Lent Day 18: SAFE

Recite the Primo Credo Today in the Morning and in the Evening:

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
 The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
 ~Mark 12:29-31

Today, on the Eighteenth Day of Lent, we continue to discuss the Primo Credo. We will be meditating on it over the period leading up to Resurrection (Easter) Sunday; and we will be trying to remember to recite it daily, once in the morning and once again in the evening. For over nearly three weeks now, we have stressed the importance of intentionality; thinking, feeling, and meaning the words as we repeat them- not just hollowly reciting them. Our goal is to let the words work in us, and hopefully through us, and back out of us.

Today’s Scripture Reading:

"...but whoever listens to me

will live in safety
and be at ease,

without fear of harm."

 

Proverbs 1:33

New International Version (NIV)

In the Message Bible it reads like this:

First pay attention to me,

and then relax. 

Now you can take it easy...

you’re in good hands.

 

 

It should come as no surprise that the concepts of "hearing"  and "listening" keep coming up in our conversations. We've also talked about obeying and abiding and keeping.  If you didn't know me, you might think I were legalistic, but that is actually far from the truth. 

 

Those who know me well, know that I tend to ask a lot of question, give a lot of push-back, ask for reasons and explanations...and just generally annoy the cr*p out of anyone trying to order me around and get me to blindly do what they tell me.  Oh yeah, and then there's that...I curse like a sailor.  So "a legalist" is so what I am not.

 

So then- why all this talk about obedience...

listening to God...

doing what Jesus says...

loving God and Jesus by keeping their commands?

 

Because I've found through trial and error (read here: A LOT of trial...) that when I follow through on the instructions I find in the Word of God, my life is simplified in that I tend to feel more at ease, less anxious, more relaxed, with less fear. SAFE, even. 

 

In a nutshell:  God and Jesus know what they are talking about and give great advice; they know how to keep me out of the self-imposed messes I tend to get myself into.  When I listen to them, I'm in good hands.

 

Today, may you find comfort in the safety of God's good hands.