God Never Looked Away
My God, why have You forsaken
Left Your Son afflicted in such deep despair
And yet You hid not Your face nor looked away
Lord, hear His cry for help, for on us mercy
He suffered greatly because He bore our sins
I cannot endure the thought He lost all hope
In Christ’s sacrifice I find hope
No matter that all others have forsaken
No matter that my old life boasts many sins
For so long I wallowed in brutal despair
Forgetting I had at once known Your mercy
My Savior died to take all my sins away
If in His pain You looked away
Left Him alone, where would be my source of hope
How could I ever truly know sweet mercy
Escape the thought, my God, You had forsaken
Elude the pursuing hell-hounds of despair
Who seek to destroy me with my many sins
On the cross Jesus bore my sins
His loving sacrifice took my guilt away
Your promise means I no longer will despair
You scorned not His suffering so I have hope
Rebuke the lie that all has been forsaken
‘Cause He was not despised, His love brought mercy
Oh, so sweet a thing is mercy
Promised freedom from the penalty of sins
Holiness grows when one is not forsaken
All desire for sinfulness does fade away
Because You listened to His cry we have hope
Though like sheep we’ve gone astray we don’t despair
Though we were lost we don’t despair
In keeping with Your compassion and mercy
It is finished, all is done, so I have hope
The debt has been fully paid for all our sins
From my pain I trust You’ll never look away
My God, I know I’ve never been forsaken
He bore our sins and felt despair
You looked not away but favored mercy
I’ll not be forsaken or lose all hope
___________________
This sestina was inspired by Psalm 22, which prophecies the crucifixion of Jesus. But more specifically it was inspired by Psalm 22:24, which says: “For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”
3/3/16 update: Decided to share this for dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night.
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A beautiful sestina holding so much truth and comfort.
Thank you.
“Fearless Love
under WILL
without harm
to others”..
a simple
commandment
as aLL that iS..
from before now
so complicated..
reaSon enough
iN FEELinG
iN REAL to
FORGIVE
one’s
self..
AND aLL others too..
whatever it takes
to practice iT..
WiLL
Work
as aLL hiStory
SAges iN Truth
and liGht arrive now..
thiS UniVersal Solution…
Oh by the way.. regarding
that quote uP tHere.. iF one
googles iT with enclosed quotes..
one WiLL find out who says iT first..
like that..
at lEast…
Different words..
esSence oFTrUth
and liGht UniVerSal..
iN Christ as metaphor
aS
aLWays
bEinG hUmanoW..:)
Beautiful and contemplative, Linda. Thank you!
I re-posted these on my blog. I think you might appreciate them:
https://wojisme.wordpress.com/2016/03/06/the-bloody-hands-of-iscariot/
https://wojisme.wordpress.com/2016/03/06/the-biggest-picture/
Thanks for sharing your two excellent poems. Peace, Linda
Hope within the Easter message………Lent the time of reflection. Thankful for every day.
Yes, it is very smooth – never would have guessed these beautiful words were written to a “form” .
“Oh, so sweet a thing is mercy
Promised freedom from the penalty of sins”
The heart of your poem for me Linda. Thank you for joining my prompt.
Beautiful flow to this, and a wonderful Lent poem focusing on the mercy and forgiveness of Christ.
Beautiful work and such a lovely lesson on love and foregiveness. And the sestina is good too!
I’m glad you liked it.
I was halfway through this when I realized that it was a Sestina. Lovely, loving words that speak of your heart and faith…well done!
I guess that makes it a good Sestina if it flowed that well. Thanks!
A very meaningful share Linda ~ THank you for reminding us of His great sacrifice, love and mercy ~
I found your poem a beautiful meditation and I’m sure an excellent discussion point for Psalm 22. I get clearly a sense of your commitment and devotion.
You so gently instruct as you let the words flow from your heart; Your faith is inspiring, especially for those of us on the outside looking in.
Thank you. It’s a faith that’s been a lifetime in process and that I could never imagine doing without. Peace, Linda
This is really inspiring, Linda! What beautiful Lenten thoughts. Excellent sestina.
Such a beautifully inspiring poem..!
What a great job on the sestina.. and a psalm or a prayer works so great as repetitions are makes so much sense… really well done.
“If in His pain You looked away
Left Him alone, where would be my source of hope
How could I ever truly know sweet mercy…” Exactly. Amen. I love this poem. <3
I was born on this day, and the Psalm reflects what I have always felt, known and believe from the beginning of my existence. I belong to God, always as I also know you are my sister! Inspiring poem, whose spiritual beauty can only come from withing the gift of eternal love he place within you. Always believe, always keep the faith, always be assured he will never leave or forsake those he loves! God bless!
Thank you. I love Psalm 22 and it was recently that I zeroed in on verse 24 as refuting the idea I had heard and come to believe that God turned away from Christ on the cross because He couldn’t look on sin. But it occurred to me that if Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to cover my sin now, wasn’t it sufficient to cover all of the sin while He hung on the cross so that all the Father saw was the sacrifice of love and not the sin. Why would He turn away from that? What an awesome and wonderful God we have. Peace, Linda