EMMAUS SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL STUDIES

This book has a lot of difficult things in it that ultimately reflect the difficulty of understanding a lot of how life works. It is so applicable today for people searching for the meaning of life. People throughout time have searched for meaning to life. It doesn’t always make sense and it doesn’t seem fair that people can work hard for something and never get anything from it or people get something that they didn’t even work for. People search high and low to find what fulfills this emptiness in their soul. People try and put value in what they do, in what they have, in who they are etc but things never seem to completely make sense when they begin to think about it all. Everyone will die someday. What is the point in working so hard in this world? Ultimately, people try to understand life as if they were God. Only God can understand the non-understandable. We can’t seem to let go of the questions that don’t have understandable answers. It is great to ask these questions because they challenge you to see who God is and the ultimate purpose in life is to know God. We can say that the reason we live is to tell others about God and to love etc but what are those things if we don’t even know God? Our main purpose and source in life is knowing God and knowing that we don’t understand everything but he does and he is so good. This is what I rest assured of. There have been moments during this study that I get bogged down by not being able to understand things but those things are not even what I am concerned about anymore. Like being able to understand the trinity or how free will and God’s will works at the same time. I have been able to let go of them and say that God holds things together whether I understand it or not. I live in a corrupt world that has confused my mind and caused misunderstanding of who God is. I have a peace about my non-understanding questions even though I don’t even have an answer. I suppose because the answer is: God knows and relief comes in knowing God.

Solomon writes Ecclesiastes near the end of his life as he looks over what failures and successes he has had, and boy did he have many of both. He approaches the main point of the book which is to find the meaning of life, by looking at many different things that he sought for meaning. Of those are wisdom, wealth, foolish pleasure and other things, all of which in and of themselves are meaningless. The beauty of the book is that throughout this discourse are nuggets of truth that a believer can look at and see as the true purpose in life. Even the search for purpose confirms to the believer that they have eternity stamped on their hearts by something greater than themselves.

I was challenged by this book, in the area of the words that come out of my mouth. Solomon discusses how the wise man does not even think bad thoughts about the king and the Lord has really laid it on my heart lately to rethink the way I interact with people. I want to be a person who people trust and not a gossip and also someone who doesn’t run their mouth just for the sake of being heard. I realize more and more this comes as my identity becomes more solid in the gospel as I realize that what attracted people to Jesus was not his glamorous clothes, or humor or, stylish beard, but it was his perfection which was his life.  I want to be attractive in this way. I want to live a life that draws people to me only for the sake of seeing Christ at work in me.

What was so cool about this was to see a man who had everything human beings crave and value as being the ultimate goal of life. He was a king, he was beyond wealthy, he had hundreds of servants and women. He was living the life we all see as perfect. But as he begin to look back over his life and his possessions he described that it was all vanity and chasing the wind. It was meaningless. Like a smoke that would vaguely be here today and then gone tomorrow. The conclusion is that nothing lasts forever. So what is the meaning of life? To fear God is the meaning of life. To worship him with our lives and to live the life he has called us to live. God gives meaning to life and he is the source of life.

This was really cool to think about and meditate on. That all this earth has to offer is meaningless. That’s crazy to really think about because it is so different than the message that we hear all around us. What the world sees as contentment and peace is doing whatever you have to do to make yourself happy. Get more stuff, work more hours, buy more cars, get more money. But that is the beauty of the message of Ecclesiastes. That there is something better than what this world has to offer. God is better! He is the ultimate and there can only be peace and contentment in him!

I am so excited to know the meaning of life. That it is obedience. That it is obedience to the Source of wisdom. That God loves me so much He has found meaning in me as His creation. I am thrilled to continue the rest of my days in intimate relationship with the God who knows the very deep things of His creation. I think a fear of the Lord is healthy. I will change my life and seeking nothing that I think brings happiness. I will seek the Source of wisdom and He will add all things He deems necessary in my life. 
              I can change by re-centering my focus. It is always on my self. But I can choose to stop and Lord at the work of Christ for me. Look up off and away to the giver of life abundantly and eternal life. I will change my not finding my happiness in the male gender, the possession I have, or the number of people who like me. I will be confessional with God and have a repent heart when I forget and try and seek things of this world. I will keep His commandments and watch what I say to other people. And think about them and consider if the Source of wisdom would have me take that avenue.

At first glance Ecclesiastes seems to be a depressing book that speaks about the meaningless of life. But in reality it is a book about the true meaning of life, which is to fear God and keep his commandments. Life really is meaningless without God, all the work, pleasure, wisdom, words are void and without cause without the source of life being from God and not ourselves.
I am glad to realize that a lot of Ecclesiastes is not straight truth. Solomon says a lot of things before the book concludes with the source of everything with meaning is God.
I am learning that my life as a woman has meaning. Sometimes it is hard for me to really respect myself as a woman and think that God loves me just as I am and actually created me with the personality that I have. So I am grateful that I am fortunate enough to know God and have meaning in my life.
Gracias a Dios!

this book really gives insight to really what God wants to give us when we are patient and truly wait for the right one. Its SO much better that way! When do we finally give up ourselves to God, trust him that he knows his creation better than we do. I think we have taken what is beautiful and intimate and traded it for nasty, non meaningful mess. a man and women united before God should be amazing, safe, affirming, loving, physical(sexual), and all the things mentioned in this book. There is no shame in it. Our culture has made into something shameful, but this is truth and better. One of my favorite songs helps portray this love in a sense, i don’t think in it’s full intensity but to love a person through everything the world throws at them, that the oath taken was forever…stand strong with your lover. Look at what God wants/has given us! He is a God that wants these things for us and we need to not push the button on this, allow it work in its own time…

here is the song:   you  have my heart
And we’ll never be worlds apart
May be in magazines
But you’ll still be my star
Baby cause in the dark
You can’t see shiny cars
And that’s when you need me there
With you I’ll always share
Because…

These fancy things, will never come in between
You’re part of my entity, here for Infinity
When the war has took it’s part
When the world has dealt it’s cards
If the hand is hard, together we’ll mend your heart
Because…

[Chorus]
When the sun shines, we’ll shine together
Told you I’ll be here forever
Said I’ll always be a friend
Took an oath I’ma stick it out till the end
Now that it’s raining more than ever
Know that we’ll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella
You can stand under my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella

You can run into my arms
It’s okay don’t be alarmed
Come into me
There’s no distance in between our love
So go on and let the rain pour
I’ll be all you need and more
Because…

It’s raining
Ooh baby it’s raining
Baby come into me
Come into me
It’s raining
Oh baby it’s raining

Song of Songs is a beauiful book of love God intended for humanity. God created us as sexual beings and this is meant to be used exclusively between a male and female in love. Some could read this book and think it is dirty and inapproprate to be put in the Bible but in reality, we are dirty and inappropriate. This book is not “dirty” but our world has corrupted sex so much that we read it with “dirty” eyes. This book is the pure example of how love is meant to be. We are made to be attracted to someone and we are made to be in love with someone. A lot of people think God is trying to take away a person’s natural way of having sex by making people wait until being married but this is not how God is. We need to see God as someone who created us with a purpose in mind of how we have sex and when it is done the way we were created for, it is the best experience. In reality, those who don’t find it necissary to “wait until marriage” really miss out on a wonderful experience God intended for humans to have. We have abused this wonderful gift God has given to experience sex the way it is meant to be experienced and people are really lacking something. It truly is worth being “pure” until marriage because sex in marriage is pure and how it is supposed to be, dispite what the world tells us. Why would you want to waste such a wonderful thing God has given you?

The authors of Song of Solomon are likely two lovers that are madly in love with each other. The book is quite graphic and descript concerning this love relationship, which is appropriate considering the books main theme was to celebrate the marriage relationship. The author depicts the interchange between the man and woman lovers and the involvement of friends in their relationship. The beauty of the poetic piece is that it give readers a glimpse of what a healthy sex relationship looks like. The understanding is that God created sex, he made male and female to interact this way within the confines of marriage. And it was good.  

Personally for me I looked at the application point of rejoicing in the wife of my youth and not looking to turn her in for a new model. I am not married, but I have grown up in a culture that supports options and disdains commitment.

The discussion that the Lindsey had in class concerning the way our minds work really convicted me. The understanding she established is that the brain function that makes a connection for kicking a ball is the same function that establishes connections in how we approach beauty and sex. I know this to be so true, we are reinforced daily by images on the television that tell us as guys what is attractive in a woman, and it shows girls what the perfect guy is supposed to look like. I have never realized that feeding my mind this garbage would hinder my marriage someday. I personally have been challenged two weeks in a row to screen what I watch. This is something I have always been opposed to because it makes me seem “legalistic.” Well at what expense am I going to maintain that freedom.

I want to commit to purity. I want to have a pure conscience and heart to offer my husband. I will choose to examine and moderate the things I do, say, watch, and wear. I want to be modest in my behavior, manner, and appearance. I will choose to be appropriate to no cause my brother to stumble. I want to have friends who hold me accountable to not having sex before marriage. I am so excited for marriage, to see the beautiful gift God wants to give me through a love relationship filled with intimacy, passion, friendship, affirmation, and protection.

I can carry out these changes by choosing what I surround myself with better. Choosing what I talk about to be edifying to others and myself. I am so excited for a marriage relationship that is exclusive and safe so in the mean time I will choose for my thought life to be wrangled. I will not stir or awaken love until it is ready by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through me. I love the idea of a no baggage marriage so I will commit to making that my side of the story. I am so thankful God’s redeeming love that can wash both my future husband and I white as snow. I will ask my friends to look out for me and me for them. I want to be a locked garden and bring contentment and rest into my marriage.

The main idea of the book is exclusive love and how beautiful it can be. Passion and sex find a safe haven in the parameters of marriage. This exclusive relationship is the safe place for all that goes with love to be expressed.
My application point was to stay celibate until married.

Job was all about realizing that God is the most important thing. He is in control, you may not understand what he is doing, but he always has your best interest at heart. Sometimes suffering just brings you more close to him, which is all he really wants.

In the midst of his suffering, Job sought understanding and God provided it by showing Himself to Job. He gave Job a deeper revelation of who He is – that he is the sovereign creator who is responsible for all things and all life, who is above all things. and beyond all things, and the source of all wisdom. Job does not need all the answers. He just needs to know that God is good and righteous and just and in control, and to take comfort in that. This means that ultimately life is about knowing God. Everything else is secondary. One’s job, home, retirement, etc., are all meaningless without the presence and knowledge of God in one’s life. To love him and to serve him unreservedly must become our priority, even at the cost of these other things. Even at the cost of everything. Even if everyone of these other things were taken from us, our relationship with God is the one thing that cannot be taken from us. It is eternal. Therefore it must take precedence in over every earthly, temporal thing. It is the only thing that has any real significance beyond the scope of this finite life – this brief sojourn in frail clay bodies that will soon return to dust.

Job is a great book dealing with finding wisdom in time of suffering. This was written so long ago yet humanity still deals with the same issues of asking why. Why does God allow suffering if he is so good? Do we really deserve an answer to this? Everyone deserves death ultimately because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The brilliance of God in this book is that he doesn’t have to answer Job as to why he is suffering but he does by blowing him away with himself. Job wanted to understand why this was happening when he really needed to see that God is in control. He doesn’t need to understand but only needs to understand that God is good and understands all. True wisdom is seeing God as ultimate source of life. Job was so conflicted that he forgot who God is, wanting to argue his case to him to maybe change his mind. His friends give him poor advice thinking they are giving him wisdom when they are all put in their place to see God as ultimate wisdom. It is great how Satan thought Job only worshipped God because of the blessings he gives him with possessions and such and God totally proves Satan wrong because Job never curses God. He does get lost in his own humanisitc way of thinking but he never cursed God. When God speaks, humanistic reasoning is silenced because it is foolishness compared to the true wisdom of God who is the source of all life.

Job was really good. My application was really neat and fun to go through. I wrote about a hardship in my life. I wrote about the purpose of the situation in my life, the redemptve qualities in it, things I learned about God I would have not otherwise known, and I also wrote about things i still do not understand but am going to trust the Soveriegn God with. Job’s story was so much like this. He had to find purpose in losing everything, and redemption in all of the suffering. Job had to endure things he will never understand and as an upright and blameless man Job got to experience God in a way he never would have otherwise through the time of testing and trial he experienced. Faith is such a beautiful thing. Probably the coolest thing was when God came on the scene and all utterence of human reasoning stopped. Since God is the ultimate He wants to JOb to live a life spent getting to know HIm on a deeper level. God wants Job to have a deep revelation of Him. God wants to give Job wisdom that can only be found in spending time with the Creator. I am so excited to live my life in the scriptures of God and to hold onto God not for the possessions He has given me but for genuine love and affection for what He has done for me. God is worth it. He is worth the suffering and the testing. I am glad Satan knows God’s people do not only serve Him for what he gives them but simply because of who he is.

The story of Job is one that is so sweet yet so true to me. God is so patient with us, he wants us to get it, to get him. To know that he is above all and over all. I think so many times i am right where Job is, wether i know it or not. Job wanted answers to why things were happening to him. I love Eilhu! How often do i need a friend like him, not to comfort me but to tell me, remind me where my comfort is…Jesus! I think i’m most challenged to be a friend like Eilhu. We don’t need eachother but we need God. sometimes we get messed up in our mess and loose sight of the greater. I’m thankful that in the end God wins, God forgives those who repent. He loves us, he doesn’t want us to not be with him. Our invitation is sent, now we accept and live our lives trusting that he is bigger than what we see.

I think on a simple scale this song says what Job knew to be true but failed to really beileve throughout his suffering:

 ”When all around is fading, nothing seems to last. When each day is filled with sorrow, still i know with all myheart. He’s got the whole world in his hands, i fear no evil for you are with me, strong to deliver, mighty to save! He’s got the whole world in his hands. when i walk through fire, i will not be burned, when the waves come crashing around me, still i know…He’s got the whole world in his hands! Every living thing…He’s got the whole world in his hands!” ~Matt Redman

This is our God! Praise the one! He is all these things and he loves us enough. He is trustworthy and he is OUR KING!