Poems & Quotes
Genesis 1 Introduction
You can not put one little star in motion,
You can not shape one single forest leaf,
Nor fling a mountain up, nor sink an ocean,
Presumptuous pigmy, large with unbelief!
You can not bring one dawn of regal splendor,
Nor bid the day to shadowy twilight fall,
Nor send the pale moon forth with radiance tender,
And dare you doubt the One who has done all?
–Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Genesis 3:14–4:5
I asked for strength that I might achieve–
He made me weak that I might obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things–
I was given grace that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy–
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men–
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life–
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I received nothing that I asked for,
All that I hoped for.
My prayer was answered.
–Author unknown
Genesis 10:1–11:3
"The tenth chapter of Genesis is a very remarkable chapter. Before God leaves, as it were, the nations to themselves and begins to deal with Israel, His chosen people from Abraham downward, He takes a loving farewell of all the nations of the earth, as much as to say, 'I am going to leave you for a while, but I love you. I have created you: I have ordered all your future; and their different genealogies are traced.'"
–From The Divine Unity of Scripture, by Adolph Saphir
For Israel's Peace
Not just today, but every day
For the peace of Israel we must pray.
Driven and homeless, lonely, too,
Their only crime is to be born a Jew.
Across our world resounds the cry,
Of a stricken race which cannot die.
Through centuries the nations fall,
But Jews still weep at the Wailing Wall.
O Father above, the debt we owe
To this race should cause our prayers to flow
In a daily stream of faith that they
Shall find release from hatred's flay.
Give us the vision, Lord, to see
That love for Jews is love for Thee.
–Clara Bernhardt in "Christian Witness"
Genesis 18:9–19:5
"I have a little bit of–I don't suppose you'd call it a poem–but someone has refined the statement that Matthew Henry made concerning the creation of Eve. And since we're talking now about Sarah, the wife of Abraham, why I think it's proper to read this at this particular time. Will you listen? 'Not from his head, that she might rule over him, not from his feet that she might trample on him, but from his side that she might be equal to him, from under his arm that he might protect her, and from under his heart that he might love her.' And that may I say is the true marriage relationship as given in the creation of Eve and now we see it exemplified in the life of Sarah."
–Dr. J. Vernon McGee