Arcana Coelestia＃904
904. That 'God spoke to Noah' means the Lord's presence with the member of the Church becomes clear from the internal sense of the Word. The Lord speaks to everybody, for whatever good and truth a person wills and thinks comes from the Lord. With everyone there are at least two evil spirits and two angels. The former activate his evils whereas the latter instill goods and truths. Every good or truth that angels instill is the Lord's; in this way the Lord is constantly speaking to man, though quite differently from one person to the next. To people who allow themselves to be carried away by evil spirits the Lord speaks as though He were not present, or so far away that He can hardly be said to be speaking. But to those who are being led by the Lord, the Lord speaks as one who is quite present. This becomes clear enough from the fact that nobody can possibly think of anything good and true except from the Lord.
[2] The Lord's presence is relative to the state of love towards the neighbour and of faith present in a person. It is in love towards the neighbour that the Lord is present, for He is present in all good, and not so much in so-called faith that is devoid of love. Faith devoid of love and charity is something severed or disjoined. Wherever conjunction exists there has to be a conjoining agency, which is exclusively love and charity. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that the Lord has compassion on everybody, loves everyone, and wishes to make everyone eternally happy. A person therefore who is devoid of the kind of love that leads him to have compassion on others, to love them, and to wish to make them happy, cannot be joined to the Lord because he is not at all like Him, and is in no sense the image of Him. Looking to the Lord by means of that which goes by the name of faith while hating the neighbour amounts not only to standing a long way off, but also to having between himself and the Lord a hell-like chasm into which the person would fall if he wished to go any nearer. For it is hatred towards the neighbour that constitutes that intervening hell-like chasm.
[3] The Lord is present with a person the moment he starts to love the neighbour. It is in love that the Lord is present, and to the extent that a person has love the Lord is present. And to the extent that the Lord is present He speaks to man. No one knows anything other than that he thinks from himself. Yet he possesses not one single idea of thought, not even the shred of an idea, from himself. Rather that which is evil and false he possesses through evil spirits from hell, and that which is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is influx, the channel by which a person's life comes and by which consequently his soul interacts with the body. All these considerations make clear what 'God spoke to Noah' means. 'Saying to someone' means one thing, as in Genesis 1:29; 3:13-14, 17; 4:6, 9, 15; 6:13; 7:1, while 'speaking to someone' means another. Here speaking to Noah' means His being present, for the subject now is the regenerate person, who has had charity conferred on him.
Psalms 86
1
Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2
Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.
3
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.
4
Bring joy to the soul of your servant, for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5
For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
6
Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions.
7
In the day of my trouble I will call on you, for you will answer me.
8
There is no one like you among the gods, Lord, nor any deeds like your deeds.
9
All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.
10
For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.
11
Teach me your way, Yahweh. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name.
12
I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart. I will glorify your name forevermore.
13
For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.
14
God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, and they don't hold regard for you before them.
15
But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
16
Turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. Save the son of your handmaid.
17
Show me a sign of your goodness, that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed, because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me. A Psalm by the sons of Korah; a Song.
