Scripture Scribbles: January 22, 2023
the Gospel
Matthew 4:12-23
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.
He went around all of Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness among the people.
the devotion
“that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled”
As I sit and pray with this Scripture today, I am struck by the overwhelming vastness of God.
In today’s first reading we hear from the Book of Isaiah, which scholars believe to have been compiled between the third and second centuries BC. Isaiah himself was born around the year 700 BC. He was married with two children. He received his calling as a prophet in the year 740 BC.
Take a moment to reflect on this: 740 years before Christ was to come to earth, He sent a prophet to speak of what would be.
When I take a moment to allow myself to reflect on this reality – to let that truly sink in – I am flooded with an overwhelming sense of peace. While it is mind-bending to even begin to try to ponder this reality, it fills my soul with a deep, abiding trust in who God is and how He works in this world.
740 years before something happened, God sent someone to predict that it would happen.
He sees you.
He knows you.
You are not an accident, nor are you forgotten or overlooked.
He already knew your existence was coming long before we were even born.
Every decision you make, every thought you have, is already known by God.
He loves you through it and is lovingly waiting for you to return to Him in repentance each time you fall.
To shower you with love and grace and strength for you on your path toward heaven.
Nothing that is happening in your life right now is outside of God’s providence.
He has a perfect will and a permissive will, and anything happening in your life has been permitted by God. It is not outside of His awareness or provision. There is no escaping His sight, there is nothing outside of what He is aware of and present in.
For me, this truth calms my soul.
Whatever it is that is happening in your life right now, give it up to the Lord. Ask Him for His forgiveness for all of the times you’ve fallen short of His perfect love. Ask Him to lead you back to Reconciliation, the healing Sacrament full of such profound and powerful grace. Ask Him for the strength, the wisdom, the words, the clarity, to handle and navigate whatever cross you are carrying in your life right now.
He loves you infinitely more than you can even imagine.
There will only ever be one of you, and only you can quench His thirst for your unique love. No one else can replace the special space He has reserved for you in His heart.
Trust the Lord today, friend. Surrender your worries and your cares to the one who knows you best.
Psalm 139
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
Today’s devotion was written by Rachel Smith
