Aloha!! It's a hot, humid evening here on the big island of Hawaii as I sit on my bunk working on the pile of homework I have before me. It's bee a solid week and a half here and we've already covered 7 books of the Bible. Philemon, Genesis, Exodus, Job, Leviticus, Hebrews, and now Numbers. That includes reading the whole book out loud, color coding it as we read it, and then going back to write summaries about different topics we found in each book. Not to mention the extra assignments each week.
While it seems like a lot of work - and it is - it is actually very fun! I absolutely love studying the Bible, and it is so wonderful to be surrounded by people who love it and are studying it with me. We have so much fun reading together, discussing what the word says, and then staying up late into the night working on our papers. It's a bonding experience for sure. I am also so blessed simply to be back here in Kona again!! While I may complain about the weather (I love fall, and right now I'm missing it for 90 degree days and being constantly sticky), I truly love this base and so many of the people on it. I have made many good friends already in the school I'm doing, and there are a handful of others who I know from before and who are now involved with other schools around the campus. It is so cool to see God working in their lives!!! But anyways, back to the Bible... Last week was primarily spent on Genesis and Exodus. For just being only two books, there is a lot to unpack in there! I absolutely love these books, so I was very glad to have started with them. I love seeing God's creativity, His desire for relationship, His faithfulness, and His unconditional love. I also love seeing who He chose. From the very beginning, it was wanderers, misfits, un-chosen, and un-special people that He decided to give His blessings to. He sees past our outward qualifications, or usually lack thereof, and calls us out by name. In a few cases, He actually renamed people for who He said they were, not who the world saw them to be. How cool is that?!? That's the God I get to be in relationship with!! <3 A lot of what I ended up highlighting this week was about God’s holiness and His faithfulness. The concept of His holiness is not so much of a new revelation to me as it is a very sweet reminder. I am continually in awe of God’s overwhelming glory, power, and might, and even more so by the fact that that very same God knows and cares about us. “What are people, that you should make so much of us, that you should think of us so often?” (Job 7:17) And that He would speak to us personally, saying “’I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’” (Exodus 33:12) Just as He spoke that to the patriarch Moses, He speaks it to me today and it moves my heart more than words could ever describe. I am undone by the weight of His love! Beyond a continuing depth of love for God's holiness, I have been struck by His never-ending faithfulness. The entirety of the Torah is a love story written to a bride that simply never understood the depths of His love, yet He never ever quit on them! God says “I will remember my covenant with you.” (Genesis 9:15) “What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I promised you.” (Gen 28:15) “I am Adonai, I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God.” (Exodus 6:6-7) My whole life, these words have rung true for me personally. Every time I studied them, I could feel God’s deep love for Israel and for me. Every time I hear it, it just becomes more true and more a part of how deeply I love Him in return for the immeasurable grace He has poured out on me. So in essence, I love DBS!!!
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March 2023
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