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Three Steps

             For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis3:5)

The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will rejoice over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. (Zephaniah 3:17 NASB)

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10 NIV)

I’ve shared these verses before, but apparently I need to do so again. I hope this doesn’t count as twisting Scripture - feel free to let me know if it is.

Step One: The serpent tempted Adam and Eve to seek a way to be “like God.” It was a means that God had expressly told them not to use. I contend that the desire to be “like God” strongly influences each of us.

Step Two: The Jews were told that God would be quiet in His love for them, and by extension, for us.

Step Three: If we are going to be like God, we must learn to be “quiet” in our love - to be still and know that He is God.

I hate step programs. They always make it sound so easy and often, it’s not. Steps one and two are easy enough, but me? Be quiet/still? OK, maybe I can be quiet/still and pretend that I’m loving, but be quiet/still and love? While I laugh about that, I have to admit that this is another of many areas in which it’s unwise for me to evaluate. And I think maybe I used to be quiet after I spent the 30 minutes I mentioned yesterday, fussing at everyone or about everything. So maybe it’s time to -again - try to find some of that quiet.

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