What is Valentine's Day

² This is what the Lord says:
Do not learn the way of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
although the nations are terrified by them,
³for the customs of the peoples are worthless.
Jeremiah 10:2-3 CSB

In the 5th century, a pope "converted" the Roman festival of Lupercalia [3] to the Feast of Purification, which became our modern Valentine's Day [2]

The massacre I remembered is from 1929; it has nothing to do with the origin of Valentine's Day, though I've definitely had people bring it up when the date is talked about.

Bible verses to reference

• Deuteronomy 14:2
• Revelation 18:4
• 2 Corinthians 6:17
• 2 Corinthians 7:1
• Romans 12:2
• 1 John 2:15-16
• Matthew 6:24
• 2 Corinthians 5:17

References

1. "St. Valentine's Day Massacre". History. February 5, 2020
2. "Valentine's Day". Encyclopædia Britannica. April 18, 2019
3. "Lupercalia". Encyclopædia Britannica. November 8, 2016

You Are Not Alone

Season 1 Episode S

Why did I come out of the womb
to see only struggle and sorrow,
to end my life in shame? Jeremiah 20:18 CSB

Did you know many of God's people experienced depression? I was reading Jeremiah this week and he said something that really stuck with me...mainly because many of us have said it before: "Why did I come out of the womb to see only struggle and sorrow?"

The LORD will Provide

Season 1 Episode R

¹²Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” ¹³Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.” Genesis 22:12-14 CSB

Just when I think there's no way out, God always provides a way. He's been doing that for His people since the very beginning, which is why one of His names is YHWH Jireh, the Lord will Provide. In this bonus episode, let's talk about why the name YHWH Jireh is so important.

References and Footnotes

"The Lord Will Provide:" Why Is God Called Jehovah Jireh in the Bible?". Bible Study Tools; visited September 2019

Note, the name YHWH is often pronounced Jehovah or Yahweh in English but the pronunciation of the name has been lost since the Israelites believed it was too sacred to speak.

Ask And You Shall Receive

Season 1 Episode Q

Therefore I tell you, everything you pray and ask for—believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Mark 11:24 CSB

My Testimony Tuesday was too long for an instagram video, so I decided to make it into a podcast episode. When I need God to straighten out my finances, He came through with a quickness. At the end of the day though, it's not just about God filling up my cup, it's about what I do with what He's giving me.

You Are What You Eat

It's an old saying, and often used in jest, but what we heat actually says alot about our spiritual walk.

Season 1 Episode O

⁴The riffraff among them had a strong craving for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶But now our appetite is gone; there’s nothing to look at but this manna!"Numbers 11:4-6 CSB

Photocredit: Unsplash/Andrea Tummons

How we deal with food says a lot about how we deal with our spiritual walk. In this episode, we're looking at Numbers 11:4-6 and how easy it is for the devil to tempt us away from God with something as simple as a meal.

Can you imagine eating something bland like oatmeal or grits, for days on end? Some times we have to give up the comforts of home to accomplish God's mission. How we handle giving up our favorite foods can indicate our willingness to turn away from sin. The Israelites thought it was better to be in bondage with great food, than free with a temporarily "bland" diet. When God is delivering you from a situation, what will you say?

Inspiration for the Episode

I went on a mission trip to Belize earlier this month[1] and after I'd paid all my money, I found out we weren't going to be having lunch—not like lunch isn't included so we have to pay our own way but like we won't be taking a break during that time so there will me no time for lunch. Y'all I was floored because I love lunch. Lunch is my favorite meal of the day. Not only do I just love food, but its a great break for resetting the day. If I had a rough morning, lunch is the time to reset for the afternoon. So, when I found out there wasn't going to be lunch, I had to have a deep conversation with God. I spent a lot of time mentally preparing for a week of no lunch. Once I got there, the very first night there was a mix up during dinner. Many people in the group got frustrated and while I don't want to go into detail about what was said, the situation very much reminded me of the how the Israelites behaved in Numbers 11. That is how we got to this episode.

What Happened in Numbers 11?

In Numbers 11:4-6, the Israelites are frustrated with their meal situation. God provided manna for them every day and this manna was sufficient for every need, but it wasn't the lavish feasts of Egypt. Although they were enslaved in Egypt, they had access to a variety of foods that they had grown used to. Now, they were free but only had manna.[2] They lamented this fact and actually wished to return to Egypt and bondage over the food!

How Does it Relate to Today?

The Bible doesn't tell us exactly what manna tastes like, but based on the description I think of it like oatmeal (or grits for my fellow southerners). Both oatmeal and grits are pretty bland by themselves, but can be really awesome if you add to them. Nonetheless, I can't imagine eating only oatmeal or only grits for days on end...

If you're like me, you are privileged to eat what you want when you want to eat it. Sure, there are times when I'm running late or something comes up and I have to eat late; or maybe I'm missing an ingredient and have to wait for a store run. However, ususally I am able to decide I want to eat, go to the fridge or pantry and find exactly what I want. In the times I don't have it, I may go get it. It's nothing for me to passover the vegetables in my freezer and go to the store because I suddenly had a craving for zucchini. Not everybody has that luxury There are people who don't know when they will get there next meal or what that meal will be.

Israel was in between the privilege of eating what they wanted whenever they wanted and not knowing if they would see food again. God gave them what they needed but not necessarily what they wanted. In this situation, they reacted the way many of us today would. For example, we know that certain foods are bad for us—fats and deep fried foods may give us high cholesterol and sugary things may give us diabetes—but it tastes good. We will often choose the deep fried oreo or a quick burger and fries over a kale salad. In other words, we would choose bondage to health problems over a healthy life style. In the same way, we choose bondage to sin over freedom in God.

In Belize we were being asked to eat what was prepared for us for one week. Just one week of discomfort. We're not talking about a 40 day no food fast or a 21 day Daniel fast or even a 10 day Daniel fast. Just 7 days... People were upset. If we can't handle that, how are we going to handle any other temptation Satan throws at us?

References and Footnotes

1. Mission Trip Episode: Miracles in Belize
2. As I edit these show notes 3 years later, I realized that this is very much like financial slavery as well. Many of us would not move to a place with less modern comforts for a cheaper cost of living so that we can reclaim our time; instead we give all our time to corporations to afford the comforts of modern life.

What's Your Purpose?

Many of us know we have a purpose, but most of us don't know what that purpose is. We've been taught so many different things about how to find our purpose--there are whole books on the subject. But sometimes it's all the other programming that has us confused. I may not know exactly what my purpose is, but I have a feeling I know what direction it's in.

Season 1 Episode M

For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 CSB

00:01:02	Hey guys welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. So at the beginning of the episode, I read Jeremiah 29:11; and y’all I never thought that was where one of these episodes was going to go, because it's such a popular verse. I mean it's hanging on the cube at my job. I've heard people say it all the time people, quote it to people to help them get through certain situations, and it's fairly self-explanatory. Like what is there to talk about? God has a purpose for you. But I realized, just today actually, I was on my way to lunch and I had one of those moments that I used to have when I was a lot younger. And basically you know, I was walking and I just kind of stopped walking, and I'm just like standing in the parking lot. And I just felt like standing there for a while like I didn't really have this great motivation to go forward or to go backwards. It's like a weird contentment in the moment. It's like “Oh, the sun's out. The the sky looks nice. I just want to stand here and just be here.” It's like a really weird feeling that I used to get ‘em all the time when I was a kid, when I would be running around outside—generally when I’d be going back and forth in my neighborhood. I would just stop and just stand there. I don't... I don't really know. Y'all, I’m weird, OK? I'm admitting that.
00:02:49	When I thought about it, of course, it took me back to when I was a kid. It also reminded me of something else, and that is, the things that make us go forward in life, the reasons that I would get up and go to school, because y’all, like most people I really did not like my school—my middle school and high school in particular, but a lot of the reasons that I got up and went to school or that I was excited to go to school had to do with the fact that I was looking forward to something. Sometimes I was looking forward to band, most of the time I was looking forward to band. But sometimes I was looking forward to a dance, or maybe I had a crush on somebody and I was looking forward to seeing that person. Or maybe I couldn't wait to hear how something went that one of my friends was going through, or I just want to go hang out with a friend, or something like that. And then of course, you know, like I said at the beginning of the show, I love food, so sometimes I was looking forward to what they were serving in the cafeteria—that was also a thing[1] but nonetheless there was something that was pulling me forward. That was a future hope, I guess. It was “Oh I can't wait for this to happen.”
00:04:11	And one of the things that I realized as I got older, is that there are less milestones, so to speak. You know, when you're really little you can't wait to be a teenager, you can't wait to get your license, you can't wait to be old enough to vote, to move out the house, to go to prom, to go to college, to vote—what? I already said vote. I don't know, just there's like a lot of firsts, right? You can't wait to get married. There's like a lot of things that you can't wait to do, but as you get older a lot of these things are done. You’ve already moved out; now you don't want to age. Like you don't want to get any older. You know, you done found the one. You’ve gotten married; you've had your kids. All you’re looking forward to is retiring, and then there's a point where you’re retired and you're just like “ain’t nothing left to happen except for to die,” which is depressing...
00:05:07	And so I was thinking about this. And I was thinking about The Purpose Driven Life.[2] My friends and I read The Purpose Driven Life a couple of months ago and I was thinking about how purpose and this kind of hope that propelled me when I was a kid are intertwined.
00:05:30	The Bible clearly tells us that God has a purpose for us—that's the whole point of Jeremiah 29[3], and we already know this. That's self-explanatory, and we hear this verse and it reminds us, and we feel great, but a lot of times we don't know what that purpose is—and it's a lot bigger than being excited about one event or two events, you know. It's a lot deeper than that and so I wanted to talk about finding our purpose.
00:05:59	When I went through The Purpose Driven Life series or the book with my friends, we did a book club. We talked about a lot of things, and you know, you can talk through it but I mean you can pray about it, but a lot of times we still get to the end and we're still like, “I don't really know what God wants me to do.” And sometimes that's—OK, all the time that's frustrating because you're kind of just trying things out. Like “Let me try this over here. Nope, that's not working.” Then you go try this over here. Nope that's not working, and so there's just a lot. A lot that goes into finding contentment. And being excited about life comes from having this purpose, and fulfilling that purpose. So it's really important for us to find the purpose.
00:07:08	When Derrell was on the show—I think this is... OK, y’all I'm sorry because as I told you the last episode it's a two-part episode. I can't really remember if this is already aired or not, but spoiler alert if it hasn't aired, he talks about how his pastor told him that if something bothered him that was his calling. I realize that there are things that we get really, really passionate about and then there are things we don't care about at all. And it's the things that make us really passionate that are tied to our purpose. How our purpose works into that again, yeah I'm going to I'm going to say the age-old you got to pray about it. But it's interesting because it's almost the exact opposite of what I was taught growing up.
00:08:04	My dad used to always tell me to play to my strengths. So when I got ready to go to college and I was looking for a major, the easy choice was that I would go into STEM because math was easy for me. It's true, I cake walked through my undergrad program. It didn't phase me. There was no stress. It was just like “Oh, yeah numbers.” But the reason math is easy,[4] is because it's numbers like what's there to argue about? It's just concrete. The reason I had so much trouble in my other classes—in my history classes, in my English classes—is because it's extremely subjective, and I was extremely passionate about my view of whatever was happening. Whatever twist on history the teachers were giving I was extremely passionate about getting it right. I was extremely passionate about my writing. Y’all, I feel away when people critique my writing. Even to this day, like you can tell me that I messed up the math problem and I'm like “Oh yeah, I messed that up. My bad.” If you tell me you don't like my one of my poems or something I’ve written, I feel that deep into my soul. Like it's a different kind of hurt and offense that goes on there. And that's because that is a passion.
00:09:33	And what I realized is that even if things come easy to you and you're able to do it, that might not be your purpose, because what what is going to keep you motivated is something that you're passionate about—something that grinds your gears. You might get mad—red hot, screaming, flipping tables mad about it, but that's because you care about it.
00:10:03	I read a book a couple of months ago (again) called Just Mercy[5]— highly recommend it to everybody it's called Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. It’s a wonderful book; be ready to cry—but in the book, it's a true story about Bryan Stevenson, the author, and about how he started out as a young attorney taking trials or taking cases of people who were wrongfully condemned, or who have been condemned beyond reason. Like the punishment was too excessive for the crime. And so he was taking on these cases, particularly for poor people and for minorities who have been victimized by the system. And the about of time and effort and hours that he was putting in for these cases because his heart was in it, because he loved it. It's just... Knowing that kind of passion is clearly what was making him get up everyday. Like he was he cared about what happened. Je cared about the outcome. That is what we all have to find in our path. What is it that we cannot sleep at night over?[6] Like how we get this resolved?
00:11:27	Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Diana Simumpande And as much as I am good at what I do, y’all I am not losing sleep over my job, not at the moment. But I do... I have had those moments with computers.[7] I have had those moments where I stay up all night because I just want to have the problem done, but really the things that make me stay up at night are usually the things that I write about on my blog. They're usually the things that I end up putting into a story, putting into a poem, talking. Y’all I talk to myself I feel bad my future husband I talk in my sleep sometimes. Sometimes I have whole rants; I should just record myself when I go to sleep, that might be interesting... Tangent. Sorry guys. I'm back. I'm back.
00:12:21	What I'm trying to say is, find what you're passionate about! Don’t let the fact that it's tiring push you away from it. I think that we all have a purpose and that purpose is not easy. It's something that will make you stay up at night. It's something is going to make you mad it's something that's going to make you say that you feel like you can't do it, you can't do it alone, you need help, because God created you to rely on Him to help you to accomplish whatever it is that He has for you to accomplish. So do not back away. Do not back down from the things that are hard that you feel passionate about. And that is something that I have to remind myself everyday.
00:13:10	So find your purpose; I'm still looking for mine. I'll let y'all know when I find it. Could just be me talking, but I don't think that's what it is. So find your purpose. Thank you for tuning in; subscribe, like, find me on Instagram. Y’all I never really say my name on this, I just realized that. This is Shiree, shiree.hughes on Instagram. Find me. See you guys next time. Bye

Footnotes and References

1. Thursdays were fried chicken day (back when I still ate chicken this was exciting)!
2. Rick Warren. The Purpose Driven Life. 1997
3. Well, that’s the point of Jeremiah 29:11, there’s a lot more to the chapter as a whole.
4. Easy for me, is what I mean here
5. Bryan Stevenson. Just Mercy. 2015
6. I promise it made sense when I thought it
7. I was really passionate about my dissertation. It was about using sensors to monitor food waste and help us waste less food

Who's Making Your Plans?

Do you seek approval of the world before you do what God has called you for? Sometimes we ask everybody *except* God to tell us who we are. Let's talk about it.

Season 1 Episode L

Woe to the rebellious children!
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They carry out a plan, but not mine;
they make an alliance,
but against my will,
piling sin on top of sin. Isaiah 30:1 CSB

00:01:08	Hey guys! Welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. Today I want to talk about Isaiah chapter 30:1. So, in this verse God is laying out what the children of Israelites have done wrong this time, and one of the things that he mentions is that they have made plans without Him—that's what the CSB says. The King James Version actually says "taken counsel, but not of [Him]," which means that they've gotten advice from somebody other than God.
00:01:47	When I first read this particular line, my initial reaction was to think of doing something other than what God told me to do. So kind of like Jonah was told to go to Nineveh, but he decided to do something else. He wasn't listening to God; he took somebody else's advice—his own advice, the devil's advice, it doesn't matter. He didn't take God's. But the more I thought about the verse, the more I realize that there is a deeper meaning to this. When we make plans, when we decide what we're going to do, what's cool, what's not cool, a lot of times there are certain people that have more influence over these decisions than other people. So for instance, your parents probably tell you that you're special or that you're beautiful or that you're handsome or whatever. Parents often tell their kids that they're great; they're your parents, they're supposed to tells you you're great, but that doesn't really have as much as meaning as someone else telling you that—your friends, your peers, your boss, whatever. It has a very different effect because you value their opinion differently—or more—than your parents'. And we can see this, like you could be madly in love with a particular person, and them not returning those feelings will make you feel a certain way, even though somebody else may be madly in love with you. But you don't like that person, and that doesn't comfort you. It doesn't make you feel like "Oh, I still have it, it's just something wrong with this person." You still feel upset that that person doesn't like you, because that person's opinion is quote-unquote more valid to you than this other person's.
00:03:53	When we put that idea into the context of verse 1 in Chapter 30 of Isaiah, I realize that we do this with God. A lot of times we think of the antichrist or you know, going against God as doing the opposite of what he wants us to do, but sometimes the world may be doing the right thing. It's very rare, but sometimes the world is promoting something good. But the reason we're doing it is not because God told us to do it, but because we value what the world thinks of us. So we may be doing community service because it looks good on a college application or because people in the world will value what we've done or they will think it's cool. We may be asking first if our peers will approve of this, and I don't just mean the secular world. I'm also talking about the people that go to your church. I'm talking about the people you associate with who may call themselves Christians. They may be Christians, they may not be Christians, it it doesn't really matter. I mean, sometimes I think definitely within Christianity, people are doing things because the pastor told them to do it, or because the pastor says that this is okay, and not because God said it was okay. And even though it's something that God may want you to do, you're supposed to be seeking first God's counsel, not other people's counsel.
00:05:37	And what really made me think of this particular, I guess, point of view for this verse is that I used to get so annoyed in school. Because we would be talking about a particular problem or a particular question, and I would be explaining how to solve it and people would just kind of look at me like okay, and then go ask the teacher. And they would say exactly the same thing and all of a sudden they would take that answer and they be like, "Yeah. This is great," and I'm like, "Wait! I said that like an hour ago. We could have been gone. Why didn't you just listen to me?" And I feel like I can totally see how God could be sitting in Heaven like, "I already told you guys this. I told you this is how you should behave. I told you this is what you should do, but you didn't want to do it because I said do it. You did it because Jane Doe told you to do it or because this TV show promoted this idea," or whatever the case may be. A lot of people think "Oh well, you know the fact that I did it is what matters." But it's also about what's going on in your heart and in your mind, your intentions. What led you to do those things? Was it because of your connection to God? Or was it because you just thought it looked cool because all these other people were doing it? Or because this is what you know you've been raised to do, etc. etc.?
00:07:14	Photocredit: ShutterStock.com/CREATISTA And it's one of the things that I really wanted to think about as I go through my life. Like there are definitely some things that I think I've been taught that are just cultural—like being polite to people. I'm from the South, like that's how I was raised. So when I stop and think about it like, oh am I nice to people because I recognize that this is a child of God and God has called me to be, you know, polite or hospitable to these people, or am I just doing this out of a reflex? Like is God actually a part of my decision making process, or am I just operating on autopilot. And I definitely think that that's something I can improve upon 'cause sometimes I think I just do things because that's what I think is the right thing to do, and I might not have asked God if He thinks that that's the right thing to do, but we're supposed to be consulting Him first. He is supposed to be the center of our plans, and the problem is, like I said in some cases we're doing the right thing it's just we might be doing it for the wrong reason, or we've done it because we were led by some other entity. But if we're not actively seeking Him for the decision-making process, that means we're more likely to do the wrong thing, because we are not that great at deciding between right and wrong. History has told us this. You can turn on the news right now, and you're going to see a whole lot of bad decision making on the part of humans.
00:09:01	So that is something that I want to focus on. I hope that you will focus on it too, because like I said, it's really, really important that are consulting Him. And yeah, I mean probably once you are steeped in the Holy Spirit, things should come like autopilot, maybe. I don't know. But for right now, I think I'm in the place where I need to be consulting God on a regular basis about my decision making skills. So, I want to be consulting His counsel and including Him in my plans, 'cause I'm not trying to be included in the "woe to the rebellious children" narrative that Isaiah had going on there. And I'm hoping that you not going to be included in that either, so let's work on that guys.
00:09:48	Thank you guys for tuning in! I will see you guys next week. You can find the transcript for this episode at www.psalmstogod.com/plans. Don't forget to like and subscribe! Bye. 👋🏾

The LORD is Peace

One of the names of God is "The LORD is Peace." It's such an obvious name, but it only occurs once in the Bible. Let's look at that instance and see how it applies to us today.

Season 1 Episode K

²³But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die.” ²⁴So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites today.Judges 6:23-24 CSB

00:01:10	Welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. So today I wanted to get back to talking about the names of God. I love learning about the names of God because I feel like it helps me to connect more to God's character and to understand who He is, which is really important in our relationship with God and our walk with Him. So, today’s name is Jehovah Shalom or Yahweh Shalom if you prefer to pronounce God's name as Yahweh. Either way I guess would be acceptable, since we don't actually know how to pronounce this word. I've talked about that in a previous podcasts, so I won't really dwell on that point.
00:01:52	This name translates to “The Lord is Peace,” and if you've been following along then you know we've been talking about peace. I did an episode on a Fruit of the Spirit that's peace not too long ago, and so this name just kind of ties in with that, and with the concept that you cannot have peace without knowing God and without getting it from God, because He's the source of peace. So, I think it's interesting because it's one of the names that, you know, I kind of knew. I kind of expected. I mean you're always saying, you know, that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. So it makes sense that the Lord is peace and that that would be a name for God…
00:02:38	But the actual phrasing “The Lord is Peace” or the actual phrasing Jehovah Shalom—shalom, I don't know why I'm pronouncing this weird—it’s only found in the Bible once, and that is in Judges 6:24. So, I'm going to go there really quick, and I wanted to look at this. I think it’s really interesting, because right before we get the verse where we actually see God being called The Lord is Peace, we get kind of the context of what’s leading up to this. And this is, Israel is about to go to battle. Gideon, who is one of the judges, is leading the army. They're all kind of freaked out, as always. You know the Israelites, they was a little short on faith. They didn't always think that they was going to get through things, even though God was telling them they were going to get through things.
00:03:42	So, if you begin reading from a little bit before where this name is actually declared, you'll see that Gideon was preparing for this battle, and all of a sudden an angel from God, the Angel of the Lord, specifically—I should do an episode on the Angel of the Lord... Sorry, sidenote, we'll come back to that. Anyway, the Angel of Lord, just know that is very specific Angel and a very special angel, comes and delivers a message to Gideon. And when the message is finished, Gideon realizes who it is that he has encountered, and he is like freaking out. OK, ‘cause we all know that when you come into contact with Spiritual Beings, particularly the Angel of the Lord or God, you know, no one just sees… You can’t just see God's face and live, right? This, this... You should be very overwhelmed if you get the pleasure of interacting with God or one of God's angels up close, and that's how Gideon was, but he was also afraid for his life. Just like Isaiah, when he first came in the presence of God. You know he felt unworthy and he bowed down. And it is kind of the same thing, where you just know that you're not you're not in the same sphere. You're not supposed to be there. You’re not worthy of being there.
00:05:06	So Gideon is freaking out and the angel of the Lord says to Gideon, “peace to you.” So basically he's saying like “I come in peace. Don't worry. Don't be afraid,” and then it is after that that Gideon decides to name the place that he at. He builds an altar to God, and then he names this altar The Lord is Peace. And so the combination thing, that you know obviously he was not injured or harmed by God when he had this interaction, but also that God was promising prosperity in the sense of peace amongst the Israelites. And he took them to that battle to make them successful, and that's very important.
00:05:52	Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Cole Keister I think it's interesting that's like I said that's the only place where this name is mentioned, because you know God went to battle for the Israelites all the time. But I think it important to remember it stands out. Everyday, we go through our own battles—spiritual battles, physical battles... The world is not an easy place to live in. And peace is definitely not prevalent. It does not grow on a tree. If it did, we are in a drought and that tree is extinct. It is very hard to maintain peace in the society that we live in, and I think remembering and reflecting on the fact that Gideon had this encounter with this Presence and then chose to name this place after the peace that God has bestowed upon Him is something to remember in our personal lives. That's the kind of experiences we want.
00:06:51	In the midst of this battle. In the midst of the war that's raging in your life, what we want is for the spirit of God to come in and to be like, “Don't worry. I got this,” “Peace,” “Be calm,” and “I'm here.” And that is exactly what God does, if you let him. When we get into these situations, we have to know to call on that name: Jehovah Shalom. So, as you say your prayers this week, as you go through your trials and tribulations, remember this name: Jehovah Shalom, The Lord is Peace. Take Him with you everywhere you go, and tap into that peace.
00:07:41	Thank you guys for listening in. I hope that you will continue. Don't forget to subscribe. You can find a transcript for this particular episode at www.psalmstogod.com/TheLordIsPeace. See you next time.

Footnotes and References

1. "Name of God". Blue Letter Bible; visited April 2019
2. "Jehovah Shalom". Bible Study Tools; visited April 2019

Take Up Your Cross

Would you risk your life to do the right thing? We often think this means grand gestures and big finales that are only seen on TV, but what if it's as simple as allowing yourself to be vulnerable and do something good for someone even if you fear a betrayal on their part? When the consequences of one choice could be detrimental to yourself, but the consequences of the other choice is stepping away from who God commanded you to be, what will you choose?

Season 1 Episode J

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. ²⁶For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?Matthew 16:24-26 CSB

00:01:21	Hey guys welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. So funny story: I was in the process of organizing my laptop and the files on my laptop, and I found this episode that I recorded months ago—months ago—Like probably around the time that I was starting the podcast, and that I never finished it. It's just like a half done episode, with kind of random notes and thoughts that I was trying to put together. And when I looked at it today, I was like "That was a great idea! It was a great episode. Why didn't I finish that?" I have no idea why I didn't finish it, and I have no idea why I was trying to organize files on my computer today, but I'm going to take it that was the Holy Spirit leading me back to that episode and telling me that I needed to record it and talk to you guys about it. So here we are.
00:02:21	We're going to talk about Matthew 16:24-26, in the context of an experience that I had at the beginning of the year. So sometime in January, I was shopping. I went to Publix to get something—pretty sure based on the date that I wrote down that I was buying something for a potluck at the church that I attend. And when I went to Publix—there's a Publix nearby me that I called "The Shady Publix." Every time I go to this Publix, something weird happens, U do not like going to this Publix. I feel like... I just feel uncomfortable going to this Publix by myself at any time, because something weird always happens. So I refer to it as "The Shady Publix," but "The Shady Publix" was the most logical Publix for me to go to that day because it's actually near my job and in the direction that I was driving, for me to go to any other grocery store or any other Publix would have been going out of the way, and that just didn't make sense. So I had stopped there on the way back home. And when I stop there, soon as I pulled into a parking space, this man approached my car, and he came all the way up to the window—like the driver side window—and he started talking. And I was weirded out to say the least. Like I did not understand why he was coming up to my car, and why he was starting to talk to me. Like not even like, "Oh I let you get out of your car and approached you in the parking lot." Like he legit walked straight up to my car. I could not open the car door to get out had I wanted to, because he was standing like directly in front of the car, and so he basically said thatshe ran out of gas. And that's all he said. He didn't ask for money. He didn't ask for gas. He didn't ask for a ride to the gas station. He didn't ask for a phone to call a friend to take him to the gas station. Like to this day, I don't really know what his intention was. Like I don't know what he was...why he was approaching me.
00:04:36	And in the moment, I was like this is super weird. This is super sketch. First of all, I don't look like the person that you should be approaching for this problem. And what I mean by that is: so when I was in South Carolina, I remember I had this situation where I needed a pocket knife. I was trying to open something and I felt like a pocket knife would be of assistance. I didn't have one. And I was walking across the campus at the university I went to, and I saw this this group of guys. They were dressed in camouflage and they looked like they did some hunting in their spare time, and I made the assumption that they would have a pocket knife, so I approached them and asked them for their help. I did not go to the girl that was walking by that was in heels and a dress and was like fully made up, because she didn't seem like she would have a pocketknife. Now that's very stereotypical she could have very well had a pocketknife; they might not have had a pocket knife, but the odds were that these gentlemen who were dressed like they go hunting frequently were more likely to have a pocketknife than this woman who is dressed like she was about to go give a presentation and would probably only have like a pencil or a USB drive or something. It's just there are certain people... Like, I mean its basically like if I'm trying to reach something on the top shelf and I go to somebody who is shorter than me for assistance. That doesn't make sense I would approach somebody who's very tall to try to help me.
00:06:12	And so in the situation I'm like I don't know why you're coming to me I have a very small car. I don't look like I would have a gas can in the back of my car. My car is very old; it's not like I look like I have a lot of money, or I could just be, you know, throwing money at you. You know... It just seems like a really weird situation. So I was very, very hesitant, and the demeanor that I probably had was not a very pleasant or positive one, because I was just like "Please leave." That's what I was thinking in my head.
00:06:52	Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Vladislav Babienko But after the situation, the verses that I read in the beginning (Matthew 16:24-26) were the first things that popped into my head. And I was asking myself, "Why is it that we allow ourselves to be so afraid of other people?" And I know that... I know the answer: the media and what happens. Our society is completely screwed up. It is very possible that had I opened the door, or rolled down the window, or attempted to give this man some money, or let him borrow my phone, or whatever, that he might have reached in and tried to kidnap me. He might have tried to kill me. He might have tried to rob me. There is a very high probability, and considering where I live it's even higher of a probability that that could have just been somebody trying to mug me, but at the same time that also could have been an angel giving me a test. That... It could have been somebody, a genuine person, in need of help.
00:07:59	And I think the reason our society has the problems we have is that we don't help the people who need help, because we're afraid that they're one of these other people who don't need help. And you know the truth is, in this verse we often think about this in the context of martyrdom—like someone has asked you do you believe in God and you said yes even though it might cause problems. Basically, like how Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (better known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) had to make the decision not to kneel for the statue.[2] The king had already said if you didn't kneel in front of the statue he was going to kill you. So it's basically a public declaration of their faith in God when they decided not to bow; and they knew that there would be negative consequences—and of course God covered them in that situation. But really this verse in Matthew is talking about so much more than that. It's about not being afraid to do the right thing, regardless of the consequences. It's not just saying "I believe in God" and necessarily making that public declaration in such an obvious and overt manner. It's also about the actions that speak to your faith in God.
00:09:27	So in that moment, I did not know what his intentions were. I didn't know if he was out to do some harm to me or if he was genuinely in need. And at the end of the day, I can't control his actions. I can only control my actions. I can't control whether he was going to try to mug me or whether he was going to try to rob me or whether he was genuinely seeking help, but I can control whether my intention was to do good to him or whether my intention was to ignore any sort of harm that might have been coming towards him or any sort of trouble that he may have been in. And what's even more ironic about all of this[4] is that I just did a podcast episode where the verse that I used to basically pull the episode together was Jeremiah 17:9-10, and the second part of that, verse 10, it talks about how God judges us based on our actions not on our heart—because the heart doesn't crazy things! So remember that when y'all out here saying "God knows my heart." The heart is wicked and deceitful, but it's our actions that really speak volumes because that's what we can control.
00:11:03	A lot of times in moments like this we let fear keep us from doing something positive or from doing good. And that's a problem, because regardless of what was needed in that situation, regardless of whether I actually had money to give him or not—I didn't 'cause I never have cash—but even down to the demeanor that I had, the way I responded to that person, that is very significant, because that's a human being. Whether I decided to try to do something to help this person monetarily, whether I was going to give them my phone, whatever I decide to do or not to do, I did at least owe it to him to be polite, to show a Godlike character when responding to him,[3] and I didn't do that because I let fear dictate my actions. And fear is not of God. God does not want us out here being afraid to do good, and that's something we should definitely be talking about as we go through our walk and our journey with Christ.
00:12:22	So I'm curious what you guys would have done in that situation and how you would've felt about it. Would you have stopped to talk to the person? Would you have tried to help them out? Would you have done like me and been like "Yo, you just need to leave. Please leave me alone"? And there's no judgment because I already told you what I did, and I'm not even 100% sure that I would behave differently today.[1] It's a struggle, y'all; it really is. So hit me up on Instagram, let me know what you would do, and thank you guys for tuning in. You can find the transcript for this episode at www.psalmstogod.com/TakeUpYourCross. Don't forget to like and subscribe. See you next time!

Footnotes and References

1. In my mind I'd like to think I would behave differently, but I know that when you're taken off guard, you resort to instinct which is probably still going to say "stranger danger" in this case.
2. Daniel 3
3. How we treat people can have a profound impact on their psyche, how they value and perceive themselves.
4. It's ironic because the verse I planned for the planned episode actually fit this unplanned episode better.

The Woman & the Serpent

What if your parents guaranteed you a reprieve, a loophole, from your punishment before they even told you what your punishment was. That's exactly what God did for us.

Season 1 Episode I

¹⁴So the Lord God said to the serpent:
Because you have done this,
you are cursed more than any livestock
and more than any wild animal.
You will move on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life.
¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.Genesis 3:14-15 CSB

00:01:21	Hey guys! Welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. So today we're talking about Genesis 3—the infamous Chapter 3 of Genesis. It is the fall of mankind. And I feel like so much was missing, in terms of the details when I was taught the story as a child, and even as I read it as a teenager—and even some probably in college. I feel like I was so much older when I realized how significant this story is. More importantly, how beautiful this story is. Yeah you heard that right: I said this story is beautiful.
00:02:11	So just some context for those who are a little fuzzy on exactly how the fall happened: Adam and Eve were in the garden. Everything is perfect but there is one tree they're not supposed to eat from—they can eat anything else. They have all of the great fruits; everything is delicious, everything is perfect, and it's free, more importantly, but they just can't eat from this one tree. So the serpent convinces Eve that she should eat from it and that it will make her like God. So then Eve further goes on and convinces her husband that they should both eat from it. And they do. And then they become ashamed and they realize that they are naked. They hide from God, but eventually they come out and God confronts them about what has happened. Adam is the first to speak: he blamed Eve. Eve blames the serpent, and then starting in verse 14 God starts divvying out punishments.
00:03:17	And this is where it gets really interesting. We focus so much on the fact that mankind fell. We focus in on the fact that we were punished, that we were banished from Eden, and that that is, you know, why we are in the state that we're in. People focus on the fact that the woman was made submissive to her husband or to have a desire for her husband, and that the man was placed in charge. And we could do a whole 'nother podcast, probably several podcasts, on the ramifications of that and the misinterpretations and misuses of that, but we're not going to get into that.
00:03:59	What I want to get into is the fact that before God ever punished mankind, before God curses us, before He curses the ground, before anything bad really starts taking place... God first punishes the serpent, who is the devil[1]. The first thing that he does is ensure that there is a way out for us! What people don't often teach, at least in my experience growing up in a Baptist church and popping around from Methodist and Baptist and AME churches, no one stopped to talk about Genesis 3:15 is the first Messianic Prophecy in the Bible. It's, I guess, the first prophecy, period—but it's about Jesus. The seed that's spoken of, the offspring of the woman is Jesus[2]
00:05:10	So when you look at symbolism in the Bible, obviously we know the serpent is the devil, the woman is Eve, but the woman could also be a church. Throughout the Bible when they start talking about women, they're often talking about the church,[3] or they were talking about the bride of Christ. And it's interesting, because if you flip all the way to the end of the Bible and you go to Revelation, if you go to chapter 12 and you start reading just from verse 1, it says " A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven crowns. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth it might devour her child. She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, to be nourished there for 1,260 days." (Revelation 12:1-6 CSB)
00:06:42	Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Advait Berde I probably didn't need to read the entire passage, but I just kind of got carried away, sorry guys. But the point is this is a prophecy given in Revelation and is talking about the woman giving birth to this child that will rule the nations, that child being Jesus and the woman is not Mary, but it's about the church. It's about just the entire concept. This whole thing is tied together. The whole point—once again we have the dragon/serpent/Satan—It's the same narrative all the way through. It's all boiling down to this war in heaven where Satan has lost his mind and is trying to become God, and started stirring up discord. But from the beginning, from the very beginning, God specifies that this seed is going to come. This child, this person, the Messiah, Jesus the King of Kings, He is going to come and He's going to defeat the serpent. The serpent will try to defeat Him but he will fail. So we get in Genesis 3 that the serpent would you bruise the heel the seed of the woman, but the woman's seed will crush the head of the serpent. And that is exactly what happens.[4]
00:08:10	So Satan has Jesus crucified which is bruising the heel. He thinks he's going to have a victory, but really all he did was set up the grand finale. This gives Jesus the ability to pay for our sins and that's exactly how it was supposed to play out. And now Jesus has the victory, and He's going to come back and deal the final blow to crush the serpent's head once and for all. I think it's beautiful, because God is speaking salvation before He ever punishes us, and there's something very, very parental and very, very reassuring about that. It's almost like, it's like I have to give you the good news before I give you the bad news. The good news is you're going to live forever and I love you and I'm going to take care of you and I'm going to get you out of this. The bad news is, you know, you're going to have to struggle a little bit until we can work all this out and I got to punish you, but don't worry. Remember the good news I told you five seconds ago.
00:09:28	I think that's so amazing, because even though throughout all of our trials and tribulations we don't necessarily understand God's plan, a lot of times we get impatient. We want what we want now. We want the benefits now. We feel like He's abandoning us. From the very beginning, from the inception of our creation, before anything was ever wrong in this earth, God gave us hope. He spoke our salvation before He spoke our downfall, and He gave us His word all throughout the Old Testament, all throughout the New Testament. So even today, as we struggle, He has given us hope first. He has told us that He will make a way out of no way, every single time. So anytime we get ourselves into some mess, there is always a way out. And He always provides us a way out, before we even dig ourselves in the hole. Before He wants to lower the hammer on us, He wants to save of us first and foremost.
00:10:38	I think that's a beautiful thing and an important thing to take away from Genesis 3. Instead of focusing on our shortcomings and our failures but to see how God uplifted us and how He provided hope in such a desperate situation. So that's what I wanted to leave you guys with today. I hope that as you continue your day-to-day life, that will meditate on that. Don't be so hard on yourself If you mess up, and remember that God already promised us the victory, and that even if you have to go through something because of a decision you made or because of decisions other people made, God is going to give you hope. He already gave you hope, and He will bring you through it. It will be great and grand and beautiful.
00:11:37	Thanks for tuning in. I will see you guys on Monday. In the meantime, don't forget to subscribe, like, suggest this podcast to your friend, whatever the Spirit moves you to do. You can find a transcript for this particular episode at www.psalmstogod.com/TheWomanAndTheSerpent

Footnotes and References

1. Revelation 12:9; 20:2
2. Galatians 3:16
3. Jeremiah 6:2; Ephesians 5:23-32; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7-8
4. On playback, this isn't as clear as I thought it was. What I was trying to point out is that in both cases the woman is a stand in for us, the Church. So before God punishes the Church (us), He gives hope. I was also trying to illustrate how this theme of Satan attacking this hope is also connected to this initial event.

Unknown Unknowns

Do you ever feel like telling people just how dumb you think they are? Maybe you don't understand what people are trying to tell you? Proverbs 17:27 + some life experience have taught me just how to handle these situations.

Season 1 Episode H

The one who has knowledge restrains his words,
and one who keeps a cool head
is a person of understanding.Proverbs 17:27 CSB

00:01:01	Hey guys, welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. So tonight, I was looking through the Bible, looking for verses for Monday's episode—and a little bit for, you know, like a midweek episode[1]—and I ended up in the book of Proverbs, which is always loaded with gems. And I stumbled across this verse that I feel like has been following me since I was a child—just the concept has been following me. And it's interesting because, you know, I feel like it's been reiterated in so many different ways, that I felt compelled to share it.
00:01:49	So the verse in question is Proverbs 17:27, and my translation says “the one who has knowledge restrains his words and one who keeps a cool head is a person of understanding.” This passage is something I really should have read when I was a teenager. I think it might have helped me a little; but they also say hindsight is 20/20 so it may not have had the same effects reading it before I experienced life.
00:02:25	But one of the things that I think I've always struggled with is communication, in general. I feel like 9 out of 10 times when I'm talking to people, they’re hearing something totally different than what I've said and I cannot figure out for the life of me how they got what they got out of what I said. And I'm usually just like dumbfounded. I’m just like “wait, this conversation is going in a completely different direction than where I thought it was going,” and I'm very confused right now.”
00:03:00	Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Tra Nguyen And I know initially, you're probably thinking like I don't understand how that ties into this verse, but one of the jump off points that I kind of think sparked my understanding of this verse occurred when I was in my first year of graduate school. So y'all I struggled hard that year. I just struggled, and the major thing that I could not understand was that I was doing everything I was supposed to be doing but I was failing all my tests. I was getting a hundred on the homework. I was getting a hundred on the projects and the assignment outside of class. And I was reading the text. I was paying attention in class. I was talking to the professor during his office hours. I was utilizing the TA, and I still couldn't pass the test. And I could not understand it. So I went to my advisor at the time. I went to his office, and I sat down; I explained the situation, and I asked him what I was doing wrong and what I need to do. He looked at me and with a straight face he said, “you have to learn what you don't know and learn it,” or “you have to know what you don't know and learn it.” And I was like, what? How do I know what I don't know? If I don't know—if I knew that I didn't know it, of course I would learn it, but if I don't know that I don't know it, how do I learn it? And I was like so baffled. I could not wrap my head around what he was saying.
00:04:40	But over time, it started to unravel, and by the time I was actually graduating with my Ph.D., it's become one of my favorite quotes. You know, it's also sort of used in “The Boondocks,” if any of you are boondocks fans. In one of the episodes someone says there are known unknowns and then there are unknown unknowns, and this is the point that that professor was trying to make.
00:05:13	My advisor was trying to tell me that there are things that you don't know, and you have to be aware that there are things that you do not know. As I went through my Ph.D. process, I realized that the professors that I had that I thought were the most intelligent and the ones that were the most helpful throughout that process, where the ones who were completely aware that there were things that they did not know. And so, when I would have a conversation with them, and I would start to ask questions, and I was confused or I was bringing up your situations, instead of jumping to a conclusion, they would hear it out. They would talk it out. And if they didn't understand, instead of, you know, talking down to me or acting like whatever I just brought up was trivial or irrelevant or stupid, they would try to talk through that particular thing.
00:06:11	I met a lot of people—particularly Ph.D. students and people who already have a Ph.D—that are so convinced that they are an expert and that they know everything, that any time somebody says something that is outside of their general knowledge base or their general frame of reference, they just shut it down automatically. And I think that we have this problem as people, in general, particularly in the church. So, as soon as somebody says something that's outside of your worldview or outside of your perception, the tendency is to just, you know, talk down to that person or think that that person has lost their mind.
00:06:56	But in reality, when you have the wisdom of God, when you have the discernment of God, when the Holy Spirit is flowing through you, and you start to become a mature Christian, then you restrain your words. That is when you keep your head calm. That's when you gain understanding, because instead of reacting immediately, you allow that person to talk you into their point of view. A lot of times when we're looking at something, we don't necessarily see all the the details.
00:07:36	So for instance, we could both be looking out a window, and I'm a focus in on a squirrel that's sitting in the tree, but you may be focused in on this flower that's beneath the tree. And when I start talking about the squirrel, you don't see the squirrel because you're looking at the flower, and I don't see the flower because I'm looking at the squirrel. And if we just keep arguing with each other, we're never going to realize that they're both there, and they're both valid. And of course, in some cases maybe I think I see something that's not there or maybe you think you see something that's not there, but it's more beneficial to talk through it patiently, and with understanding, and with restraint, so that you can get on the same page. And once you're on the same page, then both people can learn something.
00:08:29	And what I found from all of those professors that I mentioned, where they would talk through the situation instead of immediately judging me for asking quote-unquote stupid questions, in some cases I was actually right, and I was actually bringing up valid things that they had never thought about. In other cases, I was off in left field, and what I was saying was absolutely crazy, but I built a relationship with those professors that I wasn't afraid to ask those questions, because I knew that it was going to be a productive conversation. And I gained knowledge from it, and they gained knowledge from it. And it’s a good partnership; that's how that's how conversations are supposed to work.
00:09:16	And so seeing this particular verse in the text. you know. God revealed it to me through experience. but seeing it written out is just as beautiful. So, if you're having trouble communicating with people, if they're frustrating you, and you know, you're about to pull your hair out. just take a minute. Breathe. Restrain your words. Restrain your thoughts, and try to talk through the situation. Let the other person drive the explanation, and see if you can understand what they're saying. And also if you're on the other side and somebody's talking down to you, don't be offended maybe they're just missing something that you're saying. See if you can prompt the talking through process, you know. It's a little harder from that side but, you know, pray about it. and see if you can just explain more and be a little bit more detailed about whatever it is that you're trying to get across.
00:10:19	So I hope it helps you. Thank you guys for listening in. Don't forget to subscribe and visit the website. You can also find me on Instagram: shiree.hughes I will see you guys next time. In the meantime, you can find the transcript for this particular episode at www.psalmstogod.com/unknown

Footnotes and References

1. But then I had to work late most days this week so it’s an end-of-the-week episode instead

The Everlasting God

El Olam means The Everlasting God. I made the mistake of thinking everlasting referred to His presence, but everlasting is God's essence.

Season 1 Episode G

³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines for many days.Genesis 21:33-34 CSB

00:01:13	Hey guys! Welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. So today we're talking about El Olam: the Everlasting God. When I first picked this name to learn, I had misgivings about doing an episode on it. I felt like it was going to be way too short, and there wasn't going to be anything to say, because it's pretty self-explanatory, “The Everlasting God.” I didn't have a quote-unquote angle, like what am I going to talk about? God is Everlasting, duh. But, as I actually started digging in and researching the name, I quickly realized that my first instinct about the name was not what it should have been, and that kind of blew my mind.
00:01:59	When I thought of the name “Everlasting,”—you know, I looked up the word olam (עוֹלָם) in Hebrew[1] and I saw that it means, you know, from antiquity, forever, everlasting, etc., etc.—eternity. Like I said, that just seems self-explanatory. God exists outside of time; of course He's everlasting. But I scrolled down to see, you know, how many times it's used in the Bible, and of course, where it’s first used, how it's introduced to us as God's people, when the Israelites started using it—all of that good stuff—and I found that it's used 438 times! That's a lot of times. I was like OK, maybe God is trying to tell me something... If He used it 438 times in the Bible, I should probably pay attention and see what the deal is.
00:02:59	And when I opened the Bible to the first occurrence of this name, I quickly understood that I was looking at it from the wrong angle. I was thinking of the Everlasting God as defining His existence. God is Everlasting: He is always been here, He will always be there. But the names of God define God's character, not His existence, which is slightly hard to wrap your head around because His existence and His character kind of go hand-in-hand, but when I read the passage, I realized it’s talking about more than His presence. It’s talking about Who He is. Who He is is Everlasting.
00:03:48	God exists outside of space and time Photocredit: Unsplash.com/NASA Let me talk a little bit about that particular passage so we can talk about what I mean when I say “Who He is is Everlasting.” So in the passage, the first time it occurs, is in Genesis 21:33, and when you first read that one verse, it doesn't seem that important. Abraham has this well or this tree that he's planted, and he's naming it, and he calls on the name of God and causing the Everlasting God. And you're like okay, so what? But surrounding this, we have to remember that this is when Abraham has first come to Canaan, and he is basically staking out an area for himself and creating a home in this foreign land. Meanwhile God has promised him and made a covenant with Abraham that He would make Abraham the father of many nations—one of these nations being a great nation, the nation that would bring forth the salvation of all mankind, and that was the nation of Israel. That's where Jesus would come through, and how we would get salvation and all these things.
00:05:01	When God would bring the nation of Israel, He would put them in the land of Canaan. That was His promise. It's the Promised Land, but that when did not belong to Abraham, so it could not belong to his descendants, yet—minus the fact that God gave it to them. But It wasn’t the next day that these things happened. It wasn't the next week, the next year, the next decade. It was centuries later. Abraham was dead by the time these promises were fulfilled.
00:05:32	That is what I'm getting at. That is Who God is. His promises are everlasting. His love is everlasting. His forgiveness is everlasting. His healing is everlasting. All of the other names of God that we talk about, all of the other attributes of God that we talk about, are everlasting. God does not change. His promises do not change. They don't fade. This is the beauty of that name, and it took me reading that passage to realize that there was so much more depth in calling him the Everlasting God than just talking about his existence. He is—everything about Him is Everlasting. Everything He does is everlasting, which is so comforting, right? ‘Cause I'm not trying to be healed for a second. I’m trying to have eternity for eternity and that's exactly what He's giving us now.
00:06:38	Now, as I was reading the passage and as I was processing all of this, it actually brought me back to an experience in my own life—and that's the whole point of reading the Bible, is so that we can connect with the past, that we can connect with what's being told in the stories given to us so we can see how they work in our own lives.
00:06:59	The promise that God had made to me or rather the experience that I had that God was bringing me through was similar on a much less painful scale, to that that he'd give Abraham and Israelites—that He would prosper them and He would give them this land. And they had to go through something. There wasn't a direct route from point A to point B, and it didn't happen overnight. That's what happened to me with grad school.
00:07:28	When I got it in my head that I wanted to go to grad school, and I had my conversations with God, and I decided that I was going to go down that path, I thought I was going to go for four years and I was going to get out—maybe 5—and that was going to be it. I picked the school. I prayed. I got the fellowship, and I thought that was like God saying, “Yes! Boom! This is My stamp of approval. This is where I want you to go. This is what's going to happen. Everything's going to go to plan.” And to be honest, up until that point that school had worked for me. I just showed up, and I did the work, and everything worked fine, so I didn't see why grad school would be any different. But that is not how grad school went.
00:08:15	Those first two years were so rough. I'm still mystified I even graduated with my Master's—that's a whole topic and a whole podcast episode of itself, but needless to say I was miserable the first two years of my graduate program, and I wasn't even sure I was supposed to be there, anymore. I didn't enjoy it. I didn't, I mean, I just had serious misgivings, but I was stubborn and I didn't want to quit. Oone thing led to another thing and eventually I did graduate with Master's, but that wasn't my plan my plan was to get a PhD from that school. It was supposed to be a one shot, one and done, go ahead and then go on into your future endeavors. But that's not how it worked out, and God took me back to my undergraduate institution after that rocky period.
00:09:19	And when I went back to my undergraduate institution, you know, things started to pep up. I liked it better; I was happier. Everything was starting to look up, and I was like okay maybe God just took me there for a minute to teach me, just like a little lesson. You know this was my Exodus out of Egypt, I was going—I was at the Promised Land! But that didn't go the way I thought it was either. I did not pass my first portfolio attempt[2] and then my advisor quit his job. And I was just like “Whoa! Wait! What's going on? This is not how this is supposed to be going. What am I supposed to do?” And I was freaking out. This was I guess my moment where the Israelites decided that they couldn't fight, that they was not prepared to go and take Israel even though God said that they could take the land.
00:10:12	So I ended up moving schools again because I went with my advisor, and it was when I went with my advisor that God really moved His hand and showed me like “Yeah, you know, you remember I told you that you could have this? I told you you could have this because you're going to have it, but not in your time in My time.” And I got the PhD. And the project that I did, the skills that I learned, none of what happened would have happened if it had not been for that series of events. Every single move that I made, every school that I went to, I learned something that I needed to get to the point that I am now. I made connections that I needed to get to the point that I am now. I built friendships... Even the things that have nothing to do with the field that I'm in—my relationship with Christ, studying the Word, all of these things are directly tied to the experiences I had going through that struggle.
00:11:17	When I look at what happened to Abraham, him declaring God the Everlasting God when God made the promise and before any of this stuff played out, it reminds me of how far I was from God at the beginning of that journey. Because during that process, I mean, before the process I wasn't shouting out El Olam, Everlasting God, and so during the process I had serious misgivings about what was happening. But now, I realize that God is the Everlasting God. Everything about his character is everlasting. He will love everlasting. He will heal everlasting. His promises are everlasting. Everything about Him—His forgiveness. And so now I am fully prepared that when I go through these situations, when you go through your trials, you know, “in bondage” and you’re being brought out and brought into “the promised land”, I know it may not be today; it may not be tomorrow, but when God makes a promise, it is everlasting, because He is El Olam, and that's something I don't ever want to forget and you shouldn't either.
00:12:38	Thank you guys for tuning. I hope that you will subscribe if you haven't. Don't forget that this episode’s transcripts can be found on the web site at www.psalmstogod.com/everlasting. You can find a bunch of other content on the website, as well, so you can subscribe and visit there too. I can't wait to talk to you guys again in the next episode, so I will see you guys again on Monday. Bye.

Footnotes and References

1. "5769. Olam". Bible Hub; visited February 2019
2. The portfolio was basically like a qualifying exam, it was the catalyst to move from PhD student to PhD Candidate (which basically gives you the clear to pursue your research, form a committee, and advance in the PhD process).