Something Better

The wicked strut about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
(Psalm 12:8)

Sometimes some accuse me

of being too much

a ‘pie-in-the-sky’ kind of guy,

who looks too much

toward heaven

when there is so much work

to be done on earth

to create our Eden.

Too much an eye, they say,

toward children’s fairy tales,

Sunday school fables,

and superstitious promises

of something better.

Something better.

When the Creator of Something Better

is thrown out of our culture

and depravity is exalted among us,

from politicians to judges,

educators to administrators,

clergy to laity . . .

We expect something better
without Him?

That is why evil is free to grip the soul

and darken the heart of one

who strolls into a theater

and mercilessly murders strangers. 

That is why evil is free to grip the souls

and darken the hearts of those

who ruin children
and of those who turn blind eyes
to the seduction of innocents
in university locker rooms
and grade school classes.

That is why evil is free to flash welcoming smiles

a hundred-thousand times a month,

 a hundred-thousand times

a month,

for more than forty years,

at moms who bring their unborn

to a clinic for slaughter.

And yet,

as we push God

ever further from our culture

and evil is free to run rampant,

some still accuse me

of looking forward to heaven

for something better.

Yes, I look.

As a parched deer gasps to find water,

I yearn for fulfillment of the promised ‘better.’

Promises like:

Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty.

They shall behold a far-distant land.

And no resident there shall say,

“I am sick.”

And everyone there will be
forgiven their iniquities.¹

And promises like:

Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along.
‘For behold, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone . . .
‘The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along!’”²

^{1) Isaiah 33:17, 24 (NASB)}

^{2) Song of Solomon 2:10-13 (NASB)}