When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. 1 Thessalonians 2:13.

Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good. 1 Peter 4:19.

Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth? Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Job 38:33-34.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 108: He was to preach the Righteousness in Israel. Psalm 40:9: I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know. And, Matthew 4:17: From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

I love that first Scripture verse cited above because it shows what we find as we long for all that is true and good – Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. The word of God is Truth and is at work in we who believe bringing life and hope to our hearts and minds. All the words of mankind can confuse and disorient, can inspire and condemn, can lift up and can tear down, can be gentle and can be cruel. But Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, IS Truth – His written word and His living Word, Jesus the Son. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:9-11, 20.

Last night we watched the episode on Prime of The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls where he took Elizabeth Tabish, who portrays Mary Magdalene, into a desert of Utah. He asked her what she thought it was about Jesus that drew people to Him. She said it was His love. That He showed us the Father’s heart of love and people responded. How could we not?

When you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually IS – the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. Scripture is the written word of God that God Himself inspired working through men living in a 1500 to 1600 year time span, starting around 1400 BC and finishing around AD 90-100. And between Malachi in the Old Testament and Matthew in the New Testament was a period of 400 years where nothing was spoken by God to men in prophecy to be recorded, a kind of desert of silence. And then Jesus, the Son, Creator God, came to live right here among us and show us the Father’s heart of love for all of His children; and Jesus’ message of love teaches us still over 2,000 years later. And His Spirit continues to live in us and teach us as we come to Him in trust and hope and faith. And with Him working ever so patiently and gradually in us – as we are able to understand, we begin to live into His Love that bears fruit and brings hope. Closeness with God. So needed! The prayer below from Amen and Amen by Douglas Jacoby speaks to my own journey with God right now. All of life can be a prayer as we seek closeness with Creator God and find He is right here with us just as He promised.

***THE ROAD AHEAD – My LORD God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always, though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone. Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Thoughts in Solitude (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1956), 79.***