The Difference in My World
POEM • This poem reflects on the ongoing relevance of biblical struggles in today’s world, urging us to personal awakening to a world in need of the gospel and a commitment to act in faith to make a difference for Christ.
Read time: 4 min
The Difference in My World
Why is there such disparity
Between their world and mine?
Must not I also Egypt flee
Or lead an Exodus divine?
Is not the battle still the Lord’s
And worthy still the cause?
What of God’s honor to defend
His gospel and his law?
Would God not send forth rain or dearth?
If I but ask in faith?
Must I not pray down fire on earth
On Carmel of today?
Do I not live in Babylon?
Must I not words impart
Or pray as Daniel in the wars
Of angels for men’s hearts?
Perhaps the world has so progressed that I am without calling
And truth and justice so prevail that talk of war’s appalling
Yet aren’t the poor still with us? The oppressed, deceived, confused?
What of broken men, forgotten wives, the exploited and abused?
No, the world has changed little since the ancient days
Of Moses, Elijah, David, and Daniel’s faithful ways
The difference, then, in my world, weighed in balances with theirs
Is not the world around me; the difference is me
I see but somehow don’t perceive. I hear but I am deaf
Sin’s victims falling ‘round me I busily neglect
Injustice strikes on every side; my hands are dripping blood
Of innocent, helpless, voiceless ones, that I forget to love
So, I ask you, Father, for a vision of things as they really are
And for a vision of the way that things in Christ will one day be
I pray both visions grip my heart and my imagination scar
And that the difference in the two may be the difference in me ❖
Quote this Poem
Footnote: Timothy J. Harris, “The Difference in My World,” Practical Theologian, June 16, 2022, www.practicaltheologian.com/blog/paper-g8plw-sjggj.
Bibliography: Harris, Timothy J. “The Difference in My World.” Practical Theologian, June 16, 2022. www.practicaltheologian.com/blog/paper-g8plw-sjggj.
