And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14 NKJV.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7.

I loved this today in Hearing God by Dallas Willard: “Search Me, O God! The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. Proverbs 20:27 KJV. Form a picture of God walking through your personality, using your spirit as a candle, directing your attention to one thing after another. Your goal is to cooperate with God and pray, “Bring the light to bear upon my life, please.” This is similar to how we might go to a doctor and say, “Examine me, please, and see if corrections to my physical condition are needed. Find out what is wrong and repair it.” We can more easily invite God to do this as we truly believe that He is friendly and helpful. It’s not frightening that God desires to straighten, inform and correct for our good because it’s also to comfort and encourage us. As we believe that He really does love us, then we can begin to pray heartily with the psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23). Pray: Speak to God about whether you truly believe that He desires to be friendly and helpful. That He desires to straighten, inform and correct for our good. That He really does love us and is therefore safe to search us. Then, if you can, pray, “Bring the light of the candle of the Lord to bear upon my life, please.””

With all of the above in mind, we can begin to trust that it is sin that will be destroyed – that it is we who are saved. And that helps when reading our chapter, Zechariah 5. I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll. He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.” And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by My name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’” Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.” I asked, “What is it?” He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.” Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it. Then I looked up – and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me. He replied, “To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.” v. 1-11. All of these images found in revelation to us by Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, are formed in symbols showing what they are and what will be. We don’t think in symbols or speak in symbols. But imagine the Creator of all that is Who sustains all that is, teaching us, the created. How can we begin to understand the vast wisdom of God? We are limited by language and by that language of every age of mankind. In the notes below it said that the country of Babylonia represents the symbol for the center of world idolatry and wickedness. We may think that represents a specific center today but can we see the whole world is a center of idolatry and wickedness? We can’t remove the thieving, the lying, the wickedness of this world. The law shows us what sin is. That is all it can do. It didn’t remove the sin because lawlessness still abounds in our world today. Our choice still. Living as we do in a world of lawlessness, we cannot see to understand fully God’s love. Who can truly understand the love of Creator God that…While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8. The whole verse…But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We who are so quick to condemn ourselves and others, how can we understand or grasp fully so great a love? And when we go to God, the peace He brings to us IS His love. And if we are willing, we can begin to trust Him for everything and everyone.