PAD Challenge day 3: For today’s prompt, write a problem poem.
Below an excerpt from Peter Marshall’s sermon-
Keeper of the Springs
(and this was in the 1940’s!!)
One cannot fix a problem until one pinpoints the source
But one ought to note symptoms that should trouble you and I
For epidemic-proportion-populace on a course
Of Ignorance to Truth, where empty churches testify
A somber lack of reverence and interest and care
For the Great Certainty for which we all ought to prepare
…and so tis no small wonder that things go from bad to worse
In laws of twisted logic of confusion gone berserk
Where right is wrong and wrong is right and God, a name they curse
And well-intended master-plans of Fix-it just don’t work
In a world doomed to madness as they seek but cannot find
Hope’s everlasting gladness that yields joy and peace of mind
When truth is seen as lies and lies are heralded as truth
It is because the Word of God is trodden underfoot
Then darkened understanding errs and bears pitiful proof;
Denial of the problem that yields problematic fruit
And gross incomprehension of the sad state we are in;
Because they/we do not recognize the root problem of sin
The problem is not war or poverty, but hate and greed
A proud and unrepentant heart, thinking, utterly flawed
A negligent apathy to sin’s subtle, deadly seed
In seeking first this world rather than the kingdom of God
Where empty churches gape and children/people traipse toward a Goal
Ignorant of Love’s problem-solving Saviour of the Soul
Sad problem this; too many homes where God’s Word has no place
And homes where the Bible is but a book upon a shelf
Ignoring that apart from God, there is no saving grace
Apart from the Vine the branch is a Dead Thing by itself
Revealing that the culprit in this problem’s quandary
Until we surrender to God, is always you and me
© Janet Martin
Rom.1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
because it is the power of God
that brings salvation to everyone who believes:
first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—
So many do not know
or believe or care
about the day of redemption
and reckoning drawing near…
Malachi 4:1-3
The Day of the LORD
when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble;
the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,”
says the LORD of Hosts.
“Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
or they will be ashes under the soles of your feet
on the day I am preparing,”
says the LORD of Hosts.
