Thursday, May 16 - John 21

A BOOK FOR EVERY ONE

   St. John writes:

²⁴ This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
²⁵ Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
 

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   About seven years ago my daughter Michelle made a beautiful scrapbook for me that contains many of my childhood memories -- pictures and other memorabilia which mark the most significant days of my life.  I love looking at it and reminding myself of such wonderful times.

   But Michelle was not there for any of those times.  She can only enjoy them as a spectator from afar, not as a participant.

   Our Lord Jesus Christ, no doubt, has a major file on each one of us.  He remembers the times He helped us through a crisis -- times He blessed us with wisdom -- times He saved us from danger -- times He forgave us for turning away from Him.  Even things we are not aware of, He knows.

   He has been there through every moment of every day for all people for all of time.  And He has been tirelessly working on our behalf to guide, bless, strengthen and sustain us.

   No wonder the whole world would not have room for the books that could be written!

   A spectator He is not.  Quite the opposite.  As the Psalmist says:

Psalm 139
¹ You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you. ...

²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.