I'm totally dependent on the utterly Resplendent One,

Triumphant and transcendent in his dignity and grace.

Unutterable Majesty met deep and sweet humility,

When in his rude nativity he came to take my place.

The precious bundle in the hay, so needy, tiny, helpless lay

The Sovereign of the Universe, the Dread of Seraphim

Ineffable, Impeccable, the Mighty God now touchable,

The infant in the manger is eternity's high Theme.

The Word of God now spoken soft which thundered once from Sinai's loft

A message full of grace and truth brings in

This Child benign on Mary's breast will shatter gates of hell and death

And, for the trusting, swallow up the curse of sin.

So while the Father all controls, the Son wields love upon my soul

With Holy Ghost conviction of my pride and ignorance

And renders me dependent, loyal on this Trinity of Joyful

God of heaven and earth eternal, Glad Transcendent Immanence.

So Christians come and sing to praise the Infant Ancient of All Days

Whose garments rustle with Infinity compressed

Come kiss the Son, this First & Last, who next appears with trumpet blast

Through rifted skies to gather us into his rest

reuben huffman

dec 2007

As smoke in the eyes, and vinegar to the teeth, so is the sluggard to him that sends him. (Proverbs 10:26)

Was there smoke in the eyes of my Savior and King,

Drift' over from Caiphas' flame,

When Peter the Sent played Simon the Sloth

And, sifted, denied Jesus' name?

There was vinegar there to damp the dry throat

But he wouldn't drink it with gall.

Slow are the hearts of the men he has sent

And bitter the sluggards he's called.

Vinegar filling a sponge on a reed,

Lift' up when they heard the cry

Of the Scapegoat escaping the edge of the camp

As the Son was forsaken on high.

Lord, often you send, and call me to come;

How swiftly I'm slow to good deeds.

I loiter and linger as smoke in your eyes,

As vinegar stinging your teeth.

By the wisp from the coals and the sip on the reed

By His shared expiration and shame -

With the goodness of Jesus, O God wrap me up

So to go when you whisper my name.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. (Luke 22:55)

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.  (Matthew 27:34)

The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.   (Matthew 27:44)

And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a  reed, and gave him to drink.  (Matthew 27:48)

From Ink to Heart to Hand
The Privilege, the Miracle, the Might of the Bible in our own tongue

The mingled shapes my eyes have met converge and form an alphabet.
A trick?  a miracle absurd - - that I can actually read the words;
that on the printed page the lines and shapes to letters merge.
Before my very eyes clear  words take shape and irresistibly arise
to form a thought within my mind.
A thought, a recognition clear, of what took place two thousand years
ago but it keeps moving in
and- - what is this? It sees my sin
and shines a Sun within my soul
and calls me forth, alive and whole.

From line to word to meaning full, this message permeates my soul,
Unbidden Sovereign on the page, the quickening word of God still saves
and moves from ink to heart to hand;  O let me think, and trust, and stand,
O let me hear the Author’s Voice - - and, hearing, tremble and rejoice
in pardoning grace and chastening rod  straight from the written Word of God.

O may the miracle absurd, the wonder of this bright exchange
Find me returning to this book in times of joy or grief or pain.
O may it marinate my mind and saturate my soul with light
and all my crookedness align- - that in my heart and thoughts and hand
the kingdom of the Lord will stand.

Reuben Huffman 2010

Snap your fingers, Christ, and thither hosts of mighty ones

Would come and seize the triumph from

The sniveling sons of sin.

Say thy name, I AM, and temple guards and soldiers

Stumble backwards then fall down before

They rush to pen you in. 

Shut Sanhedrin’s breath, or will their heartbeat stop and

Then the pathos would be ended and

Your righteousness be hailed. 

Why the weakness, Jesus, the quietness and calm

Before the cheap and phony judges foaming

At the mouth to kill? 

O! that fragrance, Savior, from the blood and terror’d darkness

And the horror of your cry

Comes an overwhelm of sweetness, majesty

Beyond the skies. 

Mighty love so deep so vast pervading all my soul with power

Re-creating heaven within me, raptured

In your sacrifice.

Satan as lightning falls from the heights,
Scorpions and snakes are trod down with power;
The enemy flees at the name of the Light;
The spirits and devils obediently cower.
That ancient Abaddon, the dread of the night,
Apollyon strong, holding nations in gloom
Of deception and darkness now flees from the sight
Of his unshackled captives returning at noon
With the light of King Jesus aglow on their face.
Unshakeable news from their trumpet resounds;
The chains have been shattered by Incarnate Grace;
The Dominion of darkness shudders and groans.
    What a thrill! What a joy to learn that the foe
    Is subject to us since King Jesus we know.

Then the word of the Savior, who sees and knows all
Unfolds yet a deeper and glorious sound
And bids us rejoice, not at Satan’s quick fall,
But rather exult that your name’s written down.
Written above in a book bathed with light;
Written in blood from the Savior’s own hand;
Written in majesty, written with might;
Unfading record of where we now stand.

Yea rather rejoice that your name’s written down
In that unfolding infinite realm of the just;
You’ll appear there in glory with Jesus your own
When  the devil and darkness shrink low in the dust.
His rule had its moment, but heaven is long.
His grip had its threats, but Jesus is strong.
His kingdom was spoiled by Omnipotent grace,
And his memory is gone in the Bridegroom’s embrace.

Luke 10:20

If I named the untold trillions of the stars I flung on high

If I brought from death the Lord, who for your sin was crucified

If I spoke into existence all that is or e'er shall be,

can you think of any problem

can you think of any issue

can you find a situation

that's too difficult for Me?

Can you tangle up a life beyond the touch of My embrace?

I can melt a stony heart! and flood the desert with free grace!

Can you complicate a picture of a person past my skill?

I was wrapped in every tangle

I was dumped in every prison

I drank deep of each confusion

at the Cross on Calvary's hill

Yea, unraveled every tangle, loosed the prison doors at once

To the grave I took confusion, to the tomb the problems plunged

Death, that swallowed all the world, is swallowed up in victory

Now, for you, my dear beloved,

Listen, child: there's nothing, nothing,

that's too difficult for Me.

Our God is love. Within himself the currents of affection flow
from Father through the Holy Ghost to his Beloved Son aglow.
The Son receives the Father’s Love and brims with  heart-felt wonder,
Returns his Father’s love again and  sings with  joyous thunder.
The Father glorifies the Word, the Word returns the favor,
This glory is the Holy Ghost who magnifies the Savior.
Before the earth’s foundation stood, three-Person’d Splendor thrived
And loved and glorified Himself in  his own endless life.

All sweet and full of  boundless bliss, The triune God extolled
Our God was happy and content before the ages rolled
And from this blazing dynamo of infinite embrace,
He spoke 6 days and it was done, the earth and human race.
An outreach of his joy and fullness,  picture of his wealth,
A vast and orderly display of beauty, life, and health.
Within this creativity he placed a man and bride,
A picture of  God’s  love above, a woman from his side.

The first man fell and plunged henceforth his children into sin
Each of us with our own sick flourish added with our pen
Each of us loving darkness more than uncreated light,
Each of us running from him, proud and dead to heaven’s sight.

But what is this! The Only Son, the maker of the worlds
The dear Beloved Begotten One in  Jordan’s water swirls
The kingdom of our God has entered; on the mount he glistened
Now Love Incarnate walks this land and  heals and loves and listens.
And what is this, what shocking turn, that on the cross he dies
Bruised by the firm decree of God, forsaken by God’s eyes
The sins of  wrecked  humanity: rebellion, pride, and hate
Roll on the spotless Lamb of God as he assumed our place.

Ris'n on the third day,  two-score more he rose up to his home
Midst loud angelic anthems took his place within the throne
Blood-stained and battle-marked, this Son of  Man now rules
His kingdom with the force of love, with blood bought-mercy tools.
His own are risen with himself, in heavenly places seated
They take the cross, confessing him, th’ Accuser is defeated.

The Love of God above the skies was all the Father dreamed
The Love of God made flesh once walked the fields of Palestine
The Love of God was nailed as a transgressor to the Tree
The Love of God now risen rules above the skies and sea
And  now on heart-thrones globally where e'er the gospel's heard
The purchased souls of ransomed men obey and trust his word.
Within the Triune circle now the ransomed children rest
Like John of old, today there’s untold millions on his breast
And fellowship which once was locked behind the gates of Heaven
Free from the Crucified  flows out to sinners now forgiven.

That endless life which from the first thrilled  God and Him alone,
Reverberates within the hearts of us whom he has known.