God’s River of Silence – Part 3

As a river begins in the bowels of the earth

Then bubbles a mountain spring,

To wind as a stream to the valleys below

Curving, searching, seeking,

Then widens, embracing all in its flow

To disgorge the Amazon’s motion,

From a drop of rain to a mighty, heaving,

Vast Atlantic Ocean.

So, God Invisible so loved the world,

He willed none should perish – not one!

Before the earth’s foundation He gave

His Only Begotten Son.

Rejected, despised, forsaken,

Then crucified, nevertheless

God’s plan still moves on, as from day number one,

To embrace all mankind in His quest.

The cynic with scorn sees disaster,

The doubter has long ago turned,

But from His eternal purpose

God is not one whit deterred,

This wilderness and this solitary place,

This desert shall rejoice,

The trees of the fields will clap their hands

And the mountains and hills raise their voice.

So, behold God’s River of Silence

And strengthen the feeble knees,

Say unto them of a fearful heart,

“Arise! There’s a sound on the breeze!

Behold! Your God’s coming with vengeance,

He’s coming with vengeance to save,

To break prison bars! To set captives free!

Give freedom to every slave!

The eyes of the blind shall be opened,

The ears of the deaf unstopped,

The lame shall leap, the dumb shall sing

And the wilderness waters unblocked,

There’ll be streams in the desert, the parched ground a pool,

The thirsty land springs of water,

The redeemed of the Lord shall return and rejoice

With unceasing joy and laughter. 

The Voice of Him that cries in the wilderness,

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Make straight in the desert a highway –

A highway for our God!

Every valley shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill made low

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed

And all flesh shall see it and know!”

God’s mighty River of Silence

Has a destiny all flesh shall see,

Justice waits for the whole of creation

To see God’s mystery,

God’s silence soon shall be shattered,

The trumpet shall sound at last!

The dead shall be raised and all be revealed

And nothing be lost of the past.

What bursts of acclamation

As the centuries give up their dead!

No more mourning over the graves

But shouts of joy instead!

The infants of days snatched premature,

United with mothers again,

What joy and adulation!

No more tears or sorrow or pain!

Man’s inhumanity to man,

The cruel waste of life,

The countless toll in humankind

In pointless wars and strife,

All time’s misunderstandings

Through centuries long forgot

Shall be revealed from the silent years

By a loving eternal God.

Loved ones cruelly separated,

Dying in dire despair,

Now united by a God

That was always fully aware,

He is no man’s debtor,

“I will repay!” saith the Lord,

” I will restore years the locust hath eaten!”

This is my promise, My word! 

“I am the Lord, your God, none else!

My people shall ne’er be ashamed,

I’ll pour out My Spirit upon all flesh,

In the heavens it shall be proclaimed

In blood and fire and pillars of smoke,

To darkness the sun shall be turned

And the moon into blood” as the silence of God

Is broken and by all learned.

I’ll show wonders in the heavens

And also, in the earth

But every call upon the Lord

Shall be most surely heard,

So, while this world in chaos

Stumbles on through its darkest hour,

God’s River of Silence flows majestically on

To the Day of His Glory and Power.

God is coming with righteousness,

He shall judge the world,

God’s justice demands all men shall see

Truth’s flag being unfurled,

God spoke the word of truth into being

And all man’s sin shall be

Adjudged upon that word of truth

For all eternity.

All time’s misdemeanours

The errors, the mistakes,

The pride, rebellion, spite and anger,

All man’s awful hate,

And all the acts of kindness,

The motives and intent

God Almighty sees it all –

Every second spent.

“The treasures of darkness, the hidden riches

Of secret places I’ll give thee,

I am the Lord, there is no one else,

There is no God beside Me,

There is a time to every purpose

Under heaven, a season,

A time to be born, a time to die,

And in God alone the reason.”

God shall judge the righteous

And the wicked too,

A time when every act and thought

And intent He’ll review,

There is a time of war,

There is a time of peace,

A time when God keeps silence

And a time when God shall speak.

Peter Burt