EMMAUS SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL STUDIES

Do any of you know anyone who loves Jesus and wants to know his word for themselves?  These are the two characteristics that are so important for students wanting to do the ESBS.  It is a hard program that demands ongoing self-discipline and perseverance, but ask anyone of the ESBS graduates, and they will tell you that nothing of great reward does not come without great cost.  There is truly great reward in pressing into the Lord and his word, gaining understanding that will provide a harvest of righteousness both now and in the future.

Please send people our way.  We are looking for potential students.  And you as the reader of the blog are those who will connect us with people hungry for the Word and to know Jesus.

Send them to camplurecrest.org/esbs for more information and to download applications.  They can also inquire at esbs_info@camplurecrest.org for more information.

In reflecting on this past year, we had a small school, but it was sooo great!  Each of the three girls, as you can read were deeply affected and changed by the Word of God this year.  What better reward than knowing that we’ve come alongside what the Lord is up to with their lives?  We were blessed to have you Madison, Christen, and Julie this year.  We will miss this small family unit that we’ve had these past 10 months, but we are blessed to know that the Lord is leading you on to other things as young women who love God and know their Bibles well.  You’ve got some serious firepower in godly character, knowing God and loving him, and being full of his Spirit!

                Matthew was the last book of the Bible that we studied this year and even though we have been studying all of the Old Testament up until this point, the teachers felt it appropriate to study Matthew last because Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophesies of the Old Testament and this becomes most visible in the book of Matthew.  Because of these crucial fulfillments, pointing to the fact that Jesus really was the Messiah, it was part of our assignment to compare the thoughts of a first century Jew and what they thought the Messiah was going to be like to what Jesus was like, in order to prove that Jesus was in fact the very same person the Old Testament prophets were foretelling would come.

                First of all, let me tell you about the nature of Jesus. His nature was gentle, humble and loving.  He was born in humble settings, in a manger in an animal stall (Luke 2:16), and was born into unfortunate circumstances because his mother was a virgin but was believed to not be so when she had her son (Matthew 1:18). Both of these things, however, were prophesied in the OT in (Isaiah 7:14). Then when Jesus began his ministry he came in town walking on the road from Nephtali and Zebulum (Isaiah 9:1) which was of course the area that Assyria came from when they were on their way to conquer Judah.  First century Jews were expecting that the Messiah would come from this area in the north (which stands for judgment) but could have over looked the fact that he still came from the north but just didn’t come with a huge army trailing behind him. Again Jesus the Messiah made a humble entrance not one of arrogance and pride.  One of the advantages of a king is that they are the ones served, so I am sure the first century Jews were expecting the Messiah to come and be served by everyone but this was not Jesus’ mission at all. Instead of being served, Jesus came to serve and he did it daily as he healed many of their demonic spirits, leprosy, blindness, etc. of the people (Matthew 8:1; 21:14; 9:27 ).  This should not have come as a surprise first century Jews, however, because this idea that the Messiah was going to come and heal people in this way was prophesied almost verbatim in Isaiah 42:7. Finally, when Jesus was betrayed, arrested and hung on the cross, he had more than enough power to free himself, but chose to go peacefully, encouraging his disciples to act in similar accord (Matthew 26:54).  This too was prophesied in Isaiah 53:7 in the same passage that Jesus serving others was spoken.  Jesus came in peace, even to the very end.  So as you see, the nature of the Messiah was not different from what the scriptures proclaimed it to be, but quite the exact replica.  Jesus came to love not fight.

                The last thing I want to say to help explain how Jesus was the Messiah predicted to come in the Old Testament, is Jesus’ mission. From the time Jesus was old enough, he was preaching in the temple and teaching the most holy priests things they never knew about God (Luke2:46-51). Jesus’ entire ministry was reaching out to the lowly to break social barriers, to heal those who were sick and to tell bring the message of salvation and the kingdom to come (Matthew 13:36-50).   It is true that the Jews suffered much oppression and trials and you were expecting that the Messiah was going to bring justice, but the justice they were looking for came in a different form. Jesus served justice but through peaceful means and not by sword (Matthew 26:56).  This of course is fulfilling the words of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 53:7). While Jesus was coming to bring justice it was not in the manner they thought and the ultimate justice was not to be served until the final days which Jesus was preaching about, prophesied about in Daniel 7:13.  Even more than bringing justice, Jesus’ greatest mission was to bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles.  The first century Jews believed that salvation was for the Jews because they were God’s chosen people but in fact it was prophesied in the Old Testament as well that those who were not of Jewish descent would come to the Lord too (Isaiah 11:11- 13).  I understand that according to the ways of the world, salvation to you is a great king coming and conquering an enemy, and the thing is that Jesus did this but the enemy was sin and he did not use the sword to do this but used his own crucified body (Matthew 26:56).  This is also found in Isaiah 53:7 to see that Jesus’ would be lead away to the slaughter and the end product was salvation.  Jesus was not concerned with gaining physical land like a normal king would be but Jesus was concerned with conquering hearts and bringing them into his eternal kingdom in heaven (Matthew4:17-20).  There was much talk about the end times in (Amos 5:18; Zephaniah 1:14, Malachi 4:1, etc.) and these references are talking about the heavenly kingdom that Jesus was to bring people into when the day of the Lord came.  Jesus’ mission was to conquer, bring justice and salvation but the way he did this was by attacking sin and the human heart.

                There are so many other minute details that prove Jesus to be the true Messiah, even going back to the book of Genesis but if you get too caught up in the details, you miss the whole point.  Jesus’ mission was to wins hearts and to free his people from their sin and we are all forever indebted to him for what he did.  My prayer for myself and others is just that we can read the Old Testament and gain a better understanding of who God was to Israel and what it meant to them to have a savior so that we can better understand what it means to us that Jesus died on the cross.  I am so thankful for these past nine months and the freedom I have had to read and understand the Bible the way I have.  The Bible is more than a book to adorn a bookshelf, it is a collection of people, events and emotions that give people the purpose on earth and peace in looking into the future in heaven!

The ministry of Jesus took the Jewish world by surprise, because he didn’t appear at all to match their long-held expectations. The 1^st century Jew had been taught all the prophecies and Old Testament history, but never imagined that Jesus would fulfill them in the way that he did. The Jews expected Jesus to be a literal King who would come and deliver them from the Romans; they interpreted their Old Testament prophecies in a literal way, and didn’t understand that Jesus would come to save them from their real enemy – sin! Therefore when Jesus came to the world, they had a hard time understanding how he fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies that he quoted so frequently.

            However, the fact is that Jesus did fulfill all the prophets’ words perfectly, and didn’t abolish one law of God at all! For example, Jesus’ life was a complete fulfillment of Israel’s Old Testament history, for even at the beginning of his life, he was taken to Egypt, which symbolized slavery for the Jews. The Jews would have immediately recognized that just as Jesus came out of Egypt as a small child and then spent his whole life in complete perfection, this represented what God had wanted for the nation of Israel when they were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, but grumbled and complained when God delivered them from it! The Jews had no hint of perfection about them, yet Jesus lived his life completely righteous and perfect! Thus, Jesus was the image and representation of the TRUE Israel that they should have been.

When Jesus moved to Nazareth with his parents, and grew up there, he was called a Nazorean, which literally translates as “the branch”. Thus, all the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc. who had foretold of “a branch” coming to save and conquer the Jews’ enemies, were still being fulfilled in Jesus, just not at all the way the Jews expected them to be! The Jews thought Jesus would be famous, popular, and strong, so that he would overthrow their physical enemies. How surprising when he appeared the exact opposite – humble and loving, yet strong in God. Thus, he fulfilled these prophecies of “the branch” as well.

When Jesus left Nazareth and moved to the land of Capernaum, he was fulfilling another prophecy that spoke of that land, which had once received horrific judgment from God in the Old Testament, but was now receiving grace, freedom, and forgiveness as Jesus dwelt among them! Therefore, Jesus was showing the Jews that He was God himself, coming to dwell among them, in order to have a relationship with them! That is what he had been longing for throughout the entire history of Israel, and that was what he was there to give them.

Then, Jesus began to demonstrate His power by healing physical illnesses, but instead of merely being a miracle worker, he was really showing the Jews that His power was not at all limited to their physical realm. Instead, he was demonstrating the fact that he could and would, heal their very spirits from the sickness of sin! Therefore, he blasted out of all their expectations of what a Messiah would be, for he was much greater then just a physical king reigning in Jerusalem; he was the very God of their lives, dwelling among them to heal, not only their bodies on occasion, but also their spirits forever!

The sign of Jonah that Jesus gave the Jews, would have caused them to remember the judgment that Jonah received by being swallowed by a fish, and how he was essentially raised to life once he was spit out by it. Therefore, Jesus was giving them this crucial sign that God would place the judgment of the sinful world upon his shoulders for three days and nights, and then he would rise to life again, King of kings! Thus, the Messiah that the Jews expected was far more powerful then they had anticipated!

Throughout his 3-year ministry, Jesus made the religious rulers frustrated because instead of praising them for their self-righteousness, he told them that they would never truly know and understand God unless they had a relationship with Him. Therefore, they needed understanding from God, and shouldn’t think they could follow God on their own, apart from Him! Thus, the Jews totally underestimated Jesus, because they didn’t realize he was the very Son of God, bringing peace to them and restoring the broken relationship that mankind once had with God. They had thought the Messiah would just be a political ruler; and didn’t understand that the way Jesus fulfilled all these OT prophecies was spelling out to them that He WAS the Messiah, but more than that, the Son of God!

Thus, throughout his lifetime Jesus was able to give a clear picture of his fulfillment of the prophecies that God had spoken to the prophets in the Old Testament. He demonstrated these things so that the Jews would know and believe that He was their Messiah, yet many still were blinded! It should have been very apparent to them, yet they chose to believe their own preconceived ideas instead of the truth.

Therefore let it be known that Jesus Christ IS the Messiah, the Son of God Himself, and that he DID fulfill all prophecies, and has restored mankind to a right relationship with God, if they will only choose it. 

In Malachi, God makes it clear that he cares about people fearing him and honoring him. However, these Israelites are not. The cause of this is disbelief in the love and character of God. The lack of this results in sin and selfishness.

This lack of the fear of God manifests itself through the people misrepresenting God to others, and this angers God. God cares about people knowing who he is –and it is this genuine, accurate understanding that will compel worship and a desire to live a life honoring him. Our not living godly is lying to the watching world that God is not sweeter than the ephemeral pleasure of sin.

Personally, I am very challenged by how I represent God to others. I mourn how in the past I have made decisions that have not accurately reflected how he has changed my life and how he loves us. However, I am refreshed by the truth of God’s forgiveness. Nevertheless, as Christians, we have the weighty privilege of showing God to others. We must not give people cause to question God’s love or who he is because of how we who bear his name treat others and live.

We must love and give extravagantly. We must not give the perception of wrongdoing. We have an amazing God that entrusts us with the privilege of showing himself to others. With such a calling, we must take it seriously and honor God in how we live.

            In a world that accepts corruption in every form, it is hard for Christians to live lives of integrity and strength.  I speak as a victim of this culture, fighting daily to overcome social pressures to be a certain way, say certain things and have certain goals, when 99% of these things disrupt my ultimate purpose on this earth-to serve God.  So what is the root of all this evil? A lack of a fear of God. 

As we have learned in the book of Malachi, the Israelites who have been back in their land for 100 years since their exile have lost their fear of the Lord and have turned to apathy.  Malachi’s oracle to the people is a series of dialogues the people have with God in which they have the audacity to question his love, justice, holiness, etc.  The fact that the people are questioning the Lord in the first place was the first huge indicator of their attitude towards him.  They were treating the Lord of the universe like they were a younger sibling and trying to walk all over him!  Wait, before I judge them, I guess I should evaluate how I live and treat God, because I am pretty sure I have not revered the Lord in every area of my life like I should have!

As I was contemplating this I realized that part of the reason people lost their fear of God was by letting the little sins slide and this snowballed into greater and greater indifference to the Lord.  When I think about my life, I know there are “little sins”  that I allow myself to continue in, convincing myself they won’t matter, and they always end up growing into a bigger sin and bigger problem.  The good news is I can cut these things off at the root to prevent such grow while simultaneously keeping my fear of the Lord intact.  I know I won’t be able to do this by myself, but that is why the Lord is so amazing, because he is there to help us be strengthened in his ways. So just remember, the next time you let a “little sin” slip take time to think how this is already tainting your fear of the only king of kings, and we should present nothing but our best to him for all he has done for us!

Isn’t it funny to think how we so often get caught up in life’s expectations and desires of material success and stability? We base our lives upon this false reality that we deserve good things in life, just because we are “good people”. However, this is not the way life really is at all.

The reality of life is that we all deserve justice – every single person in the world – and that justice is death. That’s right, death because of our sin nature. Therefore, the fact that we are not dead right now should cause us to ask some very important questions, like “why?” and “what for?” In answering these, we will find that the true reality, is that God’s love and forgiveness has changed our destiny; instead of justice, we get what we don’t deserve: life.

This doesn’t even make sense when we realize that we have never done anything to deserve it. We all deserve to die without any chance of redemption, yet the very fact that God gives believers not only temporary life, but ETERNAL life that is received through his very SPIRIT, is unbelievable!

Therefore, all false perceptions of our “goodness”, and “deservedness of a good life”, should be erased. For in reality, we only deserve death, but Jesus has chosen to given us His life – and this is MORE than enough to reward us! So why then, do we STILL think we deserve more?! This weird sense of entitlement to possessions is totally false and misleading, because we really deserve nothing in this world. We should be totally overwhelmed with receiving free love and life from God, and then expect nothing more. If we really live this way then perhaps we won’t always be expecting things from God, and then blame him if we don’t receive them!

We need to stop having this attitude of entitlement to money, relationships, success, health, careers, etc. and start recognizing the reward that we DO have is more than enough to satisfy us! God’s life is over and above anything we can imagine, and we don’t even deserve to receive it! Therefore, this should take away any false sense of privilege that we so arrogantly assume sometimes, and instead, cause us to live with a humble heart of thankfulness, for the unmerited gift of God’s LIFE that will far outweigh anything else we could desire.

            It amazes me that it was the fault of humans in the first place that they are sinners and yet the Lord still wants to give them a chance to be cleaned up from the mess sin has made of them.  On top of that he doesn’t make someone else to take care of the problem, he makes it personal, so personal that only by the great sacrifice of his son dying on the cross can these sinful people be clean again. The Lord should not have had to play any part in cleaning up the sins of his people that they got themselves into, but he cared that much, and that is the message that really stuck out to me from the book of Zechariah.  While the main theme of the book is that the Lord is calling his people, the now remnant, back to himself, he also alludes to what his son will do for them on the cross, which drew my attention to this truth that the Lord cares for us way more than he should!

We truly are so undeserving of God’s love and yet he continues to pour it out on me.  Thinking of this truth lead me to another thought, if I am to be like God, I should pour my love out on the undeserving as well.  It is easy to do nice things for people that are deserving of it, but for someone that has wronged me or someone I love, it never crosses my mind to return kindness to them instead of doing to them as they did to me.  But in acting in this kind of love, I am able to really demonstrate God’s love to another and that is what we are purposed for here on earth anyway, right?

Hardship and “closed doors” are never an excuse not to follow and obey God. All too often I get caught in the trap of believing that I am only to pursue those opportunities and people who are brought to my attention and are easy to pursue. In Israelite history, this is not the case. When the Israelites returned to Israel after being in exile for 70 years, they were commanded by God to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed. They started out doing well, but when things got hard and it was no longer easy or what they expected, they began to justify why God wouldn’t want them to do that, and they quit building the temple.
When looking at experiences in my own life, I sometimes equate God’s calling or will with what is easy. Surely, if he wanted me to do something, he would make it clear to me and “open the doors”. With the Israelites, this was not the case. It seems we need to hold loosely to our expectations and be willing to endure in our obedience to God, especially when things get hard. God has not promised us an easy life, or easy callings. He promises to be with us in them. Had Paul quit spreading the gospel because there were too many “closed doors”, who knows how the church would be affected today?
In our own lives, we must continue to do good, live godly, and follow God’s lead, even when it is hard and he doesn’t seem to make it easy. Perhaps part of our growth process is endurance, and perhaps we are to push through and make a way and not just expect things to come to us. Perhaps the “open doors” come when we create them. Let us not let unmet expectations and obstacles get in our way of obeying God.

      The book of Zechariah taught me many things about God’s character and love for the world, as well as the sinful nature of mankind and how that had to be dealt with before we could have right relationship with God. Throughout the book, Zechariah kept emphasizing that sin was the real enemy of the Jews in Jerusalem, and not the Babylonians. Therefore this showed them that it was not their outward sins that separated them from God, but their very sin nature.

This applies to us today too, because every single person in this world is still born with a sinful nature. Thus, there is no such thing as “a worse sinner”; in other words, murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, adulterers, etc. are no worse sinners than cheaters, gossipers, etc. This is because our outward sins are not what God looks at and judges our righteousness by. Instead, it is our very sin nature that we inherit at BIRTH that separates us from the righteousness of God, and this is what God condemns. True, our actions stem from that very sinful nature, but God doesn’t judge a person’s righteousness based upon the outward actions.

Therefore, we are doomed from birth to be judged and condemned as an enemy of God, just because of our very spirit that is wicked. Whichever way we live will not matter; whether we are the worst sinner in the world or a good person our whole lives, we still deserve the same punishment, simply because of our sin nature that all humans equally possess.

            Therefore, the only thing that God accepts as atonement for our sin nature is to get rid of it completely. This is where the death of Jesus came in; he atoned for our sins and God took out his entire rage, wrath, and hatred upon his body.

 God himself. Hated Jesus.  Because of our sin nature.

This shows such a justice for sin, yet unbelievable love for us, at the same time! Why would Jesus want to step into our place, and receive the fury of God for sin? Because He loved us. This is such a mystery to me, but I want to know Him better because of it.

In the meantime it is so good to remind myself that all people are equally sinners, and it is up to them to receive the atonement of Jesus for salvation, and not try to change their sins outwardly. For nothing will be accepted by God, except the atonement of Jesus, by killing our sin nature and giving us his own instead. Therefore, THIS is the only means of salvation, no matter how good or bad a person lives their life. 

            Why do we do the things we do? I eat because I am hungry, I sleep because I am tired, and I drink coffee because I want energy.  Why then do we do the things we do for the Lord? We pray because we want to or because we have to? What about reading the Bible or going to church, are these done out of a desire to know the Lord and to cherish him or because it will keep us from judgment? As I was studying the book of Nehemiah I noticed something, the people of Israel who had just returned to the land from exile desired to do things for the Lord because they loved him and wanted to give back.  Ezra had just brought the law to the people and was reading it over and the people realized just how sinful they had been and were remorseful but also they were encouraged to be faithful their second time around for all the faithfulness the Lord had shown them.

            This just made me think of the mentality of Christians today.  I would not be surprised to find that many Christians that go to church every Sunday do so because they feel like they have to or they will not make it into heaven. What about those who come on holidays just to pay their dues?  The problem with this picture is that people are doing these things because of obligation but not out of a desire to grow in the Lord. The Lord does not want the empty worship of his people, he wants their hearts and therefore we should do things in response to this principle and not because we don’t want to be punished.

            If more people can learn to do things out of love and not obligation, doing things for others may just come more naturally. And when that happens, others will be able to truly see what it looks like when someone reflects Christ in their life!

Making decisions is such a hard thing for me as I have found that not only am I terribly indecisive, but I also have an adventurous spirit and I tend to want to do any and everything I possibly can to “try it out.”  The problem is that while I am adventurous I am also a planner, so I can plan these adventurous things, trusting that they will work out and when they fall through I fall apart.  As I was reading the book of Ezra I couldn’t help but notice Ezra’s trust in the Lord as he chose to fast and pray to the Lord safety on his way back to the land of Judah instead of asking the King Artaxerxes for some soldiers and cavalry to protect him. For Ezra he did not plan his next move out in every detail and sort through different options-trusting it would work out, he just went straight to the Lord and said I am trusting you and your plan for me in this circumstance.  This of course made me think of several things: 1) what a bold step in faith that was for Ezra to really trust the Lord to protect him instead of having the backup from the king, 2) what a bold statement that makes to King Artaxerxes about this God that Ezra followed-that Ezra trusted him to be powerful enough to protect him from harm more than a physical soldiers’ protection, 3) having trust in the Lord like this could be quite a witness to non believers. I know for myself I have been having a hard time figuring out what to do next year and it is especially hard for me to tell non believers “I am just trusting in the Lord with my plans” but maybe I have been looking at it wrong.  Maybe instead of it being a bad thing it could turn into a great testament to those people to see that I trust enough in God to take care of these needs. I don’t have to worry about which decision to make or how to plan it out; I just have to worry about trusting the Lord will be there for me along the way. 

           One of the things that Nehemiah does when he moves to Jerusalem and rebuilds the wall, is to have the law of God read to the people. He instructs Ezra, the scribe, to read it and then explain it to the Levites, so that they in turn, can explain it to the people with interpretation. This shows that the law of God was not just automatically known or understood by the people of God. Instead, they had to read, discuss, and interpret the law, and then apply it to their lives.

            This is still true for us today; it is so important to be able to discuss the Bible with other believers around us, because it will challenge us to confront areas in our lives we may never have thought about, and then help us understand God’s word in a new way. Throughout my SBS I think one of the most important things for me that has helped my learning, has been to verbally process what I am learning, with other people. Not only has this brought up things that have challenged me, and made me seek out answers, but also it has really helped me to grow in my understanding of God’s word, and how I should interpret it. This in turn, has changed the way I live my life!

Isn’t it so wonderful that God has given us his word! I love the fact that he has not left us without encouragement, instruction, and hope; he has given us his word so that we can continually hear his voice and learn more about His character. Thus, when we are able to discuss this with other people, we will be even more encouraged and challenged to know this God who is so much greater and more awesome than anyone will ever know!

            Therefore, be encouraged to seek out God’s character from His word, and then discuss this with other people! We need to challenge and encourage growth in each other, so that we will not remain in a state of spiritual apathy, but will continually be growing and learning more about God, as He desires us to!

           In the book of Ezra, the aforementioned is very concerned with teaching the law of God to the returning exiles coming from Babylon to Judah. He is insistent that they follow every detail of the law of God, and instructs them to be holy, because God Himself is holy. This shows the zealousness of Ezra’s heart; he wasn’t just trying to please God, but he knew that because God was worthy everyone should know how to love and obey Him.

            This should be how we live our lives today. Most of the time, it is so easy to slip into this mindset of acting like whoever we are around; if we are around Christians, we act like Christians, if we are around people who don’t love God, we casually don’t bring up anything about God at all. Most of the time, we don’t even realize we are doing this.

            I think Ezra gives us such a good example of the way we should be living our lives as Christians. For one thing, we shouldn’t try to mold our lives according to the way others’ live around us. Instead, we should mold our lives around God’s law – not because we are religious, but because we simply love God! For another thing, we shouldn’t be afraid to share our love for God’s word with anyone and everyone around us! This doesn’t mean going door to door necessarily; but it does mean that we shouldn’t hide our love for God inside us, if we are around people who don’t share that same love. Instead, we should exude love for God and his law, just because we naturally love God, not because we are forcing our views on others, or trying to “witness” or “convert” somebody. I think most of the world would be shocked if they saw a Christian truly just in love with God, and not afraid to live this way!

            Most of the time it seems that I fall into the opposite category, of being afraid to display my love for God all the time, no matter whom I am around. But in reality, this is ridiculous, because if you love someone, you will love them all the time, no matter whom you are around! Therefore, I for one, would like to live my life loving God and being passionate about his law all the time, around everyone, just because I love God and want to show Him this love all the time; not because I am trying to witness or convert, but simply as a means of loving God. I think this is what Ezra’s life was really like, and it is such a good example of what ours, as Christians should be as well. 

Esther demonstrated real faith in God by deciding to trust in God no matter what happened in her life. When she went to the king uninvited, she didn’t know if God would save her life, but she didn’t let that stop her faith in God. Rather, she believed that if God wanted to save her then He would, but if he didn’t, that was for her good as well. Whether she was blessed or put to death, she decided that she must have faith, regardless of what would happen to her.

            This is so encouraging and inspiring to me! Today, so many people in Christian culture preach that faith means believing that God will bless you. However, if that blessing never comes, these people think their faith is weak!

        Esther demonstrates that God can decide to either bless, or not bless, a person’s faith; but that faith should not be dependent upon the blessing. Faith should just come from a deep trust that God works for our good, no matter WHAT the outcome is! If we are never blessed in our physical life, will we still have faith that God is good and loves us? Most people won’t.

            This is a good challenge for me: have faith in God despite physical outcomes. To realize that faith in God is not based in answers and blessings from him, but rather, in a continual knowledge of the truth that He is good no matter what He may or may not give us!