“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” Psalm 119:103-104
In this life, we are tuning up our souls to be a part of God’s great plan of salvation. Things we learn in the Bible and living our faith in action and prayer, hearing God’s voice will be like the sounds of an orchestra warming up before the great symphony performance. Someday, by God’s Grace and Mercy, we will stand before this Grand Conductor in harmony beyond compare and truly hear the beautiful music He leads.
On earth now we are learning to live he decision to follow God. We are speaking to Him daily in prayer, and learning His ways in Scripture. We get to witness His presence in Mass and the Sacraments.
As we draw closer to God each day, we learn to better live and understand His commandments, we see more clearly and detest those things that block us from God in our sin. We begin to see sins that once we never thought wrong and avoid ones that seemed to have a hold on us.
In prayer and through our Bible reading and other Catholic readings, we begin to appreciate the Magnificent Majesty of God and to see His total Self-giving love. In time, in the mirror we stop seeing the sinner and begin to see the child of God and saint who is created in His own image and likeness.
We become more sensitive to hearing His voice in our lives. Reading the Bible every day stops being a literary or study practice and becomes another way God communicates with our soul. Prayer becomes a joyful time spent at the Master’s knee and less a chore that must be done quickly each day. And as that changes, we come to a new state of peace. The world’s storms don’t lessen or vanish but come into perspective as we focus our eyes on Jesus’ eyes.
And, when Jesus comes to us in the storm, we see Him without fear and step out of the boat into the ‘impossible. “With God, all things are possible” Matthew 19:26
“Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27. The peace offered by the world is an empty promise and can only bring temporary comfort. As we draw near to God, we learn God’s peace is a permanent peace offered by the only One who can be trusted to keep his Word and heal our sin. The world’s peace is fleeting and changes with circumstances.
“Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.” Matthew 14:28-29
As we grow, we learn it never was about us drawing closer to God, He was always near at hand – at our side. We just had to learn to see and hear Him more clearly.