Meditations: June 2026

When John proclaimed,
“The kingdom of heaven is at hand,”
He preached not a new Gospel but the same:
Every promise ever made is about to come true.

(Mark 1:15)

Teach us not to mistake our serpents for the fish we asked for, nor these stones for bread.

(Matthew 7:7-11)

Upon a Stormy Rainbow

A day is coming rainbow never knew,
The which the stars of heav’n have never heard,
With noonday light diminished by a third
And sanguinary sky instead of blue;
The sea, fenced still by bound’ry untransgressed,
Is serpent-churned, a boiling, livid wound;
The mountains all have fled into the ground,
Save transfixed Zion, fractured and distressed—
The cloudless heights furl back. Heav’n’s symphony
Ceases full half an hour. The weary sun
Yields mirror-glory back to blazing eye
And sev’nstrength-shining visage. It is done!
The trembling earth herself submits to die:
Thus may her resurrection be begun.

—5/27/26

Psalm 126

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Ps. cxxvi. 1.

When Zion’s fortunes were restored,
Her captives by her cov’nant LORD,
We dreamlike were, and then our tongue
And mouth were filled with happy song:
O thank the LORD, his goodness sure!
His steadfast love shall e’er endure!

(Ps 107:1-3)

The nations all proclaimed it then,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD for us has done great things;
Our ransomed soul with gladness rings.
O thank the LORD, his goodness sure!
His steadfast love shall e’er endure!

Restore our fortunes, cov’nant LORD,
Like streams upon the desert poured;
Those who have sown in tears the grain
Shall reap with shouts of joy again.
O thank the LORD, his goodness sure!
His steadfast love shall e’er endure!

The one who goes in weeping out
To sow with tears his seed about,
The same with shouts of joy shall come
To bring his fruitful harvest home.
O thank the LORD, his goodness sure!
His steadfast love shall e’er endure!

—5/26/26. To “Veni Emmanuel.”

Looking for the City

Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble. Ps. cvii. 5-6.

Home, O Lord, we scarce can taste it,
Roving o’er this pilgrim soil;
Let not lonely sighs go wasted;
Leave us not in strengthless toil;
Straightly lead to Zion’s towers,
Ever-numbered as our home,
Where the Bridegroom shall be ours—
O foundationed City, come!

(Heb 11:13-16; Gen 4:12; Ps 107:4-9; 48:12-14; Matt 9:15;
Rev 21:2; Heb 11:10)

Hear, O Savior, our entreaty
For our fortunes to reverse.
Thou dost suffer with the needy;
Thou hast sworn no heir to curse.
Though the rainless desert find us
Where we oft for streams have pled,
Still we trust paternal kindness
Did not send these stones for bread.

(Pss 14:7; 126:1, 4; Job 30:25; Rom 8:16-18; Isa 43:19-20;
Matt 7:9)

When desire will not perish
For a lawful pray’r, and good,
Teach us then our cross to cherish
As it lifts us up to God;
Be our joy mid want’s hosanna,
Grace sufficient for the thorn,
Day by day our daily manna,
And our fullness, though forlorn.

(John 12:32-33; Mark 11:9-10 cf Ps 118:25-26; 2 Cor 12:7-9;
Matt 6:11; Ex 16:18-21; Eph 1:23; 2 Cor 12:10)

We have all for thee forsaken,
Have desired no other love,
Save what from thy bounty’s taken,
From, and through, and to above.
Let our hearts on high be given,
Where no rust can tarnish worth;
Sound within us songs of heaven
As we walk this tuneless earth.

(Matt 19:27; Ps 73:25; Rom 11:36; Matt 6:20; Heb 11:13-16)

—5/21/26. To “Vancouver” (“Here Is Love”). A lament.

Grace

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift. Rom. iii. 23-24.

Subdue, O Lord, the dull pretense
That any good resides
In us, lest we should mount defense
Where even conscience chides.

Your holy sight has never known
The slightest tinge of sin
Without you did repay it on
The guilty head again.

Yea, could we upright be from hence
To keep your Law’s demand,
Guilt still could claim no recompense
Of goodness from your hand.

O freest God! By no man bound
To pity exercise,
We cast our laurels to the ground
And dustward bend our eyes.

Redeeming mercy, faithful grace,
And steadfast love we need;
Naught else can help our helpless case,
And naught beside we plead.

Grace ere the worlds salvation planned,
Grace saves each thus loved soul,
And grace shall keep us till the end,
When all salvation’s whole.

Lord, may we in your service e’er
Exalt that gracious scheme,
And may we everlasting bear
Your wondrous grace as theme.

—5/14/26. To “New Britain” (“Amazing Grace”). Based on JI Packer, Knowing God, “The Grace of God.”

Meditations and Notes: April 2026

Abba, may I have a fish?

(Matt 7:7-11)

Do not be drawn in different directions about tomorrow, for tomorrow will draw itself in different directions. Sufficient for the day its own malice is.

(John 6:34, word study)

The Glorious Church

A love song. Psalm xlv. 1.

O Christ, whose glory filleth thy blood-beransomed Bride,
Whose grace her splendor willeth, who to adorn her died,
Though naught in us inhering can claim thy matchless love,
Thine election, endearing us, lifteth us above,
From whence thy favor freely all blessing to us brings,
Till we in beauty see thee, O peerless King of kings.

(John 17:22; Rev 5:9; Hos 2:19-20; Rev 21:2; Eph 5:25-27; Isa 64:5-7; Eph 1:3-5; Isa 33:17)

The dying thief entreated, “My Lord, remember me
When, ev’ry foe defeated, thou reign in victory.”
Like him, we wheeze and rattle our fellows’ souls to win,
And we labor in battle to crucify our sin,
But when humiliation of death shall close our eyes,
Thy conquering salvation is ours in Paradise.

(Luke 23:42; 1 Cor 15:25; Luke 23:40-41; Col 3:5; 1 Cor 15:53-54; Luke 23:43)

Elected and recorded within the book of life,
And straining till rewarded as victors in the strife,
We join the saints around us, in love and service grown,
Till thy headship hath bound us and knitted us to one:
Thy Church! from ev’ry nation and folk and tribe and tongue,
To magnify salvation around thy holy throne.

(Rev 21:27; 3:5; Eph 4:15-16; Rom 12:3-8; Rev 5:9-14)

Thy righteous scepter graces the purified above;
Thy throne is all their praises of covenantal love;
Thine exc’llent ones thou homest that they may dwell with thee,
Thou who wast, art, and comest in all eternity,
Thy sov’reign Name the only by earth and heav’n adored:
O holy, holy, holy, Almighty God, the LORD!

(Ps 45:6; 22:3; 16:3; Heb 11:14-16; Rev 21:3; 4:8; Ps 86:8-10; Rev 15:3-4; 4:8)

—4/28/26. To “Thaxted” (“O God, Beyond All Praising”). A love song.

Meditations: March 2025

If “he who began a good work in us
Will see it through to completion
At the day of Jesus Christ,”
Then what does maturation look like
Between Death and Day?
What work goes on in the night of Heaven?

(Phil 1:6; Rev 4:8; 7:15; 22:5)

Study Notes: 1 Kings 19:12-13

“And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” (1 Kings 19:12-13)

What follows are my notes on this passage from a reading plan I’m in. Occasionally the Lord lines up a passage I need to take to heart with a day off to dig in, and today has been one such passage and day. And digging in involves writing; I am blessed that my reading partners encourage rather than discourage this tendency. I am experimenting with preserving my longer, better notes here so I can link back to them later. Sometime I’ll have to dig through a group chat from last year and see if I can find a similar essay on Hosea 2:16-17.

Time Past and Lost

Electing Lord, my dwelling place
Thou’st been since ere the earth,
Recording in thy book my days
When yet I had no birth.

A thousand years may flurry past;
‘Tis but thy yesterday,
Short-lived as evening watches last
Or grasses on the lea.

But half my threescore I have run,
Near half again the ten,
My times are gone when just begun
And shall not be again.

Must I in ignominy stand
For all my sins of youth?
If thou wouldst guilty-verdict hand,
I must attest its truth.

No lily have I called mine own
Nor olive shoots begot;
My name is in the world unknown,
And legacy I’ve not.

Thy hand upon me heavy lies
With sorrows and with pains,
My meager life my only prize,
My weary soul complains.

But teach me, Lord, to count my days
And from their dwindling sum
To wisdom gain, that I may praise
Thee in the age to come.

For thee, Jehovah, lifted up,
I fear, e’en as I plead,
Who swearest yet unperished hope
And future guaranteed.

Have mercy on my waning years;
Let me thy goodness see.
For every one I spend in tears,
A joyful let there be.

Unto thy servants show thy ways,
Thy children, all thy pow’rs;
Bestow thy favor on our days
And bless each work of ours.

—3/28/26. Based on Psalm 90. A lament. To “Wallace” (Robb) or “St. Anne,” vaguely.