Poetry by Sean Morris (Elder)
"Faith in Fetters"
“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.” – Proverbs 17:3
Verily, I find this to be a reality, a reality which must be experienced by every saint to some degree. As God hath said in another place, “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth” (Ps. 11:5). I contend that this trial of the righteous, whic...h is spoken of in Proverbs 17:3, is inseparable from the following verse in Proverbs 17:4, and the following verse in Proverbs 17:5 is a threat to those who transgress. Look at them all together:
"The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts. A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished." (Proverbs 17:3-5)
I find that, the greatest trial for the righteous (who love righteousness) are when they must endure the false reports of wicked men with “false lips.” Righteousness has a darling grip on their heart. How painful it is when the reputation of God, truth, and righteousness is marred by lies. And look now, these lies! How innumerable they are! It is agonizing to see how many give heed to these outrageous lies. Nevertheless not all give heed to them. The scripture above said, only “a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.” It is a sin! It is a sin to believe a lie, to give ear to a naughty tongue. When men give heed to the naughtiness of these lies which are spued forth by the wicked, these lies which are like fire that burn and brand the weeping righteous, they are in danger of the threat of verse 5 because whoso mocketh these broken men mock God. God makes the righteous poor through suffering, poor through lies and false slanders, and yet, those who mock these poor saints because they believe the lies of sinners, these reproach their Maker! Oh how terrible it is that sinners congregate together, and more so, that they perish not alone in their iniquity by contaminating others who, before meeting them, would not have perished in their sins.
“An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.” – Proverbs 16:27
“A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.” – Proverbs 16:28
Today liars congregate cross country and sea. All kinds of boundaries which formerly made impossible the unity of their mockery, now through internet they unite with unimaginable speed and guile. They need no skill to cover up their reputations as to make their witnesses believable, they just leave their surrounding communities by entering into the arena of the internet. Here they can give a false witness with an easily fabricated false righteousness, and they don’t even need to overcome the fear of their hypocrisy being found out because the internet is where everyone who doesn’t know hardly anyone speaks about everything. On the internet there is no need for the asinine smile that is upon the face of this generation. There is no pressure of face to face encounters. Each person is represented by text and so they all do take strength in numbers, that a simple passerby who believes every word might side with them, and, if this passerby met this community of slanderers in person he would have never believed their lies because of the clear absence of the presence of God in their life. In this way the internet has become “the seat of the scornful” (Ps. 1:1).
Oh Lord, give the righteous wisdom and prudence in this our day where blogs and forums have become assemblies of mockers. Oh let the righteous be able to say, “I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation” (Jer. 15:17). These internet sites and blogs are like territorial bears robbed of their whelps who all agree together in a single pursuit of rage, destruction, and death. They are mindlessly raging as the flames of hell do animate their hearts, and if you meet them in this internet arena they will devour you with foolishness and folly. “Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly” (Prov. 17:12). Can a man speak to a bear so as to make peace with him, so I cannot put out these fires nor tire myself in their endless and outrageous misrepresentations of truth. Note: “Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth” (Prov. 17:24). If I did seek to answer all these slanders, then my eyes would be to the ends of the earth, and so, I would be beguiled in their vomit from being a profit to those who don’t hide behind the covering of a computer screen. It is easy for the wicked to take courage behind a computer screen.
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The fetters of Joseph are upon me!
Like him, the night vision of my future which I saw so long ago, I alone did see and can give testimony.
And now, the darkness of my dungeon, this lonely, low abode,
It doth seek to oppress me with lies... against what He, to me, a long time ago showed.
I do remember when it all began, when I saw the vision of my future plan,
But ne’er did I think I would be in the place I am now, having been bereaved of almost every man.
Till when, I know not, only that patience is tried in fires hot,
That every cause of man has been the orchestration of His directive hand,
Till fires and fetters make me a plucked out fire brand.
I am an object of His sovereign art and He shall paint me perfectly in my part.
So, like a painting, He will finish the vision which He did start.
Through all my pains and every color change, the mixtures of paints and the sufferings of saints,
David exalted and then cast down, like a bottle smothered with smoke all around,
All these blend together giving the Painter pleasure, that with these He doth paint beauty and value, like the finest treasure.
The lies of my brethren, The crooked reports of wickedness and leaven,
Because of these I was cast out from the eleven.
Broken and shamed I was welcomed with chains,
My heart hurting, by brotherhoods treachery burning, turning every memory of closeness and kindred into pain.
I found servitude and sorrow and bore all their blame.
This, I thought, could be the chiefest of my shame,
to be bereaved of my family and lose all my name.
Arriving on Egyptian soil I was assigned to a lifetime of toil.
For a while I was at liberty because as a faithful slave I was treated compassionately,
Even though I was a slave, in this way I was free.
Yet, another cause hath yet to transpire,
That I might be tried by this dungeon’s putrid, cold mire.
So I do lay in the place I am now, and to escape I know not how.
A ruler it seems I will never be, the royalty of all Egypt abhor me vehemently.
There are reports of wicked lewdness which break Egyptian legality,
Thus I am covered in ignominy and impossible bounds of infamy,
And the bruising of this serpent who can cleanse from me?
Lonely I may be, but there are companions with me,
Men living in other ages did like things see.
Like the vision laden Daniel, beloved of his God, he did likewise suffer because of secret, heavenly tidings,
They were given to him by flaming ministers in their secret, night ridings,
And because he was the recipient of these visions the heathen raged to put him in hiding.
Like my dungeon they gave him a den, with the mouth of lions salivating to devour him within.
The lions roar sounded temptations sore, that Daniel would lose hope in God and fall in sin.
Few lay awake except those faithful ones his God did shake,
Hurting at the injustice that came upon Daniel by men’s jealousy and hate.
Therefore this lonely night is accompanied by the power of His might,
Because the prayers of these persons make my dungeon and his den alright.
God will reward the righteous even when there is no possibility in sight,
Even though the traitors think Joseph and Daniel will never live to see freedoms light,
And surely never take the inheritance of their visions right.
Oh glory of God, arise in Thy time, lift up my head and fulfill my rhyme.
Thy famine send, then let my vision have its end, Reconcile the wrong and let it end with weeping and song.
But first lift me up from my dungeon that I might make Thy storehouses wide and long,
That I, for them, might make ready your food, that we may be fed all famine long.
And with all this in view, we may sing salvation's song,
Recognizing your Sovereignty authoring every right and wrong that was committed all along.
“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.” – Proverbs 17:3
Verily, I find this to be a reality, a reality which must be experienced by every saint to some degree. As God hath said in another place, “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth” (Ps. 11:5). I contend that this trial of the righteous, whic...h is spoken of in Proverbs 17:3, is inseparable from the following verse in Proverbs 17:4, and the following verse in Proverbs 17:5 is a threat to those who transgress. Look at them all together:
"The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts. A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished." (Proverbs 17:3-5)
I find that, the greatest trial for the righteous (who love righteousness) are when they must endure the false reports of wicked men with “false lips.” Righteousness has a darling grip on their heart. How painful it is when the reputation of God, truth, and righteousness is marred by lies. And look now, these lies! How innumerable they are! It is agonizing to see how many give heed to these outrageous lies. Nevertheless not all give heed to them. The scripture above said, only “a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.” It is a sin! It is a sin to believe a lie, to give ear to a naughty tongue. When men give heed to the naughtiness of these lies which are spued forth by the wicked, these lies which are like fire that burn and brand the weeping righteous, they are in danger of the threat of verse 5 because whoso mocketh these broken men mock God. God makes the righteous poor through suffering, poor through lies and false slanders, and yet, those who mock these poor saints because they believe the lies of sinners, these reproach their Maker! Oh how terrible it is that sinners congregate together, and more so, that they perish not alone in their iniquity by contaminating others who, before meeting them, would not have perished in their sins.
“An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.” – Proverbs 16:27
“A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.” – Proverbs 16:28
Today liars congregate cross country and sea. All kinds of boundaries which formerly made impossible the unity of their mockery, now through internet they unite with unimaginable speed and guile. They need no skill to cover up their reputations as to make their witnesses believable, they just leave their surrounding communities by entering into the arena of the internet. Here they can give a false witness with an easily fabricated false righteousness, and they don’t even need to overcome the fear of their hypocrisy being found out because the internet is where everyone who doesn’t know hardly anyone speaks about everything. On the internet there is no need for the asinine smile that is upon the face of this generation. There is no pressure of face to face encounters. Each person is represented by text and so they all do take strength in numbers, that a simple passerby who believes every word might side with them, and, if this passerby met this community of slanderers in person he would have never believed their lies because of the clear absence of the presence of God in their life. In this way the internet has become “the seat of the scornful” (Ps. 1:1).
Oh Lord, give the righteous wisdom and prudence in this our day where blogs and forums have become assemblies of mockers. Oh let the righteous be able to say, “I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation” (Jer. 15:17). These internet sites and blogs are like territorial bears robbed of their whelps who all agree together in a single pursuit of rage, destruction, and death. They are mindlessly raging as the flames of hell do animate their hearts, and if you meet them in this internet arena they will devour you with foolishness and folly. “Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly” (Prov. 17:12). Can a man speak to a bear so as to make peace with him, so I cannot put out these fires nor tire myself in their endless and outrageous misrepresentations of truth. Note: “Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth” (Prov. 17:24). If I did seek to answer all these slanders, then my eyes would be to the ends of the earth, and so, I would be beguiled in their vomit from being a profit to those who don’t hide behind the covering of a computer screen. It is easy for the wicked to take courage behind a computer screen.
******************************************************************************************************************************************
The fetters of Joseph are upon me!
Like him, the night vision of my future which I saw so long ago, I alone did see and can give testimony.
And now, the darkness of my dungeon, this lonely, low abode,
It doth seek to oppress me with lies... against what He, to me, a long time ago showed.
I do remember when it all began, when I saw the vision of my future plan,
But ne’er did I think I would be in the place I am now, having been bereaved of almost every man.
Till when, I know not, only that patience is tried in fires hot,
That every cause of man has been the orchestration of His directive hand,
Till fires and fetters make me a plucked out fire brand.
I am an object of His sovereign art and He shall paint me perfectly in my part.
So, like a painting, He will finish the vision which He did start.
Through all my pains and every color change, the mixtures of paints and the sufferings of saints,
David exalted and then cast down, like a bottle smothered with smoke all around,
All these blend together giving the Painter pleasure, that with these He doth paint beauty and value, like the finest treasure.
The lies of my brethren, The crooked reports of wickedness and leaven,
Because of these I was cast out from the eleven.
Broken and shamed I was welcomed with chains,
My heart hurting, by brotherhoods treachery burning, turning every memory of closeness and kindred into pain.
I found servitude and sorrow and bore all their blame.
This, I thought, could be the chiefest of my shame,
to be bereaved of my family and lose all my name.
Arriving on Egyptian soil I was assigned to a lifetime of toil.
For a while I was at liberty because as a faithful slave I was treated compassionately,
Even though I was a slave, in this way I was free.
Yet, another cause hath yet to transpire,
That I might be tried by this dungeon’s putrid, cold mire.
So I do lay in the place I am now, and to escape I know not how.
A ruler it seems I will never be, the royalty of all Egypt abhor me vehemently.
There are reports of wicked lewdness which break Egyptian legality,
Thus I am covered in ignominy and impossible bounds of infamy,
And the bruising of this serpent who can cleanse from me?
Lonely I may be, but there are companions with me,
Men living in other ages did like things see.
Like the vision laden Daniel, beloved of his God, he did likewise suffer because of secret, heavenly tidings,
They were given to him by flaming ministers in their secret, night ridings,
And because he was the recipient of these visions the heathen raged to put him in hiding.
Like my dungeon they gave him a den, with the mouth of lions salivating to devour him within.
The lions roar sounded temptations sore, that Daniel would lose hope in God and fall in sin.
Few lay awake except those faithful ones his God did shake,
Hurting at the injustice that came upon Daniel by men’s jealousy and hate.
Therefore this lonely night is accompanied by the power of His might,
Because the prayers of these persons make my dungeon and his den alright.
God will reward the righteous even when there is no possibility in sight,
Even though the traitors think Joseph and Daniel will never live to see freedoms light,
And surely never take the inheritance of their visions right.
Oh glory of God, arise in Thy time, lift up my head and fulfill my rhyme.
Thy famine send, then let my vision have its end, Reconcile the wrong and let it end with weeping and song.
But first lift me up from my dungeon that I might make Thy storehouses wide and long,
That I, for them, might make ready your food, that we may be fed all famine long.
And with all this in view, we may sing salvation's song,
Recognizing your Sovereignty authoring every right and wrong that was committed all along.
