BEHOLD.
with footnotes
{sorry for the poor formatting. I couldn’t get it to work with footnotes otherwise}
BEHOLD.
Canto I. The Dust of His Feet
“Who delights in the honest cry of my broken heart?
Who smiles as I wonder at the beauty of the earth?
Who understands me to the fullest extent and wants
nothing more than for me to be His bride?”
– S.C.
Stop,
Consider
The wondrous works of God.[1]
Look above –
Billows of white,
Wisps and piles of cotton,
Scattered layers and towers,
Shipless sails in the heavens,
Rolling black thunderheads,
Stretched out across the sky.
They move at His command
Declare His presence[2]
Led Israel in the desert
Herald His coming
Veil His chariot[3]
Brought for good or ill[4]
Whether they come with rain
Or fly away like the birds
They await His call.
Can anyone understand
How He spreads the clouds,[5]
How His pavilion thunders?[6]
They hide His face[7]
From the sinner,
Lest he die
In the day of judgment.
He sends them whither He wills
Makes them rise from the ends of the earth[8]
Glimpses of glory
Thrill the soul because of their Maker
Beauty always different
Changing every moment –
The dust from His feet[9]
Until the trump resounds
And His own rise to meet Him[10]
In cloud.
Canto II. The Span of His Hand
“Who has measured the stars in the span of His hands
Yet cradled His lamb to His chest?
Who has woven the world in brilliant harmony
Yet quieted my heart in the darkest night?”
– E.P.
The fourth day of the world
He made the lights
To rule the day
To rule the night
Then three small words,
As if
It hardly mattered:
“And the stars.”[11]
He numbered them.[12]
At the Word[13]
They came into being
Flung into their places
Recorded as a small detail
In the colossal hand of God.
And they sang
They praised His name[14],
Their Maker.
The morning stars sang together[15]
Declared the glory of God.[16]
The heavens outdo those in His image
Who need prompting
to praise.
In His love
He set them there
For signs
For seasons
For days
And years[17]
Because His steadfast love
Endures forever[18]
He gave these gifts
This cosmic beauty
Orion as He walks the sky
Cygnus as it soars above the dolphin
The dippers as they point the way
Scorpio, beside the moon
Faintly seen, the gleaming way
Milky as it weaves its path
across the velvety richness
That is the sky
Deep and dark
flecked with silver
domed above
Soul hushed.
In His might
He calls out each one by name
Like sheep[19]
Each night,
Whether the eye beholds
Or whether they are veiled
He brings them out
And they are there,
Because He is strong in power.[20]
He keeps them in their paths
So predictable
Yet without Him
Would be chaos.[21]
The night without stars
Is the dark night of the soul[22]
The questioning paradox
How can the God who brings this
Be good?
And where is the lovingkindness
Of Love? [23]
Asking, it clings to Him
Audacious in its wond’ring
Knowing His unthwarted purpose
His faithfulness[24]
As long as the sun shall rise.[25]
As we see Him
The darkness fades.[26]
So lift up your eyes and see
Who created these? [27]
Seek the One
Let not their beauty
Rob worship from their Maker.[28]
The gods of the Nations –
Worthless, idols.
The LORD –
He made the heavens.[29]
The lights of the night
A comfort to the weary soul
For the ones who know
their Maker carries them
For the ones who know
that this vast expanse
That modern man cannot comprehend
Is but the space between His fingers –
A single span
Of His hand[30]
Canto III. The Voice of Many Waters
“You are the all-knowing God who has had
a plan for my life from before the foundations
of the world.”
– H.P.
Who is like You,
O Lord, among the Gods?[31]
Whose voice is like the thunder[32]
And the sound of many waters?[33]
Roaring, swelling, mounting –
Whose hands are covered
With the lightening
And who commands it to strike?
Its crashes declare His presence.
When He speaks
There is tumult in the heavens
And yet He also whispers
in a still small voice[34]
For Him the mist rises from the earth
And the winds leave their storehouse.[35]
To whom then
will you liken God?
Or to what will you compare Him?[36]
The Nations, the mighty nations
The many peoples
He plants and tears down
They are but a drop in the bucket
Only dust on the scales
They are nothing to Him
Even less than nothing –
How can less than nothing be?
Uncomprehendable,
this One.
And yet
To a God so mighty –
Who stretches out the heavens[37]
And has measured the waters
And weighed the mountains
To whom none have shown counsel [38]
Who moves the hearts of men
And gives them their every breath –
He is everlasting
Creator of the ends of the earth
He does not faint
Or grow weary [39]
He established the world
By His wisdom – [40]
Then perhaps
To Him
There could be
A less than nothing.
Canto IV. The Lion and the Lamb
“The God who comforts and makes Himself known
To His children. He knows exactly how to take care of each need
Of His children, no matter how great…”
– M.L.
“Who is the everlasting friend, who always listens
And never forgets? Who is the one who keeps His
Promises – who never changes? He is the one to
Stand by and guard you – the one who sees your
Sadness and laughs with your joy.”
– O.M.
Oh, herald of good news –
Get up to a mountain
And declare to the cities
This God.
Let all hear and see –
Behold your God! [41]
This God who is
Both lion and lamb.
The One who is higher than the stars[42]
Lights that pass away[43]
They are so great so
Is not He who remains forever
Even greater?
And forever –
He changes not.
This God to behold
What is seen in Him
Will not change
From here until
Beyond eternity.
The waters would overwhelm
The stars, they would burn
Even the cloud would suffocate us.
And the Almighty God
Would also be our death
If beheld too close.
And yet
It is that nearness
That man longs for –
Eternity[44]
To know God.[45]
The Lamb
He offered Himself
Death in our place
Our sins on His back
A gift of grace
Now we behold
No curtain bars the way[46]
No cloud obscures the sight[47]
iniquity pardoned[48]
Face-to-face at last will be[49]
His children
Forever with Him.
This God of power –
Who commands the clouds
And the waves of the sea,
The Maker of heaven and earth –
Whose name alone is a strong tower[50]
His power in just one word.
He is our help[51]
He knows the griefs
Has born the sorrows[52]
The aching heart
Is comforted
With tenderness. [53]
He understands
The complex inner workings
Of the mind –
He knows His child
Better than she knows herself.[54]
It is this Lord who is my shepherd.[55]
These ones who are but grass[56]
Whose bodies fade away
The Everlasting carries
In His bosom[57]
The Almighty
Increasing strength
When we are faint.[58]
He cares
And loves
Even us.
He cares for the sparrows[59]
Those in His image,
Worth so much more
The Lion strong enough to protect
Gently leads His lambs[60]
Tenderly, for He is Lamb like us
And He was broken, too.
Canto V. The Bridegroom
“Your greatest lover, that you can rely on.
Your Father, that will care for you.
He loves you more than a fish needs the water
And more than birds crave the berries.
His love is enough.”
– C.H.
The won’dring Psalmist wrote
Considering the heavens –
“What is man that You are mindful of Him?”[61]
For compared to the skies,
Men are small and ugly.
And yet this God
Who marked off the boundless heavens
With only His hand
Came down
He took brokenness
And made it whole.
Brought meaning.
Gave life.
The world not left to herself
He married Himself to her
In His covenant faithfulness[62]
She became His[63]
Though she looked elsewhere[64]
He never has.
He was here
And we esteemed Him not
Too busy with the gifts He gave
To see Him
Even though it is He
Who holds the world together,
It is He
We ignore.[65]
He pursues
In her unfaithfulness
He desires
To know this sinner
To eat with her
To overflow her cup
To suffer for her
To die for
To love
To marry
To bring her to His Father.
The path she takes
The path I take
Though beyond today is unknown
Though beset with falling short
Though full of question and fear
Is never hidden from His sight[66]
The future is marked out like a path
A path from which none shall ever stray.[67]
This God who made the clouds
Who calls out the stars –
Somehow
He is fairer than even they –
Who is gentle and intimate
with His lambs –
it cannot be understood,
why such a Great One would do so
for such a wretch as I –
Has set out this path
He will clear the rubble
And guide the way
And bring to rejoicing
When the path is hard
The way unfathomable
The future uncertain –
It is well
With my soul.[68]
In the darkness
Of the soul
How big is your God?
He is greater
Than the night.
Even when
The sky is bare
And lonely –
He is there,
And here.
He hems me in
His presence, all around[69]
His power
His might
His love
His tenderness
Ever Near
To behold
Our God
Even if we
Are broken.
And then –
He calls
The Bridegroom
For the Bride
She comes
Then face-to-face
Beholds.
[2] Revelation 1:7, 14:14; Daniel 7:13; and throughout the Bible, clouds often have to do with His coming.
[10] 1 Thessalonians 4:17
[12] Psalm 147:3-4. I don’t think it’s random that binding up the brokenhearted and His knowledge and power displayed in the stars are together.
[19] A.W. Tozer, “What is the Supreme Sin of a Profane Society?”
[23] Thought taken from “A Sacred Sorrow,” by Michael Card
[26] 1 Kings 19 – God doesn’t answer Elijah’s problem but shows him Himself.
[44] Quote C.S. Lewis: “If I find in myself a desire that this world cannot fulfill, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
[46] Hebrews 6:19-20, Exodus 26:33, Matthew 20:50-51
[51] Psalm 121, Psalm 124:8
[54] Paraphrased Olivia Bradstreet
[62] Phrasing taken from Dr. Benjamin Shute
[66] Isaiah 40:27, Job 23:10
[67] Phrase from Olivia Jeavons
[68] Horatio Spafford, reflecting on how even in devastation, because Christ has borne our sin, it is well with our souls.
Kyleigh Dunn 