Morning and Evening
This poem revolves entirely around the first three chapters of the first book of the Bible. As I was reading Genesis, I saw the amazing order of creation and mourned even more so as the chaos ensued and echoed into the rest of the book of Genesis. God knows all. Nothing surprises Him. Was He saddened knowing that as each day of creation finished up He came closer and closer to the Fall of His creation?
The phrase repeated throughout the poem is the same phrase repeated throughout Genesis 1: “Morning and evening.” It acts as a gong lulling us towards the end of perfection. As each day passes in creation, darkness approaches. Sin, living outside of God’s design, is a reality that cannot be ignored in Scripture or our world. The wages of sin are costly. It’s separation from our Creator, life without Him, death.
The story of sin is a prevalent reality that is worth ruminating about as it makes us more dependent on Jesus our savior and more compassionate towards those who don’t know Jesus yet. Our weaknesses can draw us toward our heavenly vine and create an urgency for the Gospel of our Christ.
Although we are broken foreigners, Jesus, in His goodness, has offered us an opportunity to be brought into the fold of God, His kingdom of light, through His sacrifice and resurrection. His goodness does not negate the reality of sin, rather God’s grace makes sin’s reality that much more unbearable, heartbreaking, and worth helping others turn away from.
I hope this poem encourages you.
In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth—
Unearthing all earth’s potential
Spirit hovering
Father speaking
Son inspiring
Holy holy holy
Morning and evening
All was perfect, no-
Good
Good sun
Good moon
Good woman
Good man
Good morning
Good evening
Good God
God saw it was all good, no-
Very good
No pain to throb man’s heart
No jealousy to rip our minds apart
No murder to call a twisted art
No lying to riddle the mouth tart
No lust to paint the body a shopping cart
No greed for perverted hands to impart
Morning and evening
No brokenness to leave our bodies scarred, no-
Shame
Such a shame
They had it made in the shade of the tree
But that wasn’t enough for Eve
To be like God was too tempting
Snake slithering
She, succumbing
He, submitting
Morning and evening
All was lost, no-
Opened
Eyes are opened but now they can’t see God
Feel their nakedness, but now they can’t feel God
Knowledge of good and evil like God now separated from God
Evening and morning
Evening the odds with dice that caught snake eyes
Mourning the loss of paradise
Good evening
Good morning, no,-
Darkness
The sun of God sets on man one last time
Darkness hits heavy as perfection wanes in the distance
Man toiling
Woman desiring
World spinning, no-
Spiraling
Heaven cries and earth spirals downward
Pain as the pain of yesterday erases eternity
Morning and evening
Jealousy rooting into the hearts of many
Murder taking the souls of those who should have been in the book of life
Morning and evening
Lies causing the ones God created to become strangers to His eyes
Lust combusts and in idols and false gods the people begin to trust
Morning and evening
Greed takes seed and turns the image to rust
Brokenness, no
Hope
Just shame
Morning and evening
Is there anyone who can rescue us?
The sun is setting
But morning is coming
