Isaiah (IS 55:10-11) in the first reading tells us that God sends His word to earth like the snow and rain to make our minds fertile to doing His will. I find this the most powerful phrase of the passage; “It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”
I hear God saying if we read and follow His word in the bible we will return to Him after living a life where we served Him. I had a conversation this week with our priest and we were talking about the readings from Genesis (GN 2:7-9; 3:1-7) in this weekend’s mass. In it the serpent convinces Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. The question I came away from the conversation with, is why did God make “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”? I think I hear the answer in Isaiah’s words “shall do my will”. If Eve would have done God’s will she would not have eaten the fruit.
How does this apply to me? I think we have to recognize that there are many things in the world designed to put distance between us and God. To listen to His word and do His will we should do our best to navigate our way around those things. His word can be a source of strength when we are tempted. From the Psalm (34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19) “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”
In today’s Gospel from Mathew (MT 6:7-15) Jesus teaches His disciples to pray a simplistic prayer that says many truths about living a life following God.
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
I recite this prayer often. From now on when temptation strikes this will be my go-to.
GVW4U 