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Hey friends,
I hope this update finds you well, especially amidst a summer that no-one could have expected. Thankfully, ministry at Harvard has continued to take place over the summer, primarily through the summer Bible study of the book of Proverbs. These words from Proverbs 7 remind us of the central importance of the Word of God in our lives. The exhortation here is that as we treasure God’s words in our heart, then we can truly live. God’s desire for us is that we experience the abundant life he has for us, one full of joy, peace and contentment in Christ. That is also our prayer for our students during this season, as many of them will be studying remotely, taking a gap-year, or coming back to a completely different campus.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This past month I have been reading the book of Proverbs in the mornings. God has been using the wisdom of this book to strengthen and encourage me in this time. The central conviction of the book of Proverbs is that the thing we need most is the fear of the Lord. Elsewhere in Scripture we see commands to fear God, but also characters who embodied, albeit imperfectly, this fear of God—people like Daniel and Esther who feared God and followed him in the midst of crisis and at great personal costs.
Grace and peace from Palo Alto!
Usually, during the summer weeks, we pivot a bit from our regular Bible courses to do something different. This summer several CU students—including some incoming freshmen—are meeting on Tuesday nights via Zoom to read through and discuss the book of Genesis. Recently while covering chapter 18, we read about Abraham’s persistent intercession on behalf of Sodom before God:
The One Who Is, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loyalty and faithfulness, maintaining loyalty for a thousand generations, bearing iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will not leave them unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on their children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation. —Exodus 34:6–7
This spring and summer, many Americans have been made increasingly aware of the reality that, whether we like it or not, the iniquity of past generations does weigh on us. To be sure, there's much more we have yet to attend to—both in terms of disarming the spiritual and cultural forces that militate against true racial reconciliation, and in terms of the many other sins that have been allowed to fester for too long. And yet, we thank our God, who is, and was, and is to come, for His unfailing covenant loyalty and faithfulness.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
— Numbers 6:24-26
"Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house."
— 1 Kings 21:29
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
— Psalm 103:8
It is finally summer here in Hanover. The spring term concluded on June 10th and commencement took place (virtually) on the 14th.
