SHECHINA IN EXILE (The Dust)

 

SHECHINA IN EXILE

(The Dust)

The Light never changed,

It never withdrew,

The Dweller still waits

For the vessel made new.

The heart was created

A dwelling to be,

A place for His glory,

A place He could see.

But look what we filled it with—

Garbage and lust,

Leaving the Shechina

Alone in the dust.

We traded the holy

For pleasures that rust,

Then wondered why heaven

Was hidden from us.

Shechina in exile,

Shechina brought low,

Waiting inside us

For somewhere to go.

So clean out the heart,

Raise love above lust,

Give Him a dwelling—

Raise Her from the dust.

Not for what I can take,

Not for what I receive,

But to give Him contentment

In all that I breathe.

Let the vessel be ready,

Let bestowal begin,

Till the Shochen and Shechina

Are dwelling within.

No more exile.

No more disgust.

Raise the Shechina—

Raise Her from the dust.

 

NONE ELSE BESIDES HIM

When the left hand throws me to the ground,

The right is already pulling me around.

When every door looks sealed and tight,

He hides Himself to build my sight.

The fall is His, the rise is too,

There ain't another pulling you.

No other hand, no other claim,

Behind the dark—He stays the same.

He lets me taste how weak I am,

Until I quit believing I can.

Until the heart is forced to cry,

“Creator, without You—I die.”

The distance builds the true demand,

The broken heart reaches for His hand.

Every descent strips away my pride,

Till there's nowhere left for “me” to hide.

And when He lifts me from the floor,

And suddenly I taste Him more,

I cannot say, “Look what I've done.”

He drew me close—there's only One.

So when I'm low, I won't complain,

Or make myself the cause of pain.

The Shechina aches when we're apart;

Her exile is what breaks my heart.

And when I'm raised and joy appears,

When light replaces all my fears,

My joy is not that I am free—

It's that the whole draws closer through me.

The will to receive will always remain,

But now we turn its course again:

Not what can I take, not what can I own,

But how can I bring contentment to His throne?

So throw me down or pull me near,

Give me darkness, give me clear—

Through every state, through thick and thin,

There is none else besides Him.