I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. John 17:4.

Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. Philippians 1:27.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 142: Identified as Messianic, used to tempt Christ. Psalm 91:11-12: For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone. And, Luke 4:10-11: “For it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

I loved this today in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young: “Come to Me and rest. Give your mind a break from its habitual judging. You form judgments about this situation, that situation, this person, that person, yourself, even the weather – as if judging were your main function in life. But I created you first and foremost to know Me and to live in rich communication with Me. When you become preoccupied with passing judgment, you usurp My role. Relate to Me as creature to Creator, sheep to Shepherd, subject to King, clay to Potter. Allow Me to have My way in your life. Rather than evaluating My ways with you, accept them thankfully. The intimacy I offer you is not an invitation to act as if you were My equal. Worship Me as King of kings while walking hand in hand with Me down the path of Life.” And this from Devotions for Women by Ann Spangler who continued speaking with reference to the book Forever: Why You Can’t Live Without It by Paul Tripp: “Paul reminds us that we are citizens of heaven and not of earth. In practical terms, that means it’s a mistake to treat this life as though it’s all there is, trying to squeeze from it everything our hearts desire and then letting inevitable disappointments cast shadows on our faith. Paul Tripp points out that even if we are confused on this point, “God always responds to us with eternity in view.” No wonder we don’t always get what we ask for. God is using a different timeline, a different end goal, allowing the difficulties and trials we face to shape us toward heaven. Peace comes, in part, from letting go of our limited time horizon in order to grasp hold of the eternity God promises.”

I don’t know why anymore, but I have let worry take over my life. Worry for family that just ahead are deep pits of bad things happening that will plunge them into a downward trajectory. Without a doubt we are living in troubling times where we really can’t be certain of what lies ahead for all of us. But I realized in prayer this morning that I live too much within an inner landscape of worry. It’s as though my worries are greater than God who is good. What does God’s goodness mean? That all of creation, including each of us, is His. And He called it good. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31. So I asked Him in prayer to help me see the hopeful I long for, the good He brings, the positive, to live trusting Him who is Creator God, and live now trusting His power and His love and His truth. Because He IS – and we are blessed in Him. He helps me see that what is needed in every single one of us is our journey needed with Him, the journey of our inner landscape He travels bringing us Home to Him. Have you ever wondered as I did this morning what would happen if every single person alive turned to God and asked for His help realizing how deep our need is for His goodness and His truth?

***LEST I BECOME PROUD OF MY DEEDS – You thunder forth Your judgments over me, LORD. You shake all my bones with fear and trembling, and my soul is very much afraid. I stand in awe as I consider that the heavens are not pure in Your sight. If You found wickedness in the angels and did not spare them, what will become of me? Stars have fallen from heaven, and I – I who am but dust – how can I be presumptuous? They whose deeds seemed worthy of praise have fallen into the depths, and I have seen those who ate the bread of angels delighting themselves with the husks of swine. There is no holiness, then, if You, LORD, withdraw Your hand. There is no wisdom if You cease to guide and no courage if You cease to defend. No chastity is secure if You do not guard it. Our vigilance avails nothing if Your holy watchfulness does not protect us. Left to ourselves we sink and perish, but visited by You we are lifted up and live. We are truly unstable, but You make us strong. We grow lukewarm, but You inflame us. O how humbly and lowly should I consider myself! How very little should I esteem anything that seems good in me! How profoundly should I submit to Your unfathomable judgments, LORD, where I find myself to be but nothing! O immeasurable weight! O impassable sea, where I find myself to be nothing but bare nothingness! Where, then, is glory’s hiding place? Where can there be any trust in my own virtue? All conceit is swallowed up in the depths of Your judgments upon me. What is all flesh in Your sight? Shall the clay glory against Him that formed it? How can he whose heart is truly subject to God be lifted up by conceit? The whole world will not make him proud whom Truth has subjected to itself. Nor shall he who has placed all his hope in God be moved by the tongues of flatterers. For behold, even they who speak are nothing; they will pass away with the sound of their words, but the Truth of the LORD remains forever. Thomas a Kempis (c. 1380-1471), The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, v. 14. Adapted.***