Near or Far

Does it matter if He listens?

Does He hear us cry?

Is He present in our laughter?

Does He watch us when we die?

From on His grand celestial throne,

Does God see all we are?

Does His gaze extend to the lands below the sky and and sea of stars?

I say it makes the difference.

If He's near or far away.

I know that my redeemer lives,

and that He guides my way.

If God is some just some grand magician

Making puppets dance

Then our lives are nothing more than show.

A pointless circumstance.

If God creates but doesn't guide

He has no right to condemn

For how can we be loyal

to a shadow of a whim?

If God exists but doesn't make

His presence known to us.

Then why bother with creation?

Why all this mess and fuss?

But we have a God who listens.

Who hears our every cry.

Why else would Jesus come to earth

As man to live then die?

How can we say

He doesn't hear

Or care for our lament

When it was his back that bore our sin

and God's own blood was spent.

Though trouble seems

at times too much

for anyone to bear.

Though the trials we endure

Go on for longer than we care.

God's purposes are higher

They aim for something more

than earthly happiness or joy.

He has much more in store.

Eternity awaits us,

and we don't understand,

just how much we need Him,

Or the rightness of His plan

He listens when we cry out

He's with us in our pain

He walks with us in sunshine.

Stands closer in the rain

His strength is all we'll ever need

To make it through this life.

His hand is always on us

To lead us through our strife.

I for one will trust Him

I'll trust His guiding hand

I'll follow where He leads me

Though it be through foreign lands

I'll walk with Him forever.

Because He knows the way.

I'll walk along the path He lays,

From night unto the day.

by. Jonathan E. Schaefer

08/07/2014