I had a 9D final this morning from 8-11. It's a 1 unit pass no pass class (introduction to Scheme), and I finished the final in about 50 minutes. For the rest of the day I studied for my saturday 61C test in princeton review, leaving once in the evening to get some dinner. The rest of the guys came after dinner.

I have mixed feelings about prepared I am for this test. I've been studying pretty crazily for it for the past few days.

From our princeton review room, I heard some sirens outside. When I went to the window to look, I saw a few police cars in front of big al's. They had someone in handcuffs.

For the rest of the night we studied and breakdanced.

Our leaders sent us care packages with snacks for us to eat while studying. Thanks Henry, Joe, and Roy!

Devotion time questions:

Jeremiah 13

What can I learn from the extent that God takes to warn His people? What role did Jeremiah fulfill to communicate this message?

If what Jeremiah does in this passage is literal and physical, not through a vision like Ezekiel, then God instructed Jeremiah to carry out long and elaborate tasks for the purpose of conveying a message to the people, so that even the weakest minded of them might understand. The place Jeremiah was told to travel to, Perath (the Hebrew name for the Euphrates), was a relatively large distance from Jerusalem, so the trips he took would have taken considerable amounts of time.

God provides such a long, and elaborate message to his people to show them just how serious their problem of pride really was, and Jeremiah faithfully carried out the difficult task God gave him. Jeremiah's immediate obedience to God also sharply contrasts the stubborn disobedience of the people, who have been told again and again what to do but refused to listen.

Why does “[following] the stubbornness of their hearts and [going] after other gods to serve and worship them” lead to becoming “completely useless”?

God had made a covenant with Israel, drawing the nation to himself, so that Israel would bring him praise, honor, and glory. By breaking the covenant, Israel abandons her relationship to God and becomes useless for the purposes for which God had set Israel aside for.

Just as the linen belt that was buried became ruined and unable to be used as a belt anymore, the nation of Israel buried themselves in the cultures, sinful practices, and idols of foreign nations, and became useless for the purpose of glory that God had intended for them.

Wearing the fine linen belt would bring praise to the wearer, but no one would wear a belt that has been ruined by water and soil, for they would be mocked and disgraced. In the same way, God can no longer associate himself with the nation of Israel once they had become so ruined and disgraceful.

Why is pride so offensive to God?

Pride is our attempt to set ourselves, the created, above God, the creator. I found the following description on a website:

Pride is one of the subtlest of sins. By many it is looked upon with indulgence, and it is tolerated in the church. Some influential church members are afflicted with it, and consider it a badge of distinction. The Pharisees of old were proud of their pride. So are the Pharisees of today.

Pride is inordinate self-esteem, conceit, egotism, haughtiness, vanity, arrogance, disdain, lordliness. It is defined as the high esteem one has for oneself because of some fancied or real superiority of person, possession, or achievements, and is ordinarily accompanied by a desire for public notice, approval, or praise. The excessive desire for public notice led the Pharisees of old to stand on the street corners to be seen of men, pretending to pray. The same desire to be noticed leads some preachers to perform antics in the pulpit, and politicians to "play to the gallery, and it is even appealed to in raising money for otherwise worthy purposes.

Why does pride lead to “thick darkness”? In what ways have I experienced this to be true in my life?

Pride clouds your vision and blinds you to views other than your own view. Pridefulness causes you to believe that only your way is right and everyone else's way is wrong. This is especially evident in arguments, as I've experienced many times in the past, where pride causes you to disregard valid and reasonable arguments presented by the other person(s).

What lesson can we learn from sins that are not dealt with in our lives that eventually make us “accustomed to doing evil”? Are there some sins that I have been putting off dealing with?

We need to be wary of sinful things that are overlook, for they could eventually become habits in our lives that are very difficult to deal with. We need to deal with things when they're "bendable shoots", not when they're "full grown oaks". If we do not carefully examine our lives, we could become accustomed to doing many sinful things that we don't realize are sinful. Even small details in how we live day to day, like pride, or envy, or greed, etc...

Thoughts omitted here.

In what ways have I been guilty of forgetting God and trusting in false gods?

Thoughts omitted here.