I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6.

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness. Psalm 17:15 NKJV.

The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Isaiah 60:19 ESV.

This, 1 Corinthians 6, is a difficult chapter to take in for me because I keep getting in the way. So I give that to God in prayer and ask for His help. And He reminds me to remember always His love for our good. Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Actually then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Who not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. v. 1-11. If we’re honest, that’s pretty much all of us before we turn to God for help and His mercy. The church in Corinth was in turmoil and so are we. There is a difference between Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, and us. And every difference is magnified in our sins. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. v. 12-20.

Last night on Zoom our group watched the parts of The Chosen Season 5 Episode 8, beginning with Thaddeus walking and seeing hammers displayed hung ready to be sold and was reminded of his meeting Jesus as they were working together on the construction of a privy. Again, creative license. But in this episode, Jesus called to Thaddeus to join Him and promised everything that would unfold – friendships, betrayals, miracles, joy, sorrow – and as He spoke, scenes showing all that came after were shown. I was struck by how God knows our beginnings from our end and everything in between. Not just for the men who would become disciples, but for Abraham, Moses, and every man and woman called to interact in the will of Creator God toward what will be in Him for all of us. A sweep we cannot yet understand or see as we live out our own personal lives within this greatest unfolding sweep of events yet to be. And it showed also the struggle and deep sorrows Jesus underwent in the garden knowing His betrayer was coming. We are blind to this sweep and all it has cost our Creator, but God knows and He went with eyes fully opened to the cost and loves us still. In the end, it was Jesus alone who was led to the council and to everything that happened before He was raised up on the Cross – because He alone is our Passover Lamb slain once…for all…for our sins. Somehow, seeing that dramatized last night brings what Paul wrote in a specific relief. We cannot fully appreciate all the harm sin brings to us. That’s why Scripture was given. Take from it what you will but know that Creator God IS. He never lies to us. His Truth is too important and needed for every single one of us. We can look to God for help in understanding and for hope for what is – and will be. The darkness will not last and all confusions will clear. The Light of His Love will break forth and bring healing in Him. How can we not give everything to Him we don’t yet understand in faith and hope and trust and love? He gives us everything…He gives us Himself.