When He breaks, For love's sake...

 

When upon my great weakness,  

I pondered, perplexed and ashamed, 

At how such courage and strength,  

Once mingled with perseverance,  

With which I fought every fear and dread, 

And each insurmountable hindrance- 

When a time ago, a child’s spirit, 

With brave fortitude so evident,  

Had given way to weak timidity,  

And a shielding seclusion, inescapable,  

Where menacing dangers once faced 

And fought, were now fled and eluded,  

With a helplessness that condemned  

Itself, in the cowardice of its confession. 

 

Yet only then did I conceive, then did 

The shadows unveil to reveal His face, 

And the marvelous power, the depths of grace,  

Of Him who in truth and love hath proclaimed,  

That only in weakness, can His strength be displayed, 

When all that was born of human might,  

And built on foundations of mortal will, 

With a force corrupted by sin's ways, 

Is torched to the ground in destructing flames- 

That extinguish all which cannot withstand, 

The test of the divine fire's blaze;  

The face of Him who says, what He desires

Is the trembling soul left in its wake, 

Now clinging to Him in childish trust and faith.  

 

For just as to victory my strength was leading,   

He uprooted the mortal grounds that sustained me, 

So that I could but fall into His waiting arms,  

Confessing the failings that conquered me; 

For only upon our knees, in humble prayer, 

In meek and lowly, unseen places of despair, 

When strength is scarce and courage dim, perhaps, 

Can we learn of the profound riches of His love,

And the surpassing heights of the sacred power, 

That to us, through the spirit He gave, 

In our hearts to dwell and to display, 

The might of the one who in weakness,  

His perfect strength and splendour unveils,  

His wondrous, eternal purposes to fulfill, 

When after the poor soul, He humbles and breaks,

In victorious glory and honor He lifts up again!

Jerusha 

23/2/21