I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. Jeremiah 17:10.

Whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. Matthew 12:34-35.

In that day you will ask Me nothing. John 16:23. Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. John 14:1.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 44: Cursed is he that hangs on a tree. Deuteronomy 21:23: His corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance. And, Galatians 3:10-13: For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us – for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

How can we begin to understand in context all the verses above? I loved in Henri Nouwen, in You Are the Beloved, today: “Be Alone with God – Solitude and silence can never be separated from the call to unceasing prayer. If solitude were primarily an escape from a busy joy, and silence primarily an escape from a noisy milieu, they could easily become very self-centered forms of asceticism. But solitude and silence are for prayer. The Desert Fathers did not think of solitude as being alone, but as, being alone with God. They did not think of silence as not speaking, but as listening to God. Solitude and silence are the context within which prayer is practiced.”

“Cursed is he that hangs on a tree”. Jesus, the Son, Creator God, did that for us though He never sinned. Only He without sin could do that for us. He took all of our sins upon Himself and bore the reproach, the curse that is sin. And He tells us, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me.” Think of all of the sins of the whole world of us. Yours, mine, everyone’s. Hung on the one tree, the Cross. That’s a lot of pain and suffering. Can we consider that pain and suffering in our own lives that overwhelms us? His healing Love mends all of it! Our conduct, our deeds, our evil things from the treasury of our evil hearts hung on that very specific tree. But so needed for each of us is His search of our heart, His examination of our minds. We cannot hide from Him anymore than we can truly hide from ourselves. I have no doubt our Accuser was in utter glee when Jesus hung from that Cross. Because he has no idea of what Love is. Love is patient, Love is kind and is not jealous; Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the Truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the Perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with foolish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then Face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now Faith, Hope, Love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is Love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-13. That…that Love – IS Creator God – and that Love is how we begin to make sense of all the verses of Scripture and all of our life lived now, and with Him our healing begins on the greatest journey we will ever undertake because it will be Him with us showing us the way to Life with Him and it is so Good! Every wound healed in His Love becomes our love given and received!