Genealogy

  It all begins and ends with God’s holy power.

  Who else creates worlds with neither counsel nor help?

  Nature is not random, but carefully shaped and blessed.

  Every property has been arranged to better

  support life. He simply spoke into the silence

  and it was so: With God, word and deed are equal.

  God next made man, in His image, not His equal,

  and granted him reason and free will--the power

  to disobey. Then as now, man left the silence

  of Eden, lured by the voice of temptation. “Help

  yourself,” it hissed, and man did, though he knew better.

  Then God cursed Adam, whom he would have always blessed.

  Out of faithless generations, Noah was blessed

  and found righteous, and for his great work made equal.

  He preserved a remnant into a new and better

  world, when all things were drowned by God’s poured-out power.

  In spite of wrath, God was still with Noah to help,

  and kept him while the waters assuaged in silence.

  When wicked men strayed once more, God kept not silence,

  but chose the faithful servant Abraham, and blessed

  Israel above all nations. He was their help

  in Egypt--Pharaoh’s magicians could not equal

  the signs of Moses, who freed them by God’s power.

  God had reserved his people for something better.

  Then came Christ, to establish a new and better

  covenant; to replace law with grace, and silence

  our accuser; to free us from death’s power,

  that we might worship the true God, holy and blessed.

  Centuries of sacrifice cannot equal

  The drops of blood shed for our healing and our help.

  Despite his bright coming, today men still need help:

  If we don’t know Christ, He cannot make us better.

  If we don’t cling to Him, our doom remains equal.

  One more miracle must be found, in the silence

  of prayer: We have but to believe to join the blessed.

  All things begin and end with God’s holy power.

  God has no equal. He formed man from dust and silence,

  Sent us righteous examples to help us live better,

  And blessed us with new life in Christ, to whom be all power.

 
Dave Schultz's Novels