I want
creation’s God
to give me
heart anew
that I might love again
new ears
that I might hear the songs of Heaven
right spirit
that I might live as He would have me live.
I want the God
of Abraham
to provide a purpose
and a plan
grounded in a theology of faith
and trust
and faithfulness
that I might go where, and do what, He requires of His obedient child.
I want the God
of Isaac
to show me how
to hear my heavenly Dad
to mourn my earthly loss
then turn away
into my mother’s tent
to build the marriage arranged by God’s own knowing hand.
I want the God
of Jacob
to lay my head
upon His Rock
and change
my wrestling, stony heart
to flesh
and make me overcome impure and fearful, perishable past.
I want the God
of Moses
to teach my feet
to stand on holy ground
(sneakers sweetly set aside)
to transform my murderous mind
and stuttering tongue
into a submissive destiny
and make me pliant
to walk whatever path
cross whatever river
prosecute whatever battle
even to the death or to a transfiguration upon a lonely, holy hill.
I want the God
of Esther
to give me beauty
where there is simplicity
moral richness
where there’s splendid poverty
and boldness
where I’m wont to be afraid
so crowns and palaces
might melt
before my very eyes
as I marvel at the kingdom of yon unmentioned Majesty.
I want the God
of David
lowly shepherd king
to lead me to the pasture
where I might learn
to leave my lust
on this proud earth below
and reach up
high up
head bowed
to take the hand, and be the friend, of who is Shepherd and the King indeed.
I want the God
of Ezekiel
him of the moving wheel
to embrace me
in that cemetery between
the mountains and the hills
to still my fears
and make me witness
such
that even the living dead could rise to newness of eternal grace.
I want the God
of Daniel
to dull those deathly lions’ teeth
and encase me with Teflon
that I might resist
today’s terrestrial hell
while pointing me to the future and to things that eyes have never known.
I want
Hosea’s God
to bless me with sweet sorrows
of the marriage bliss
and tell me how
the lifelong kissing
of a partner’s ancient flaw
is but the beckoning
of the eternal covenant between the sinless Prince and His sinful church made new.
I want the God
of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John
to transport me
into the very presence
of the Lamb
take me over seas
beside the babbling brook
and to the mountaintop
that I might see strange scenes and write of monumental miracles.
I want the God
of Peter
to replace my crude
and rustic crassness
with the weeping mellowness
of disciple—child—that
thus strengthened
though I miss that cursed crucifixion’s
victory dance
I might
embolden human mind with the sweet assurance of their risen Lord.
I want the God
of Paul
to strike me blind
that I might see
to imprison me
that I might embrace
the chains of freedom
pass me through
perils
that I might rejoice
disable me
that I might be enabled
to preach the Word alike to paupers and to popes.
I want the God
of Revelation
to uncover
to my questing mind
the mysteries Daniel craved
so I might know
that all the stories
of God’s own Holy Word—
be they tales
of beasts and angels
women saintly
or Babylon impure—
lead us to the love of God and His eternal and all-conquering Christ.
I want the God
of all the earth
to call me
from sin’s miry clay
to make me the Samaritan
who knows
that only God is good
and make me come apart
and rest a while
an everlasting while
and never, ever weep again.
