SBS in Taiwan - 4th month update

It was my birthday on the 24th of July!!! J

And I woke up that morning with this thought that it has been 27 years of enjoying the unmerited favor of God. I look into my life and there is nothing I can boast of except Jesus and His love for me. I try my best to wrap up my mind around His love and understand but my finite mind just cannot fathom. I guess the best I can do is to just experience it and humbly know Him as He reveals Himself.

The last month has been so far the most difficult one for me. We began the 2^nd quarter with the Gospel of John, continued with the 3 epistles of John and then finished the New Testament with the book of Revelation. And then we kick-started the study of the Old Testament with Genesis. So we started with the gospel narrative, went on to epistles, then to apocalyptic literature and then came back to historical narrative. So I guess it has been hard just trying to discipline my mind to deal with each literature style differently. But I have seen the grace of God and His power just beyond measure in my weaknesses. And I did enjoy each of the book and the immense freedom it brought into my life. I still remember the conviction that God brought as I was charting the writings of apostle John. “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him.” I had to question myself whether I was really comfortable with LOVE, because I was convicted that, “if I am not comfortable with LOVE, then I am not really comfortable with GOD and if I am not comfortable with GOD, then I am not really comfortable with LOVE”. Then as I finished up with Revelation I realized that I have more questions than answers. But what a freedom I had while charting. I always grew up with this dread about the book of Revelation and I honestly don’t remember studying it prior to this. But then the book taught that it was intended for comfort and encouragement to the original readers and so should it be to me. Any purpose of studying the book that is contrary to that of God’s or the author’s should be discerned. And then finally came Genesis – a book that I was always waiting to study and just with the 1^st book in Old Testament, I have seen the Sovereignty, grace and holiness of God like never before. So I am excited about the Old Testament and the joy of spending the rest of the 5 months studying it.

I do want to thank you for praying for me in this journey of mine with the Lord and with His word. Keep praying for more of His grace and strength as I get into the big books of the Old Testament and that I would be humble enough to hear Him as He speaks to me.