December1

Willing to Be Led

There was◦ in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of◦ the daily··ministry of Abijah; and his wife was of◦ the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And◦ they were both just in··the··sight of God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. (Luke 1:5-6)

Those who are in a state of innocence attribute nothing of good to themselves, but regard all things as received and ascribe them to the Lord; that they wish to be led by Him and not by themselves; that they love everything that is good and find delight in everything that is true, because they know and perceive that loving what is good, that is, willing and doing it, is loving the Lord, and loving truth is loving the neighbor; that they live contented with their own, whether it be little or much, because they know that they receive just as much as is good for them—those receiving little for whom a little is useful, and those receiving much for whom much is useful; also that they do not themselves know what is good for them, the Lord alone knowing this, who looks in all things that He provides to what is eternal.

Neither are they anxious about the future; anxiety about the future they call care for the morrow, which they define as grief on account of losing or not receiving things that are not necessary for the uses of life. With companions they never act from an evil end but from what is good, just, and sincere. Acting from an evil end they call cunning, which they shun as the poison of a serpent, since it is wholly antagonistic to innocence. As they love nothing so much as to be led of the Lord, attributing all things they receive to Him, they are kept apart from what is their own [proprium]; and to the extent that they are kept apart from what is their own the Lord flows into them; and in consequence of this whatever they hear from the Lord, whether through the Word or by means of preaching, they do not store up in the memory, but instantly obey it, that is, will it and do it, their will being itself their memory. These for the most part outwardly appear simple, but inwardly they are wise and prudent. (Heaven and Hell 278.1-2)

It is the internal man that should command, and the external that should obey, and that does obey when the man has not the world as the end, but heaven, and not self but the neighbor. (Arcana Coelestia 5368)

If you walk◦ in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them... I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie··down, and none shall frighten you. (Lev. 26:3, 6).

That the conjunction and presence of the Lord is through the Word, is because the Word is the union of man with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; for the Word is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord. Therefore they who are in this truth in respect to doctrine and life (that is, in respect to faith and love) are in the Divine proceeding from the Lord, thus are conjoined with Him. (Arcana Coelestia 9378.2)

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