehovah Tsiedkenu, my death song shall be.

~Robert Murray McCheyne~