For a long time there was the same cycle happening over and over again with Israel. (Israel worships baal) → (They take advantage of the poor) → (God sends a prophet) → (Back to start) and that cycle when on for a long time. But they ended up going into exile. If you keep breaking the same rules eventually you will get kicked out or sent in prison or something else major, you have to learn your lesson. My symbol is a jail cell, it is a jail cell because it shows that if you keep breaking the same law or do something extreme like murder you will get sent to prison. It is not a good thing to do and it fits in with the Israelites case because the Israelites kept doing the same bad thing over and over again so they got sent into exile, which is not a good situation to be in either. No one wants to be punished which is exactly why we shouldn’t do something bad in the first place. In my life this fits in because I disobey my parents or am mean to my siblings sometimes. If I keep doing it over and over my parents will punish be by taking something I like away or sending me to my room.

God made a covenant with David saying that his line would rule forever, meaning that as far as it went down like David’s son, grandson, great grandson, great great grandson and more, they would all rule and be king. Jesus is fulfillment to us. My visual is a lamp, it is a lamp because it reminds me of the light of Jesus. Everyone is tempted to do bad things because of sin but we just need to fight back and find the light, our light is Jesus. God makes covenants with us, helping us, making us feel better, we need to find our way through the darkness and the storms in our life and into the light. God’s light shines brighter than the sun brighter than anything in the universe we just need to find it. If you’re in an extremely tough situation all you need to do is trust and believe in God and he will help you find the light through the darkness and the toughness that you’re dealing with. I feel like that in my life a lot of times I get tempted to do something mean or disobedient but I just need to seek the light that God shines for us to find and store in our heart and soul and mind.

When the Israelites were in the desert wandering they had to trust in God to help them through it and provide them. They had to trust in God that he would help them get to the promised land and not die. They had to trust that he would provide food and help them cross the Jordan River and help them at Jericho. My symbol is a desert, the Israelites were just wandering in the desert for 40 years waiting for God to provide and trusting in him the whole way through. God has to help them and he did. We did this activity in class where we each had gotten assigned a role in the 40 years and my group got “desert wanderings” one of my group member had a connection with it that took place at 7th grade camp. We played a game called gold rush where the teacher hide gold bricks in the woods that are worth different amounts of points. Some of the kids wandered a little too far away and ended up getting lost. They prayed to God and asked him to help them find their way back to camp, seconds later a lady comes by running and told them to go in the other direction so they did and ended up being found by Mr. B. They prayed telling God to help them through their situation and he answered their prayers through a kind lady running at a time she never runs normally. God provides and will help you through all of your tough situations just trust and believe in him.

The sinai law was also known as the ten commandments. The ten commandments were like wedding vows with God and Israel. Israel promised to follow the ten commandments and never break them. One of the commandments was “do not have any other gods before me” (meaning idols) but then they make golden calfs and turn aside from God. My visual is a gavel showing the law. We have to follow the law to be a good citizen. If you don’t you will be punished kind of like the ten commandments. We all have to follow the laws that our state, city, or country has. I feel like this is like the ten commandment because all of the Israelites had to follow the ten commandments or they would be punished just like we are if we break the law.

God makes a promise and we respond, he calls us to do something and we do it. God has a plan for all of us and he calls us to do it. My visual is a bible stand. I feel like at church when our pastor is up on stage preaching he is being called by God to preach to us and tell us. I feel like it’s a call to me to be more of a follower and not just do what my parents expect from me. I feel like I am being called by God to listen more about him and learn and help others understand who God is. We are all called by God to do something, look for that call and answer it. We need to look for it in everything we do and say and remember God through everything.

God had an old covenant and a new covenant. His old covenant was also known as the ten commandments. God’s new covenant with us through Jesus was unconditional. Conditional is like an if/then agreement but unconditional is no matter what. God’s covenant with us is unconditional, no matter what that covenant will happen and be great. God’s covenant with us reminds me of our bible verse from a couple weeks ago in Revelation 21:1-5. My visual is the ten commandments. It reminds me of the promise that Israel made with God, even though they broke it. But nobody’s perfect, almost everyone has broken at least one of the covenants, even people who are die heart Christians. I would say that I’m the average Christian and I have definitely broken one of the commandments. But I remember God’s love for us is unconditional. He will love us “no matter what!”

Is it okay to doubt God? That’s the big question, what do you think? In my opinion I think that it’s okay to doubt God and question him. If something bad happens in your life like death or divorce you always question God and ask him why, that’s good. Not everything is perfect and simplistic, you have to try hard and do your very best. We have a lot of brokenness in our world and that’s okay, everything bad that happens you just need to remember that’s God’s plan for you and everyone else that it affects. So is it okay to doubt God? Yes, yes it is. It’s good to question and doubt, just have trust in God and everything will be okay, bring questions to God. My visual is the cross that Jesus died on to save us. If Jesus would’ve never done that for us there would be a whole lot more brokenness in the world. We would’ve doubted God a lot more and probably doubted his existence or maybe not even known about him. Jesus saved our lives from a lot of things that could’ve happened. Everyone doubted that he would rise again and no one believed that he was the son of God, but that never stopped him. You need to remember everyday WWJD, “what would Jesus do?” Thinking about what God has done for us helps me with my life everyday.

Your name that God gave you through your parents means something important, live up to it. All names that were given to people in Bibles times and some names now mean something that God gave you. He knew who you were going to be and what you were going to be like so he gave you your specific name. YHWH means relational God which is why the Israelites called God YHWH or Yahweh. ‘El’ in a name means creator kind which is why God gave Elijah his name because he had a plan for him. If you read Genesis 17-21 you will learn that Sarah laughed at the Lord when he told her that she was going to have a baby at her old age of 99 years. So the Lord gave her son the name of Isaac which means “he laughs.” My visual; is the Jordan River. It’s my visual because it’s a nice flowing river that ties into my name which means to flow down, descend, or flowing. The Jordan River is a perfect visual to show that. The Israelites had to trust God when they crossed the Jordan River and I feel like I have to put my trust in God a lot. And others can trust me too.