Rooms - James L. Rubart [120]
Waves of peace filled him instantly. All doubt vanished, and he knew without hesitation, without reservation, that above all else God loved him with a passion he couldn’t comprehend. How long Micah sat in this tornado of love he didn’t know.
It stopped when a verse sprang into his mind like a lighthouse out of the blackest night. “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit.”
Exactly what was happening to him right now. His soul, mind, will, and emotions knew what was happening while his spirit experienced a depth of union with God he had never encountered. Too deep for words.
“Show me the truth,” Micah said.
His body shuddered as the answer flashed through his spirit and his mind at the same time with such clarity it made him gasp. The voice is not you.
“Then who is it?”
The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come to bring life abundant.
A waterfall of joy pounded up out of Micah with such force he didn’t know if he would survive. Infinite power, yet only an infinitesimal amount of God’s strength.
I give streams of living water.
And still the waterfall grew in strength, overflowing into his soul, his mind, his body. He fell onto his back, his arms spread wide, immersed in love beyond words and too much to hold in.
“Abba!” Micah screamed. Then more words poured out of his spirit beyond his understanding, and the waterfall became an ocean, and he drowned in the love of the One who loved him. All sense of time vanished as he was buried in sweet freedom.
When he opened his eyes, the shadows told him his deep communion had lasted hours. He stood and wiped the last of the tears from his eyes.
Rick sat, elbows on his knees, on a slab of granite twenty yards away with a smile so wide it drowned out the rest of his face. His eyes burst with delight, and Micah broke into hearty laughter as he ran to meet him. Rick grabbed him in a massive bear hug that Micah returned with all his strength.
“Thank you, Rick. Thank you,” was all he could say.
They walked together in silence to the end of the cape and watched the white-flecked surf and the seagulls ride the currents hundreds of feet below. Micah wished he could freeze the moment. He was known by God, and this God—who had created the universe and all it contained, lived inside him.
On the hike back to their cars, Micah said, “I’ve gotta confront the voice.”
“Yeah.” Rick nodded. “You do. Now.”
CHAPTER 42
Micah touched the door to the dark room with his forefinger; it swung open silently. The same familiarity was there—and something else. A dense, palpable tension. Micah wondered why he’d never felt it before. There had always been a lingering doubt if the voice was truly himself. But never the fluttering sense of dread that poured out of the room now. Fear. Pungent. Dark.
“‘Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world,’” Micah quoted. He stepped through the doorway. The blackness didn’t grow darker. It just seemed like it did.
“Hello, Micah.”
“Hello, voice.”
“You’ve been listening to lies.”
“Yes, you’re right. I have.”
“Ah, so you’ve come back to the truth. That is good. So very good.”
“I’ve realized something,” Micah said.
“What is that?”
“Many claim to have the truth. But there is only one Truth.”
“Go on.”
“I have a question.”
“Fine. That is why we’re here for each other. To ask the questions, find the answers, and press forward together, stronger and freer.”
“Do you acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and is from God? And is God?”
The voice didn’t answer for a long time. “We are the same, Micah. I am you, and you are me. You know this. Why are you testing yourself? Once and for all put the doubt to rest and let us embrace each other as the brothers we are. Are you not freer now? Have I not guided you and helped you in your journey?”
A small part of Micah believed it. Accepted it. Wanted it to be true. It seemed right, comforting. The voice spoke again, this time only in his mind as it had on the cape.
Rest, Micah. Put doubt