(David) sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love You, O Lord, my strength. Psalm 18:1.

Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” Matthew 26:38.

And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:13 NKJV.

Our chapter, 2 Thessalonians 3, is the final chapter of this letter. And again I start with the last paragraph before this…Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. v. 1-3. That reminded me of when Eve spoke to Creator God. The serpent deceived me and I ate. What deceptions are we “eating”? We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all! I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Paul needed to deal with the problem of brethren who were capable yet did not work but who became busybodies intruding into others time needed for their own work to be done. And yet to work, to provide for our needs and help those who truly are in need is a blessing in this life we live. And it sounds as though Paul needed to distinguish his own letters from those of others by his greeting written by his hand at the end. Paul used scribes to transcribe his words onto parchment. And these letters would have been read, copied, and circulated among the churches. The first Scripture verse cited above was in Hearing God by Dallas Willard. He shared this chorus from C. Austin Mile’s “In the Garden”: “He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.” Why do I share that? Because we are living in troubling times and the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. I’m realizing in these troubled times that to watch and pray with Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, and trusting Him for everything, is His good will for all of us. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. Because there…He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own…and with Him is a joy and hope that brings encouragement we all need. His love tells us to love one another as we love Him…and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known…Jesus knows that love. His love we can know as we spend time with Him. And in spending time with Him, we find trust in Him who is steadfast always. One day when we are with Him, we will see what has eternally been…that the kingdom of God and His love is more real than anything in this life lived in the deceptions of the evil one, in the time we are given now, deceptions that will not and cannot last. I love You…O Lord my strength! I love how He is leading me to watch and pray with Him for all of us to turn to Him in joy and need and trust. One day we will leave behind everything that hinders and go forward with Him. And the angels and all of us will sing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!