cataract_of_grace

Many say they’ll risk it all,
And lose their life to do your call;
Leave behind their friends and dreams
To seek your Kingdom’s living streams
To be with you and sing your praise
To hear your voice and feel your grace.

But many hearts get stifled too,
Forgetting quick their sight of you.
The joy which once consumed their might
Gave way to pleasures that last one night
And in their sleepy comfort cry,
“Oh when will this vain life pass by?

“Where is the joy and all the praise,
I thought would last through endless days,
When every thought was filled with you
And everyone so quickly knew
Why every breath that left my lips
Were filled with words that soon eclipsed
All other talk of mundane things
Like weather, sports and diamond rings?

“But now my tongue is bridled by
A fearful heart that cannot lie.
For when I plainly told the truth
Rejection, scorn fell on my roof,
But silence made my soul cry out
‘You faithless coward, full of doubt!

‘Choose today whom you will serve
The One whose love you don’t deserve
Or people thinking well of you
Because you do the things they do.'”
So in my pain, I soon took flight
To safer harbors of delight.

“Loving you is too dangerous!”
I thus confessed the outrageous.
But soon like tasteless poison kills
My lesser loves destroy my will.
With python strength, they choke my heart
All passion dies without a start
What little embers I have left
Will disappear, leave me bereft.


Yet there you wait with open arms,
Your gentle words cause no alarm.
Surprisingly you say to me,
“I love you still, I’m not angry.
Little one so full of fright
I gave my life to give you sight.

Now you can testify of me,
Of rescue from depravity.
Your sinful heart so full of lies
And self-deceit, the pride of life
I have replaced with something new:
My holiness will dawn in you.

And in the deserts of despair
A flood of grace will pour forth there,
Dousing out the flames of sin,
Washing out the fears within.
From cataracts of thundering height
Forgiveness, mercy rush with might
That I may fill your inmost place,
Inundate your every space.

I bought this promise when I bled;
My righteous prize for you instead.
My Spirit dwells in you, O jar
Your brittle frame hides something far
Brighter than the brightest star
My fullness dwells inside your heart.”

I gasp and wonder–is it true?
Almighty God, could this be you?
Speaking words of love to me,
Showing unseen truths you see?
My lifeless soul at your command
Springs back to life, a firebrand.

Loving you, a gracious gift,
Nothing can compare with this.
It fuels the passion of my soul
And frees me from fearful control.
O let me do this without fail
Until your promise has prevailed!
For now my love I’ll lose it all
Because by faith, I hear your call.