He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. John 7:38.

For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day. John 6:40.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 135: The Suffering and Reproach of Calvary. Psalm 88: O LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You. Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry! For my soul has had enough troubles, and my life has drawn near to Sheol. I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength, forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and they are cut off from Your hand. You have put me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the depths. Your wrath has rested upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. You have removed my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an object of loathing to them; I am shut up and cannot go out. My eye has wasted away because of affliction; I have called upon You every day, O LORD; I have spread out my hands to You. Will You perform wonders for the dead? Will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon? Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O LORD, have cried out to You for help, and in the morning my prayer comes before You. O LORD, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome. Your burning anger has passed over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. They have surrounded me like water all day long; they have encompassed me altogether. You have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in darkness. And, Matthew 27:26-50: Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if he delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words. Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

After Jesus was baptized and went into the wilderness alone, Satan said those same words to Him, “If You are the Son of God”. And he said to Adam and Even in the garden, “Did God really say”. And all of Scripture testifies to the truth if we have ears to hear and hearts to open and receive hope not of this world of Satan’s deceptions. Satan’s hate for God – and for us – must be so great to be this kind of darkness we see in our world. God’s love is greater! And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11. As we have each of us had our fill of the sordidness of sin and the suffering sin brings, I pray we turn to Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. For in Him is our hope and all the goodness He longs to bring. We have all of us been wounded. He brings healing as only He can. Jesus was crucified. He was buried. He rose. Death could not hold Him. Our true life is in Him and He will not forsake or abandon us. Jesus said the world will know His followers by one way: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35. How are we doing? The light of God’s love is ready to work patiently in us, and oh, how we each of us need His love! Be a light lit by the very love and faithfulness of God. His love is our safe harbor and our steadiness in all the storms of this fallen world today and yet to be until His return. We cannot change people and that’s a hard thing to accept – but we can rest in God who can – and trust Him for everything needed in all of us. Our gentle faith and hope in Him can be such a merciful witness for a world torn apart by anger and hate so in need of the beautiful way forward with Him. It takes time. It takes God with us.

***I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. Psalm 38:18.***