I said that I would post about what the older boys and I have been studying in God's word, so I thought that I would take this time to give an overview of the last couple of months. We began a study a while back on the book of Job. I love the book of Job. I think every time I read it, God uses it differently to speak to me. I remember reading it through and realizing that sometimes God will do things that I don't understand, but I can still trust Him. And on another occasion, I read it and saw that I was much like Job's three friends--always quick to speak into a situation, without really trying to understand what the person was truly struggling with or what God might be doing in their life--speaking without seeking what God might have me say. I read it again recently, which is why I wanted to go through it with the boys, and this time, God showed me the nature of trials and tribulations. When I finished reading Job, I randomly went to James. As I began to read James, I thought, "Man, it is if James just read Job and then wrote this!" As it turns out, in chapter five of James, he mentions "the perseverance of Job." So the older boys and I went through Job, chapter by chapter, and it took a very long time, but every chapter had something really great in it. I am going to be honest, we studied through Job for close to three months, five days a week, thirty-forty minutes a day. In the end, we learned that God has a purpose for our suffering and trials. We moved to James recently, and have studied part of the first chapter, and we have found that God uses trials in our lives to perfect us. I told the boys that the word for trial is like testing, but not like the pass/fail tests they face at school, but rather like the process of testing pure gold. When gold is found in the rock, it is filthy and has dirt in it and rocks in it. To get all of that out, it is placed in a pot, and placed in extreme heat. The fire melts the gold, and the gold being the densest goes to the bottom. Everything else, all the imperfection and dirt, floats to the top, and it is scraped off, leaving only the pure gold left. We can view our trials in this way. God takes us, completely sinful and full of impurity, and He places us over the fire to get all of it out. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in the Word and tells us of the sin in our lives, and we daily eradicate it, by the grace of God. We also talked about how muscles will not grow, unless they are first put under stress. For us to be strong in our faith, we must put our faith to the limits. We must live through situations that are difficult and find that God is faithful. The purpose of trials in our lives is to test whether we have genuine faith and, if it be true that we have genuine faith, to make it strong. If God were to protect us from all hardship, we would never become stronger. He is preparing us for a purpose, and that preparing is done through the heat of trials. We discussed that there are two types of trials: the trials of difficult times and the trials of temptation. We find in chapter one, that temptation is not from God, but he allows it so that we may learn to control our desires and stand up to temptation. The other kind of trial comes from the fact that we are living in a broken, sinful world--that is in desperate need of Jesus to come back and make everything right. Because we live in a broken world, other's sinful choices effect us. We also have a broken planet, and tornadoes and hurricanes destroy property and lives. We find that God does not cause this to happen, but rather allows it to happen, so that we may grow in our faith. We know all too well that Christians are not protected from hardship. James tells us that we can have joy in the knowledge that we do not go through terrible times for no purpose, but God uses it to make our faith strong and prepare us for eternity. We also talked about how the poor should glory in the fact that they are worth much in Christ, and that the rich should glory in the fact that even though they had many things, God humbled their hearts to understand their need of a Savior. In both cases, we find our true fulfillment in Jesus. When reading James, I think that it is very beneficial to keep Job in mind. To link the Old Testament with the New is always helpful, and to truly understand what James is talking about, when he speaks of trials, we must look to the example of Job.
I will keep you periodically updated on what we have been discussing in our Bible studies.
Please continue to pray for me, as I seek to make disciples here in Phnom Penh. Please pray that I would speak the truth of God's word, and that I would not add my own opinions, but simply proclaim what the Word says and how it may be applied in our lives.
The names of the boys in my older boys Bible study, in case you would like to pray for them are:
Ratana
Seth
Savorn
Ta
Visoth
Chantee
These boys are growing into men of God quickly, and they need your prayer.
BecauseHeLives,
Micah.
