When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:23.

Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. 2 corinthians 10:5.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. John 1:12.

The LORD said to Job, “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” Job 40:1-2.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 137: Firstborn. Psalm 89:27: I also shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. And, Colossians 1:15-18: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

This morning as I was sitting quietly, I was struck by the light playing on the walls from the early morning light; light so pure and clean and beautiful as it touched and illuminated its way across the room. And I felt joy and hope. And as I sat in prayer and the weight of this world started to press down I had to fight to regain that sense of hope and joy. I thought about each Scripture verse above. Job took to God all of his confusion about what had happened to his family, to the soundness of his world experiences right up until calamity struck, and to his own body racked with sores. That he was a righteous man was not in question until his friends came to help him and their answers for everything was that Job had sinned. I know my own sins and the sins of this fallen world. I know God’s love and the healing He brings is real because I have experienced both. And in prayer I realized that I do trust God for exactly how He is working His good in our fallen world that does not truly know Him. Everything wrong in our world today is evidence of our not knowing or trusting Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. And the amazing thing is, when everything goes wrong we blame God and ask Him why? If we would only stop and truly consider everything, we would admit we know why. We choose hate and enmity and strife and our own way of thinking; and doesn’t that essentially exalt itself against the knowledge of God? Jesus didn’t do that. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. But as many as received Him – to them He gave the right to become children of God – even to those who believed His name. Who is Him, who is Jesus? He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He knows what He is doing! He, the Almighty, He has the answers. And these beautiful words of hope: We give thanks to God, the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints – because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth – the gospel – which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth. Colossians 1:3-6. The grace of God in truth – His truth.

***The neglected heart will soon be a heart overrun with worldly thoughts; the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos; the heart that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray. A. W. Tozer, (1897-1963).***