Total Depravity

Eliphaz answers.

A wretched soul, unclean in thought

And act, I could never dare

Demand forgiveness as what’s fair

Or mercy as a favor bought.

All of my filthy spirit poured

In smaller vessels must distill

Into a still more potent will,

One more obnoxious to the Lord.

Reduced into a concentrate,

Depravity is never thinned

Even in babes who haven’t sinned

Souls simmering must sulfurate.

Has any weed, profusely spread

Sown millet, barley, rye, or corn?

So wickedness is those new born

Produces thistles not soft bread.

Despite my sin, the Lord has spared

An erring servant He reproves,

One lost His gentle guidance moves

On straighter paths His love prepared.

It isn’t their sweet innocence

But infant weakness and a lack

Of opportunity that holds back

Children from wrath and violence.

Do you know better than your peers,

Or are you older than the hills,

That we seem callow juveniles

Against the wisdom of your years?

If so, your juniors will defer,

But if your arrogance averts

To know the better and the worse

When God does not, we can’t concur.