Saints, I often look back upon my many wasted years in the devil's service. Though I cannot bring back those years, God, through His Divine Word, has allowed me to redeem them. This I can do; nonetheless, I do daily repent for such a reprobate lifestyle...and I am fully determined to be at my Master's sovereign disposal till my death, should He accept a foul worm such as me. This hymn touched my spirit today, and resonated deep within and brought hot tears of rememberance. Egypt, for me, was not that long ago; I can still see the distant tips of the golden pyramids when I turn around. I can hear the phantom music of the belly-dancers, smell the ungodly incense of the snakecharmers. The alloys of the wicked marketplace. It is the Holy Spirit that reminds me that beneath the cover of the awe-inspiring pyramids and inside the golden coffins of the once-mighty emperors, remain putrid dead men's bones. Maggots. A foul stench. Rotting mummies. The hideous worm of death hides beneath all Satan's glitter and glaze. The charms of the belly-dancers lead transfixed men into woeful pits of eternal darkness. In one horrible moment, the fingercymbals and lutes and whistles will suddenly cease, darkness will enshroud, and all that will ever be heard henceforth will be the sounds of men and women weeping, cursing God, men and women who have been chained down for hundreds and hundreds of years under a blanket of insufferable darkness. Egypt is a lie, my old life was a lie, the devil is a liar, and hell's fire and darkness is everlasting.
Because I knew not when my life was good,
And when there was a light upon my path,
But turned my soul perversely to the dark,
O Lord, I do repent.
"Because I held upon my selfish road,
And left my brother wounded by the way,
And called ambition duty, and pressed on,
O Lord, I do repent.
Because I spent the strength Thou gavest me
In struggle which Thou never didst ordain,
And have imperfect life to offer Thee,
O Lord, I do repent.
Because I was impatient, would not wait,
And thrust my willful hand across Thy threads,
And marred the pattern drawn out for my life,
O Lord, I do repent."
- Sarah Williams