Hello
everyone! I have been in Youth With a Mission LA for 3 weeks
now doing a nine month Chronological School of Biblical Studies (CSBS) and so far have successfully completed both Genesis and Exodus (homework
and all). First I’ll explain a little
about how the study process works. The
first step is to read the designated book non-stop (except for two short
breaks) out loud (usually with a group).
We have several days of teaching, but the majority of our time is spent
completing the homework assignment for the book. Without going into too much detail, the first
part of the assignment is to do extensive research on the author, intended
reader, characters in the book, and cultural/historical background of
each.
We then complete
charts for (nearly) every chapter in the book for which we make at least ten
observations using a provided list of observation labels, and from those
observations make at least two interpretations about what the passage meant to
the original reader, characters, or God’s redemptive plan. From those interpretations we form “Timeless
Truths” which can be applied in any situation for any person at any time. The idea is Observe, Interpret, and Apply to
our lives.
This method is
great because it forces me to look at the Bible first through the eyes of the
people who were intended to read it, and then I can better gauge what the intended
message is for me in my culture and apply it practically to my life.
There are many
things I could talk about as God is revealing Himself in so many ways, but I
want to focus on some themes I have come upon strongly in Genesis and
Exodus. The first one is identity. I was surprised at how many times God
repeated throughout Genesis that He made people in His “Own image” and
“likeness.” When He created Adam and
Eve, He stated their purpose right off:
“27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of
God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 And God
blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the
earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Gen 1:27-29 ESV
There are three
things God says He created people for: To reflect His likeness, to have
authority over the earth, and to have relationship. This relational aspect has three parts as
well; humans were created to have relationship with nature, God, and other
humans. However, Genesis makes it very
clear that the source of all this purpose is God Himself, and trying to find
purpose in anything else results in destruction of relationship and peace. The area that God focused on with me was
acceptance, which is why reading that I am made in His image with His likeness
was so meaningful to me. I have striven
for human approval and acceptance for so much of my life and God has shown me
that acceptance only comes from Him, but it’s really hard to take a concept and
make it a belief sometimes. Every time I
read the words “created in His image,” I could hear God speaking acceptance
over me, saying “You’re ok, when I made you I said you were ‘good,’ that means
that you are whole and perfect in my sight, and I made you just like me.” I was impacted by this, meditating on this
truth and remembering that my purpose comes from God, nothing else. I have copied my application that I wrote for
my homework below which gives a little more insight into this:
Application based on Genesis
20:2
Timeless Truth:
Building faith is a process; it takes
failure and struggle, but God is right there the whole time.
Understanding
the necessity of obedience has been something God has told me of in the past,
and I get it for the most part. God gave
us a will so that we could choose Him, so inevitably He wants us to
choose Him. However, the perfectionistic
voices in my head warp obedience from being all about God to being all about
me; I obey because I need to do it right, not because of who God
is. In getting to know Abraham, I was awed
by how many times he messed up, I mean really messed up. One time lying about your wife being your
sister and, essentially, prostituting her so that you could be safe is bad
enough, but he does it twice, without a second thought! God tells him multiple times not to be
afraid, and is constantly reminding him of the great promises that He
gave and that He would fulfill, yet Abraham is constantly trying to do
things his own way and repeatedly acts out of fear. And yet, despite all of these things that Abraham
did clearly counter to what God was telling him, God calls him righteous. Why?
Because, “He believed God.” Was
he believing that God would take care of him in Egypt when he lied the first
time about his wife, or in Gerar when he lied the second time? No, but he believed God. Was he acting out of faith when he
impregnated Hagar, going along with the cultural answer for barrenness instead
of God’s answer? No, but he believed
God.
Here’s the thing
that I struggle with: It’s ok to make mistakes.
But aren’t we supposed to obey God?
Yes, and the way we get to obedience is often through failing and
falling on our faces every day. For me,
I want to open my heart up to God to show me all pride in my heart that says
that I must get it perfect every time (which, by the way, makes it all about
me) and start focusing more on God’s real plan for my life, and that is to be
in perfect, complete, restful, beautiful relationship with Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, like He lays out in Genesis.
Whenever I feel the shame and fear try to come in about how I didn’t get
something right, I want to start turning my eyes off of myself and look at God,
because He’s the most encouraging person I know.
Aubrey Simons
This is one
thing God has been laying strongly on my heart, especially as we are plunging
into Leviticus which reveals God’s holiness: I am created to be like God, and
nothing I do or say will change that.
I am so thankful
for you, all my wonderful friends and family, and I would ask that you would
pray when God lays it on your heart for my mind and emotions to be open to
whatever God has for me, and that my heart would be soft towards Him. It can be tempting to get stressed or caught
up in the work because there is so much of it, but God is teaching me to focus
on Him for every chart and not think about how much time I have left or when I
can get everything done, but it definitely takes fighting for that peace. Also I would love prayer for my fellow
students as we all go on this journey together, for one of them English is her
second language and, although she’s doing beautifully, it is a challenge to
finish things on time because she doesn’t always understand it right away. Please pray protection over our whole school
that nothing would get in the way of us capturing God’s heart during this time.
Love to you all!
Aubrey
