Book 3, Chapter 3: How All the Words of God Are to be Heard With Humility, and How Many do not Consider His Words.
Chapter Focus: Christ shows us an embarrassing truth: that we will work hard to obtain earthly glory and riches, which are never guaranteed, but are “ho-hum” about laying up treasure in Heaven, which is promised to us.
Christ boldly proclaims “What I have promised I will give. What I have said I will fulfill if only a disciple remains faithful in My love to the end.” It’s not bragging if it is accomplished. And He accomplishes His Word in us to full effect (Is 55:11).
Part of the promise runs to how Our Lord visits by temptation or by comfort. He wants us to grow by 
recognizing our faults or by goading us toward more grace-oriented actions. And those who hear His word but rejects the same will face judgment.
Thomas ends Chapter 3 with a prayer of humble devotion. Remember, Thomas was a monk during the late Middle Ages, and such people at such times had extreme forms of physical sacrifice: from severe fasting to hair shirts to self-flagellation. What Thomas is getting at here is that he cannot ever come close to understanding God’s mercy and goodness. He, therefore, pleads for divine mercy and grace in the form of visitations, praying for the very things he tells us that Jesus brings to His faithful disciples. Thomas prays for a double-portion of holiness, humility, grace.
May we do likewise. Amen.
Chapter 3, In Short.
1. Hear Christ’s sweet words, receiving these in silence with humility and deep love.
2. Blessed are you that God guides and instructs, granting you rest in time of adversity.
3. Even though God speaks to us, many are deaf and hardened against His voice.
4. What God has promised God will give, while mankind is fickle.
5. God wants to visit His elect in two ways: by temptation and by comfort.
6. Prayer for the Spirit of Devotion: Lord, who am I that I should dare to speak to you?
7. Lord, teach me to do Your will, teach me to walk humbly and uprightly before You.
Scripture Memory Prayer: “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (Jn 6:63)
Question: How are we to listen to God?
Key Quote: What I have promised I will give. What I have said I will fulfill if only a disciple remains faithful in My love to the end.
The Text of Chapter 3: How All the Words of God Are to be Heard With Humility, and How Many do not Consider these Words.
The Voice of the Beloved:
“My Child, hear My words, for My words are most sweet, surpassing all the knowledge of the philosophers and wise men of this world. My words are spirit, and life,(Jn 6:63) and are not to be weighed by common understanding. My words are not to be measured for vain acceptance, but to be heard in silence, and to be received with all humility and with deep love and affection.”
The Disciple:
2. And I said, “Blessed is the man whom You guide, O Lord, and instruct in Your law, that You may give him rest in time of adversity, and that he be not desolate in the earth(Ps 94:12-13).”
The Voice of the Beloved:
3. It is I Who have taught the prophets from the beginning, and even now I speak to all unceasingly, but many are deaf and hardened against My voice. Many love to listen to the world rather than to God and they follow after the desires of the flesh more readily than after the good pleasure of God.
The world promises temporal and small things and such are served with great eagerness. I promise things that are great and eternal, and the hearts of mortals are still slow to stir. Who is there that serves and obeys Me in all things with such carefulness as he serves the world and its rulers? “Be ashamed, O Sidon,” says the sea (Is 23:4). And if you ask why, hear the reason.
In order to earn a modest living people will journey a great distance; yet will scarcely lift a foot from the ground to gain eternal life. Sometimes people will shamefully quarrel even over a penny, even when the gain is inconsiderable: They are not afraid to toil day and night for some trifle, some vanity, or some slight promise.”
4. “But, alas! for an unchangeable good, for an inestimable reward, for the highest honor and for a glory that does not fade away, it is irksome to them to toil even a little. Be ashamed, therefore, slothful and discontented servant, for they are more ready to labor for death than you for life. They rejoice more heartily in vanity than you do in seeking the truth. Sometimes, indeed, they are disappointed of their hope, but My promise fails no one, nor sends away empty those who trust in Me. What I have promised I will give. What I have said I will fulfill if only a disciple remains faithful in My love to the end. Therefore I am the rewarder of all good people and a strong approver of all who are godly.
5. “Write My words in your heart and consider them diligently, for these words will be helpful to you in time of temptation. What you do not understand when you read, you shall know at the time of your visitation. I want to visit My elect in two ways: by temptation and by comfort. And I teach them two lessons day by day, the one in chiding their faults, the other in exhorting them to grow in grace. He who hears My words and rejects my words has One who shall judge him on the last day.”
Prayer for the Spirit of Devotion
6. O Lord my God, You are all my good, and who am I that I should dare to speak to you? I am the very poorest of Your servants, an abject worm, much poorer and more despicable than I know or dare to say. Nevertheless remember, O Lord, that I am nothing, I have nothing, and can do nothing. You alone are good, just, and holy. You can do all things, are over all things, fill all things, leaving empty only the sinner. Call to mind Your tender mercies, and fill my heart with Your grace, You who will that Your work should not return to You void (IS 55:11).
7. How can I bear this miserable life unless Your mercy and grace strengthen me? Do not turn Your face away from me. Do not delay Your visitation. Do not withdraw Your comfort from me, lest my soul “gasps after You as a thirsty land (Ps 143:6).” Lord, teach me to do Your will, teach me to walk humbly and uprightly before You, for You are my wisdom, Who knows me in truth, and knew me before the world was made and before I was born into the world.