Fallen Trickery

You know how sometimes you read a verse and it appears paler than it actually is?

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, 

“The Lord is my helper; 

I will not fear; 

what can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13

I can be content with what I have because God never leaves or forsakes me. 

Is what the verse seems to say at first glance. So at first glance this seems to be a verse about being contented with my possessions, circumstances, talents and everything I have, because even if they suck, God helps. 

I propose that this is a (false?) inaccurate reading.

The verse is basically saying, be content with what you have, for it is proper for anyone who has God to be content with God. 

Aha. I see why I missed it. While reading it, this begrudging I'm-not-really-content-but-since-you-say-so-i'll-just-try stuck up attitude was prominent. Also, the lack of awareness (or perhaps appreciation!) that God is mine.

How long until my mind is renewed? I long to read the bible with a renewed mind!

Ever Ready

After frisbee, a hasty shower, a hearty dinner and then a peaceful return to my room.. and suddenly everything goes wrong. It's the kind of situation where I falsely assume that people are fine with me.

And so, kickboxing had empty slots today and the turn up was so contemptible they were looking for people to fill in the spaces. As words flew in the whatsapp conversation, I had to say something wrong, as usual.

This friend casually rejected the offer for kickboxing by musing about how free the rest of us appeared to be. Funny, I took it seriously and in defending every other busy person, I said
"It's not true"
"make time"

And to think anyone can take offence at that.

And so a new conversation emerged, a private confrontation of sorts.
The accusations kept coming as I replied. I was allegedly attempting to guilt trip and was very insensitive.

And as they came old memories were retrieved for me. Of how a previous incident landed me in much trouble... and how to avoid making things awkward I bit the bullet and took the blame.
A repeat of that? It was starting to make me angry.

And then I stop and a question surfaces.
Have you considered Christ?

I don't know dear Lord. I don't have the appetite for it. I don't feel like being the better guy. I don't feel like accommodating someone else's hypersensitivity. I feel like asking them to shut up, to stop packaging something absurd in pretty words or reasonable propositions.
I haven't even begun to question why I was offended. I don't even feel like thinking about why my memories remained so fresh. I don't even know why I ask "why?" as though I had reasons to assume that such things ought not happen today.

But right now I'm about to reply. Please soften this heart. Please help me love.
Help me be ever ready.

On Project

My EL group is embarking on this project which seeks to... actually I'm not quite sure of what we're trying to uncover yet. 

But, this topic has visited my mind a few times the past few days. 

In Singapore, one of the reasons why the english language cannot become a mother tongue is that it happens to be a socio-economic resource. With such value ascribed to the language, assigning it to any particular ethnic group may be seen as an advantaging of that group. 

A (perhaps largely misinformed) belief in the "native speaker" ideology may be responsible to why "owning" the english language constitutes an unfair advantage. Are AngMohs snapping up our jobs? Is it only because they speak better english? No wait... do they even speak better english? 

My experience staying in angsana tells me: no. 

But anyway, just how does english function as a socio-economic resource? Is it because it is the language of administration? But that doesn't take you far. Is it because the rich are english and hence it english is necessary for transactions with them? Is it about western MNCs? 

I don't think so. From my personal experience, I think that it exists in us an extremely misinformed impression that a person's intellect is tied to his/her ability to speak good english. 

Sometime ago I attended an AIESEC conference in SIM. The speakers were a mix of professional public speakers as well as... professional money makers. As you can already tell from my distinction, some of them, though successful, were awful at public speaking. Most memorable of all, the speaker for Rich Dad (a very irritating name btw, rich dad? please).

And so I can say that he had little persuasion on me. In fact, everything he said sounded like nonsense, hard sell, shitty motivational cliche crap that my ears could not find space for. 

Well it would all be nonsense if not for the fact that (if he is honest and truthful) the things he shared were the very methods he took to make millions. 

It could have been the poor command of english... or the obvious, fragile front of confidence plastered over someone who was obviously quite an introvert. Maybe it was more than the language, it was the fractured experience. 

For now, I do admit that I judge a person's intellect by their wit in manipulating the language. I'll also freely admit that this is poor judgment on my part. 

I still maintain, however, that this assessment exists in majority of the population. 

It's just like how everyone gets hyped over an angmoh lecturer... only  to have it, at times, torn down by listening carefully and realising that it's the language and not the content that we're all over. 

Take Ris Low for example. Ever heard her interview in Chinese? I haven't, though I've heard people's reaction to it. 

They realised that she wasn't so stupid after all. 

Her fluent chinese totally bought them over, many were relieved when they found that they can attribute her stupid appearance to a poor command of the english language. 

But if you think about it... if you cling to the content...

Some things remain stupid even when fluently conveyed. 

If I were to revise the statement "the english language is a socio economic factor because it injects credence by creating an impression of intelligence"

it would be

"the english language is a socio economic factor because it capitalises on the phenomenon where people derive too much value from it."

Christian Disconnect (heavily under construction)

One unnerving thing about being a Christian is how I find myself disagreeing with Christians so much.
And then, more than that, sometimes I'm shy, embarrassed or even cautious about what I'm saying.

For one, let's look at this verse from Isaiah 41:
¹⁴ 14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,
    little Israel, do not fear

I'm someone who is big on the topic of depravity... and thank God, in recent years I've succeeded in including myself within the subject. While preparing the lesson on "self-worth" today, I came across an article expounding on that verse. Subsequently, within its pages I saw that the writer agrees with my hypothesis: 
We have no self worth to speak of. 
Does a Christian have any self-worth? No.
An unbeliever? No. 

At least, no self-defined self-worth.
For starters, what is "man?" The bible tells us that we were made for the purpose of bearing God's image. Following the fall, this image became corrupted. In some sense, man is no longer fully man after the fall. 
And then there was the command to not take a life of man, for man is made in the image of God. This one explicitly states that the only reason why our life is worth keeping is because of the vestige of semblance we have of the image. 

What does salvation accomplish for us? In salvation, God aims to "conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters"(Rom 8:29) i.e. restore the image of God in us, since "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Col 1:15)

One may say that salvation restores our value. Sure, but the word "our" is tricky since this value is beyond, not from us. Imputed. 

Surely the numerous times the bible uses "through christ" or on "account of christ" or "in christ" means anything? Surely we confess that it was through Him that we are saved, through Him we receive grace and by Him we are loved?

When has my value ever played a part? 

Surely we are like worms before God. 

Though broken and humbled, the bible teaches that we should not fear. 

"Do not fear, you worm, Jacob"

And why not?

for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord,
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. (14b)

I do not fear that God shall ever find Himself ceasing to help me because it is not my sense of worth (which fluctuates ever so wildly) but Jesus, unchanging, is the reason He saves. The good news here is not that I'm not a worm, but that God is helping me. But how does this work?

Since young I've found the idea that God dying for me to be unbelievable. Some will say 

"oh, that's how beautiful it is."

I thought it was quite... (though fearing irreverence), dumb. 

Well, at least it'd be pretty absurd to go through all of that so that a wretched worm like me could skip hell (which I deserve) only to go heaven (with a crooked sense of "Oh I'm so deserving that God would lie down and let me step over him as bridge to heaven"). 

Learning about God's glory finally made sense of it all for me. If God has decided that saving me would magnify Christ and display His mercy and justice in one tight package, He has included me in His Glory. If He, prizing His glory, died to save me, whom he has included in His glory, then it makes sense.

It's a mystery why He'd decide that I should play a part in His glory. 

But at least then it wouldn't look like a man leaping off the building to save a worm picked off by the wind. 

I fear that in accommodating for man's sense of self-value... we've begun to make God look silly and... the writer writes

"Christians who promote the gospel of self-esteem say the grace of God is the foundation stone. But I ask, is it the pinnacle as well?" 

"does it leave you exulting and glorifying....riches of God's sovereign grace... or does it leave you exulting in the discovery that you are really somebody?"

I struggle to write on! Even at this moment I hear whispers in my ear saying "dude you serious? Surely God cared about your self-esteem?"

I think God does. He cares that I'm all clung over it. He wishes that I lose the notion entirely. 

Oh God if you help me, then...first help me see just how much of a worm I really am. 

Incase I haven't said anything coherent, I invite C.S. Lewis to say a few words...

"when a man is getting better, he understands more clearly the evil that is still in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his own badness less and less."

Drop the notion! Don't you see how it primes you for danger?

knowing oneself

"Since the heart is deceitful above all things, one can’t be left to mere introspection. And ultimately true self-knowledge can only come by divine revelation because true God-knowledge can only come by divine revelation. My own means of assisting self-knowledge is thus to assist God-knowledge" 

Down in the valley with my Savior I will go,
Where the flow’rs are blooming and the sweet waters flow;
Everywhere He leads me I will follow, follow on,
Walking in His footsteps till the crown be won.

Refrain:Follow! follow! I will follow Jesus!
Anywhere, everywhere, I will follow on!
Follow! follow! I will follow Jesus!
Everywhere He leads me I will follow on!

Down in the valley with my Savior I will go,
Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow;
With His hand to lead me I will never, never fear,
Danger cannot fright me if my Lord is near.

Down in the valley, or upon the mountain steep,
Close beside my Savior will my soul ever keep;
He will lead me safely in the path that He has trod,
Up to where they gather on the hills of God.

Faith

"There is great gain in godliness with contentment" 

I find myself often struggling with this one thing. Be it youtube, talking, napping unnecessarily or just putting food in my mouth... Sometimes it is not even for enjoyment that I do them, but for occupation. 

I want to be occupied so I don't get to do the things I ought to do... I want to be satisfied so I don't have to look for that which really satisfies. 

Beneath it all, I don't trust that I will be satisfied. 

"The way to fight sin is to battle unbelief". 

It is when I falter in belief that God will satisfy that I turn to other things for satisfaction. Or perhaps...

that I have recently come to desire something so much that I'm losing satisfaction in God. 

Either way, help this faithless heart oh God. May I be satisfied with you, and you satisfied in my satisfaction. Help me to lay aside the things I covet, daily, my pledge as I lay them down:

"This much oh God, this much I love you."

to be a labourer

"The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much..."

I want to be a labourer, one who makes excellent use of His time. 
I want to be conscious about every passing second, and with each, to do my work. 
I want to trust, for the reward of a sweet returns, to delay my recreation. 

Let me desire to work now,
let me enjoy as I work..
Then let me slumber. 

conversation

oh, wow she looks like a very cheerful person

well, I expect that from any Christian girl.

True true.

And she looks like someone with whom you'll always be smiling.

Well I'm smiling now just thinking of that.

And so with that I'll be diving into the fray.
Watch me and I'll watch out.

to love

If you were having a cup of tea with C. S. Lewis on Valentine's Day, and you asked him sincerely, "Mr. Lewis, am I better not to love because it's so risky?" — he might say something like this:

Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as “Careful! This might lead you to suffering.”

To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ. If I am sure of anything I am sure that his teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilities.…

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

I admire how he is able to put it.

I thank God for I've known this from young. I have known that it is better to have my heart wrung than to have it harden.
"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold" Matthew 24:12

The pain is like a shout out from God, a confirmation that I remain alive to Him.
To be hurt and know that I'm close to Him. What Joy.

on the topic of covenants, and

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

One of my favourite hymns. 

For God the just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me. 

I had a conversation with a catholic today, a conversation which.. definitely didn't go as well as it should. 

But that aside, she was asking me why protestants are so stuck up about the if you don't believe Jesus you can't go the heaven thing. Apparently some catholics believe that as long as you're good, you are heaven bound. 

But really, surely taking sociology ought to have helped us a bit in realizing that "good" is a word needing a definition. What sort of good is this? Socially accepted "good"? 

Jesus once said 

"why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone". Sounds like a challenge to me, as though He meant, if you think that I'm anything less than the son of God, don't patronize me with your fine words. 

But for us the implication is clear. If good is what we need to get to heaven, then let's follow heaven's definition: only God alone is good. 

And so that particular line in that verse is remarkable. God looked on Christ to pardon me. On this imputed righteousness I put on, a cloak which is not my own.

At last I'm good enough to be pardoned and accepted into the kingdom. 

Even so, God has grander plans. One day he will complete his work on my likeness of Christ.

But it'll still be the same. 

God is justly satisfied when he sees Christ and pardons me. 

experience

A quick thought on this EL3257.

Cooking show, cooking demonstration.
Terminal, instrumental

I finally know what's tough in this module.
It's the chasm of difference in experience between the prof and us.

Every Heartbeat Your Will

Hebrews 8:10
I will put my law in their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts

The holy spirit leads in many ways. Sometimes by revealing the scriptures to us, but always by guiding us in every step of our regenerate lives.
How does it guide you say? Personally I'm not someone who dares claim "God said this to me". I've never heard God.
At the very least, I do find myself doing things in a way I wouldn't have done... Or grieving over matters my friends tend to trivialise.

This perpetual guidance I attribute to the writing of the law upon our hearts, such that from the moment we are saved, every heartbeat, every footstep was meant to resonate with the will of God.

And so I will scour the scriptures. It will rebuke, teach and correct me until I'm assured that the law is indeed written on my heart.
Until every single heartbeat declares You.

CNY guesswork

There was something else on my mind but now it's just
"oh my friend, was that for me?"

If it wasn't, well, nonetheless relevant.
We're... almost there, almost thursday now. Not to say my mind hasn't sprung plans of sabotage.
God I thank you that I'm incredibly busy, so busy that I want to slap myself for all the trivial smiles on my face when I lazed at home the past 2 days.

Still, why don't you test for my obedience when I'm thoroughly free? Hahaha

Anyway, I'm back in U town now, repenting over the lack of discipline I had over CNY. Still, I don't think it's that straightforward.
I kinda know why I never quite studied much back in secondary school and jc. It's just how it works between me and my brother. We're always distracting one another. This CNY was great in the sense that we had time for a game or 2 over the superb new fibre internet, talked alot about many things, watched movies and shows on.. that superb new fibre (okay, it's starting to look like a curse, thank God I live in U town now).
But really, we were just pretty unproductive. Don't know when to stop.

Though I miss the carefree (yeah funny I found this CNY strangely carefree) spending of days and will love to spend another one away, I can't. So here I am.

I don't like that I'm "returning" to discipline. That reeks of irony.

As the workload piles up, I clearly see the forked road again.
Cling to God and it will be glorious. Bless me, let me live radically again.

valentine's

There's nothing much to talk about over chinese new year. On one hand I've already prepared answers to the standard questions they will ask.. thinking of how to change the trivia-question-esque greetings into proper conversations... but aside from that... and.

and that I've already received some red packets, not red herrings I hope.


So, I think I will muse about valentine's day instead.

For the record, I haven't been out on a date on valentine's before, a good thing I suppose since an accidental conversation revealed that most girls make a big deal out of it. If they say yes, you better not be toying them or innocently going out as friends with them- that I've been warned.

So it seems that things should stay the same this year. Haven't you got a date tucky? Plenty to choose from. HA HA HA
But foolish to choose any.

Have I been kept safe these many years? Sure feels so.
Am I starting to make it a bigger deal? Yeah, and for the better too.

The picture's getting clearer, at least it won't be about becoming the talk of the week... like hey, did you know that he went out with so and so?
neither will it be about not becoming the talk of the week. I don't care if I spend it alone anymore.

So in some sense really assured and peaceful, in some sense really anxious. The more I make out of it the more... excited I become about meeting that day.

At this moment I'm about to whine about what I'll be doing instead, probably knee deep in open house matters... and then also, floorball and frisbee training.

Speaking of which, I dread it, dread the day of competition. Haven't improved much with my on-court anger management.
I heard the other colleges are even less forgiving. That they're bound to go all rough on us. I don't understand this rivalry, and I don't appreciate it.

At this moment it seems silly to say "I hope I don't get provoked". That's nonsense and wishful talk.
I know I'll be provoked and (if accurate), I will get angry.
ONLY..
²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”^[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

to neither dwell on it or let it make a difference. 
To not slip into justifying reciprocal, vengeful plays. 

Ah but it will be far better if their provocations bounced off harmlessly! 
Oh that I will delight in You and make You my heart's desire.

I don't fit the bill.

Shrugs. Move along then, move along.

Still I can't quite shake it off. It seems that I've been changing for the wrong reasons again.
Nonetheless I put my hope in you.
I know, by faith, that I will be complete someday.

Remaining Conscious

As the dates draw near, as their necks bend, their eyes look down to impose
Keep my heart tender, restore in me the joy of my salvation.

MORE!

Can't rest on my laurels, can't fold my arms or slumber

Did you know what you were saying?

"Father?"
"Yes, my son?"

"The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
"God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."

While preparing for the lesson on the covenants, this verse jumped out at me. I'm not quite sure how Abraham arrived at the statement "God himself will provide the lamb" but it sure is prophetic. Neither do I know how far I can push this, seeing that Isaac is the offspring who will inherit the promise, while Jesus is the seed who will become the lamb.

When I'm hurt or when I sacrifice, let me keep this all in mind.
God himself will provide the lamb.

Furthermore,
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Because You have provided the lamb, I will entrust everything to You. 

GUYS I FOUND IT!

A while ago (well, that's a few months back honestly) we had a BGR session. As we were talking about lust and marriage, perhaps pertaining to this verse...
1 Cor 7:9
But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

And perhaps some had concluded that it is indeed so, better for lustful individuals to get married.

But I doubted. It seems to be a big leap to say that marriage erm.. sanctifies our lusts? Or that it kills lust? Or even, radically, it is okay to lust for your wife. 

Some people didn't quite get where I was going. The notion that it is possible to lust after your own wife seems foreign. At any rate, we all lacked the actual experience so it was pretty pointless debating about it. BUT

GUYS I FOUND IT! (I think!)

1 Thes 4: 4-5

⁴ that each of you should learn to control your own body^[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵ not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;

Footnotes:

1. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 Or learn to live with your own wife; or learn to acquire a wife

So, should learn to live with your wife in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans.

1. It is possible to live with passionate lust.. if not why the warning.. or if not how are the pagans doing it?

2. It is possible and it is undesirable that this should be it. 

So I think that sums it up. Marriage doesn't have the magic of justifying the lust of a lustful person. It is still possible to lust after your wife so... don't marry recklessly and make a poor girl go through that. 

flashback

Noticed how many youtube links for Ah boys to men appeared on facebook the past week?

I had the fortune for some time to click on one 2 days ago. I was hit by a wave of nostalgia. It's odd, I don't remember army being so cheery, yet I can't seem to find the depiction inaccurate either.

But most of all, the scene where they took their oaths hit me the hardest. It renewed the emotions I had when I was standing there myself.

I remember how NS took me by surprise. My brother had been in it for nearly 1 year by the time it was my turn to enlist. Still, I was unprepared. A levels concluded not long ago, after which I went Cambodia for a mission trip (such an eyeopener, it left me dazed and confused). When I was back and the usual Christmas cum year end madness blew by, I found myself already at the doorsteps of enlistment.

Soon I was on the ferry, in a familiar seat I sought out, similar to the one I took when I sent my brother in, the next moment my parents were directed away from me, following which I surrendered my IC. We sat facing the parade square, a group of us all wildly clueless about what we were about to embark on. I sifted through the package they gave us... still, I did not know what I was about to get into.

It wasn't until we sat in the auditorium that reality kicked in. I read, was taught and wrote about how important it is to defend our country. I once wept over the suffering the nation endured under the Japanese occupation. I once felt angry at the betrayal of the British... but then it felt different. For the first time I understood it, for the first time I in my life, I was tangibly called to live a life greater than myself.
I was called to lay it down for the country.

And I despised myself. I despised how selfishly I had lived. I despised how myopic, how fearful, how trivial I lived in JC. I was sad to find that I was not ready, I had psyched myself for the hardship in army but missed the point in entirety.

And as I shouted the vow at the top of my lungs, I prayed that I may live by those words. I prayed that I'll be the man my country needs me to be. I pray that God will watch over every moment, that as I witness the viciousness with which one needs to fight, my heart may remain tender yet...

I stopped the video and closed the tab. I stared into the ceiling, breathing heavily,  I thanked God for NS. I don't know if it is indeed integral for transition into adulthood... I mean scores of soldiers graduate as juvenile as ever while some entered already mature...

But for me it was a wonderful thing.

inception

I hate it when these thoughts flood in while I'm studying
These thoughts arrest and detain me
If I'm Cobb you're like Mal to me.

REMEMBER!

   It was a fine afternoon with a mellow sun and gentle breeze. Crossing the road, he left behind a cheery company. All was well, another day was passing since the vivid dream.

   Feeling optimistic, a smile curled up on his face. Class ended early that day and in his disposal was time he could put to good use. But just to know how much he had, he pulled his phone up and glanced at the time. However, as the phone lit back to life, his eyes trailed up to the notification bar. Forgetting his initial intention, he tugged the drawer down, revealing a whatsapp message. 

   He ceased to smile for the first time that day. 

   A conversation, one previously, exclusively initiated by him, for the very first time came from the other end. It was a follow-up from a conversation dating back a week ago. A conversation which had a conclusion. 

   The Addressor brought good news, good news about herself. She appealed and finally got what she had always wanted. She'll be leaving for Shanghai in the near future. 

Unthinkable, yet it was the message and not the content. 

   Something within him leapt back into life. The unexpected message resuscitated a familiar feeling, a feeling of excitement. Along with the feeling came plans, plans long buried. These recollections snowballed into a wave towering over him, surging, breaking but... just then, he remembers. 

   There in that fleeting moment of silence, he whispered, "remember me for the things I lay down for Thee."

cultural omnivores

All they gather is that the people from other cultures are so much friendlier.
They are waiters after all.

2nd Gear

Not really familiar with the way gears work since I have yet learn to drive.
As far as the meaning goes though, it's pretty obvious that this week marks a shift in gears.

As a whole I'm convinced that I'm a lot more diligent than I was last semester. At the very least I've been completing my readings way before class starts.
Open house deadlines are drawing near... and so are some early assignments. That, and I'm teaching the next sunday school lesson.

I wonder if it's too harsh on myself, but I think a lot more can be done. I can still afford to watch less youtube and also relegate the hobby times to after I'm done with work.

Thinking back a year, I feel blessed. I'm already doing many things I didn't imagine myself to be doing. I've lost the appetite for certain things and now once again more willing to live life radically.

Satisfy me with the good things O Lord. Show me that your love is better than life. Take delight in me and your joy will be my strength.