Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Hebrews 12:3 NKJV.

Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body. Philippians 3:20-21.

Last night on Zoom we had our Midweek Encounter. To encounter closeness with Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. We contemplated a few verses, including when Adam and Eve hid from God in the garden because they were “naked”, and God asked them who had told them they were naked. And the verse about removing the plank from our own eyes before trying to remove a sliver from others eyes. And then sitting in quiet for several minutes and sharing what we experienced as we let our thoughts go so we could sit with God with us. Why do that? Because Scripture didn’t end 2,000 years ago. We are still living that amazing story of us. As we read our chapter, Luke 4, look to Jesus the Son and put yourself there so you can better understand where we are today. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. v. 1-13. What Jesus said to Satan fell on deaf ears. And He traveled throughout Galilee teaching in the synagogues, and came to His hometown of Nazareth to teach in their synagogue. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Is. 61:1). v. 17-19. And then He began to teach them what was needed to understand. “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” v. 21-27. To hear Jesus say that God chose Gentiles over His chosen people in these examples was more than they could bear to hear. Why? Those accounts happened in their own Scriptures. What about us? And their actions to Jesus, their own people He had grown up with? And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way. v. 28-30. He did nothing more in Nazareth. Are we angry with God for what He does or does not do? The demons knew who Jesus the Son was. And with authority He commanded them to leave the people they possessed. And the people were amazed, v. 33-41. As you can imagine, people, apart from those in His hometown, who witnessed these things and heard Him teach wanted Jesus to stay in their towns but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. v. 42-44.

Who told you you were naked? Take the plank out of your own eye…how can we know about our own part in all of this unless we read Scripture given to us from Creator God? How can He be close to us if we are so busy we can’t sit in silence with Him? It takes time to draw near to God. It takes being willing to hear what He says – instead of what we think we know He says. But what we gain is so much more needed and beautiful…closeness with Creator God, our Father, our elder Brother and Savior, our Comforter and Teacher. Sometimes as I sit in silence with Him, I feel Him sitting next to me. Last night I felt myself in His arms from within.