Welcome to the Paul Tripp podcast, where pastor and best-selling author Dr. Paul David Tripp

connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. We're living in a period of time filled with unrest and anxiety, as a pandemic sweeps through our globe and tensions rise in our nation.

So in today's episode, we'll hear five of Paul Tripp's meditations from his newest

devotional, My Heart Cries Out.

We pray these poems bring Christ-centered comfort to your soul during these uncertain times.

Here's the audiobook narrator, Bevan Greineriner reading the first poem entitled Here.

You're not absent, you're near. You're not distant. You're here. You're not separate. You hear. You're not passive. You rain. You don't just watch. You intervene again and again and again. You don't just sit above

what you have created. No. You move down among us in grace, glory, wisdom, power, and love.

To bestow upon broken creatures what we could not earn, what we could not achieve,

and what we'll never deserve. You step in the mess we created. You touch what we have broken.

You restore what we have destroyed. You give life to what we have killed. You're not absent. You are near. You're not distant. You are

here. You're not separate. You hear. You're not passive. You rain. You don't just watch us. You

intervene again and again and again. This next poem is called Weight and War.

Joy crashes into sorrow.

Strength collides with weakness.

Despair washes over hope.

Pain slices into peace. Longing overwhelms contentment hatred stains the

fabric of love reconciliation wars with prejudice entitlement weakens service sin pulls against

righteousness division leaves fissures in unity.

Idols capture worship.

Light battles with darkness.

Impatience cripples perseverance.

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