I had two midterms today, right before thanksgiving break is about to begin. Everyone is getting ready to go home for break, and many have left already. At 8am, our apartment walked over to dwinelle and took our economics midterm. It was shorter than last time, but still pretty tricky. I'm not sure how I did...

After the test, I went to the library and studied all day for my evening midterm.

At 7pm, I went and took the 61C midterm. When I got home at 9:30, we gathered up a lot of people and went to Maxwell Field for a couple hours of touch football. The main lights were off, so the only light we had was coming from the parking lot of memorial stadium. It was kind of hard to see, but we wanted to play so badly we didn't care.

Football turned out to be really fun. Hopefully we can find more opportunities to play in the near future.

Here's the verse I'm memorizing today. Very fitting for this thanksgiving break:

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
Psalm 95:1-2

I've been using Pandora more recently while studying in the library, because Christian music is hard to come by on shared libraries in iTunes (unless I'm sitting with a group of Gracepoint people...)

My "station" on Pandora is set to play artists similar to Hillsong. Here's one of the songs I've come across so far and liked:

Search Me, Know Me by Jonah33

Search me, know me
Try me and see
Every worthless affection hidden in me
All I'm asking for is that You'd cleanse me, Lord

Clothe me in robes of righteousness
Cover my nakedness with grace
All of my life before You now I humbly bring

Devotion time questions:

Zechariah 7

What does the people of Bethel’s question reveal about their view toward their mourning and fasting?

They seemed to be very ritualistic about it, and considered their actions more important than their hearts. To God, what they were doing meant nothing, since mourning and fasting are supposed to be outward manifestations of the person's inward repentance.

They considered it something God wanted in exchange for material prosperity in their own lives.

Make a list of spiritual disciplines and things I do to serve God in some way. Then reflect on the question that God asks the people in v.5. Assess the degree to which these things are done in a way that genuinely connects with God.

Thoughts omitted here.

I need to make sure that everything I do for God outwardly is matched with an inward desire to serve him, and not any other reasons that might make my actions deceitful and offensive to God.

What do these commands reveal about the heart of God?

God is a loving God and cares about how we treat our fellow man. He instructs us not only to abstain from doing evil to each other, but to abstain from even thinking evil of each other.

On the flip side, we need to share in God's heart by loving and caring for others.

Am I honoring God in how I am treating the people in my life?

I think in terms of outward behavior I am, but in terms of my thoughts towards others not always. See next question.

Reflect on the last exhortation, “do not think evil of each other.” By my default tendency, how negatively or positively do I view others, and their motivation, and their view toward me? To what extent do I need heed this exhortation?

I found this question to be amazingly relevant to me. I tend to try and read too much into people's actions, and sometimes I find myself viewing people negatively or being annoyed when there isn't any reason to. It's definitely something I need to work on, so praise God for giving me this timely message just when I needed it.

What was the people’s response to God’s command? What consequences did they suffer for their disobedience?

They refused to pay attention, turned their backs to God, stopped up their ears, hardened their hearts, and would not listen to the words sent to them by the Spirit through the prophets.

Is there an area of my life where I am “stopping up [my] ears” and making my heart “as hard as flint”?

Thoughts omitted here.