Backsliding (A Love Story) Poem by Yehoshua Shim'onai

Once a pastor became bitter with God,
And had stumbled in his faith with the Lord
For ev’rything in the sky fell in him
And evry’thing seems so heavy for him.
“Seems God has forsaken me, ” he said
And thought that God is no longer with him
“Where are His promises? ” he asked himself
“Did the power of the Lord failed? ” he thought.

He said, ”Oh, God! Why is this happening
And why are these things falling down to me?
Do you really love me, Lord of Highest?
Do you really care about me, Oh God?
You’ve said in your word ‘I’ll never leave you...’
Yet you’ve forgotten and forsaken me!
You have said that you’ll never let me go
And yet I can no longer feel your love! ”

But the Lord answered him in a vision;
In a divine presence, Christ spoke to him:

“I’m fatally wounded here at the cross;
Yet I cannot die because I’m spotless.
So, dearly child, please give me all your sins
And I will replace it with righteousness.
Dearly child, please give me all your sorrows
And I will replace it with blessedness.
Most of all, give me all your bitterness
And, child, I will replace it with whole love! ”

So he went back to the love of the Lord
Turned back to the protection of his God.

Here is the wisdom of the Sovereign
Here’s the message most cannot understand:
What is our right to complain to the Lord
When Jesus Christ never complained at all?
So just “Trust to the LORD with all your heart
And lean not in your own understanding.”
For God says, 'Be still and know that I'm God; '
Be steadfast and remember that He's Great!