For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20.

In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. John 16:26-27.

(God) comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. 2 Corinthians 1:4.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 104: Silent before His accusers. Psalm 38:12-13: Those who seek my life lay snares for me; and those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction, and they devise treachery all day long. But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; and I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth. And, Matthew 27:12-14: And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.

The first Scripture verse cited above was in Hearing God by Dallas Willard and he wrote: “Legalism claims that overt actions in conforming to rules for explicit behavior make us right and pleasing to God. It’s as if we believe that power resides in the words or in the rituals themselves. Jesus called legalism the “righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” (Matthew 5:20 NRSV). Legalism and superstition are closely joined by their emphasis on controlling people and events through little rules, bypassing the realities of the heart and soul from which life really flows. That is why Jesus tells us we must go beyond the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees to heart-and-soul transformation if we are truly to enter into life.”

Reading today in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, I loved this: “When things seem to be going all wrong, stop and affirm your trust in Me. Calmly bring these matters to Me, and leave them in My capable hands. Then, simply do the next thing. Stay in touch with Me through thankful, trusting prayers, resting in My sovereign control. Rejoice in Me – exult in the God of your salvation! As you trust in Me, I make your feet like the feet of a deer. I enable you to walk and make progress upon your high places of trouble, suffering, or responsibility.”

This morning in prayer He helped me see that all my life I have tried to make things right and now I’m losing the thread of certainty I have held onto so tightly. It gets uncomfortable when you can’t control everyone and everything but I don’t think I realized why until I experienced losing control of my own tightly held self that it turns out is just as messy as everyone else. That’s why I loved the devotional Jesus Calling – I will make your feet like the feet of a deer. I enable you to walk and make progress upon your high places of trouble, suffering, or responsibility. Not my “legalism” or my making things right, but God helping me. Trying to navigate my life with all its twists and turns in relation to others without God would be like being a small buoy in a huge ocean tossed and lifted high only to be plunged deep by powerful waves. But I’m not alone and He is here reminding me to hold fast to the good His love brings. Because when all is said done in this physical life we live, it is God’s love that brings the good in us we long for.

***THE RIGHT COURSE Steer the ship of my life, good LORD, to Your quiet harbor, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Show me the course I should take. Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go. And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in Your name we shall find comfort and peace. Basil of Caesarea (Ad 329-379).***