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Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too

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much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy

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for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect

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yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to

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keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are

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going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words

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today and receive the power we need to live healthy,

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vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,

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author speaker, Elle David Harris.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Tuesday. If

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at Brewary eleven, February eleven, can you pronounce February twenty

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twenty five. Hello. My name is Elle David Harris. I

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am your host, and this is your Daily Portion where

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we give you God's word every single day, and today

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is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study

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series God's Love and Justice, and our caption for today

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is the skeptical Theist. The skeptical Theist, I know it

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sounds complicated, really, just somebody who believes in God who

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is skeptical at times. I'll just keep that right where

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it is. We'll get into that in just a moment.

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But first I'd like to say welcome to you and

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ask you to go over to your Daily Portion dot

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com please join our online community. I want you to

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click the number seven at that website. I'm not asking

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you to type number seven in the feed. I'm saying

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when you go to your Daily portion dot com, you're

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going to see a seven on the screen. I want

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you to hit that number seven and subscribe there at

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your Daily portion dot com. This is one of the

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ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's

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go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway.

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Father and Heaven, thank you for giving us this new day,

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and for the love that you have entrusted to our care.

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For loving us, and I pray that you will fill

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us with your holy spirit, help us to choose not

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to be skeptical of you, but to trust you in

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every detail of our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray,

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Amen and Amen again. The skeptical theist, I'm going to

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read directly from the lessons so I don't have to

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try to make sense of this caption, and it reads.

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One way of approaching the problem of evil based on

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recognizing how little we know, is called skeptical theism. The

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skeptical theist is one who believes God has good reasons

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for acting as he does, but given our limited can

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I use that word again, our limited knowledge, we should

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not expect to be in a position to know just

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what those reasons are. The skeptical theist is skeptical regarding

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the human capacity to be aware of or to understand

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fully God's reasons relative to the evil that is in

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the world one more sentenced. The fact that one does

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not know what God's reasons are certainly does not mean

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that God has no good reasons. Now, I don't know

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why we make up these really complicated terminologies, but the

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fact is humans don't know everything. The Bible says very clearly,

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like clear language, very clearly, that there are secrets that

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remain secrets. These are God's secrets, but what he reveals

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to us is for us and our children. Can I

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say that again? This is what the Bible says, that

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there are some things that are secrets that God keeps

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that way, and then what he does reveal is for

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us and our children. So as long as we understand

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that and trust God, we're good to go. Okay, So

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don't worry about the complicated terminology that we use sometimes.

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And so Psalms chapter seventy three, the Book of Psalms,

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chapter seventy three is really the backdrop of our discussion.

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But I want to simplify even that that chapter, because

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there are twenty eight verses with eight points. Okay, and

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so the first point is, first of all, this is

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written by Asaff. There is an introduction and inner turmoil. Okay,

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there is an introduction and inner turmoil, as highlighted in

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verses one and two. Truly God is good to his

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people to such as are pure in heart. But as

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for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had

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nearly slipped. It's like, whoa, what just happened? What just happened?

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He's he's struggling, is what is going on? And so

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he's getting trying to get a grasp of what is

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actually going on when there are things that don't function

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in the way that he anticipates. And I think Paul

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grappled with that discussion about believing in God at least,

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and then somehow he found that there was something else

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working in his life. And so in Romans chapter seven,

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verses twenty two and twenty three, for I delight in

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the law of God according to the inward man. But

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I see another law in my members, warring against the

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law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to

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the law of sin. Now, Asaf didn't say that this

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is what was going on that last part with him,

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but it says to the law of sin, which is

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in my members. This is just to highlight the discussion

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about this internal dissonance, the friction that goes on in

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people's minds at times when we believe intellectually what God

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is saying. And some people, while they say that they believe,

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we say we believe, sometimes struggle when certain things just

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don't pencil out, whether in our own character but in

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this case in society around us. And then comes the

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envy of the wicked's prosperity, so verses three through twelve

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of chapter seventy three of the Psalms. It describes the

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prosperity of the wicked, and Asaf's envy. It's like what

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he wanted to know, like why is it that they

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seem to prosper but I'm not having the same prosperity.

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And then in Job chapter twenty one, verse seven, the

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Bible reads, why do the wicked, live, become old, yes,

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and are mighty in power. So there's this struggle trying

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to understand thinking that it's a one to one correlation.

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If you're if you do good or you do well,

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then fill in the positive blank. If you don't live

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well or don't do good, then follow with the negative blank. Well,

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that's not always how things work, at least not on

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the surface. Okay. And then comes and then comes self

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reflection on personal suffering in Psalm chapter seventy three, verses

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thirteen and fourteen. All day long, I have been plagued

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and chastened every morning. That's part of the thought, part

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of the thought. And then in Jeremiah chapter twelve, verse one,

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the Bible reads, righteous, are you, o Lord when I

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plead with you? Yet, let me talk to you about

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your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

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Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? Okay? Now

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we go to number four, insight from the sanctuary experience. Okay,

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so now there is some light coming in from the

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sanctuary verse thirty five, verse seventeen of chapter seventy three.

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Until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I

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understood their end and so he was concerned and confused.

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And then God took his mindset, ASA's mindset into what

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I call the inner sanctum, like God is showing him

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through the plan of salvation as illustrated in the Sanctuary,

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the very presence of God. What this really means in

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Isaac and in a Exodus chapter thirty three and verse fourteen,

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it's it reads, and he said, my presence will go

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with you, and I will give you rest. If you

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want rest unto your soul. Ah, if you want to

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have the kind of trust that you need, then follow

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God into the sanctuary, into his presence, where there is

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light and salvation. Oversimplifying, of course, and then there is

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a realization of what happens to unrepentant wicked people. In

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Psalm chapter seventy three, verses eighteen through twenty, it describes

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the sudden destruction of those who are unrepentant. The Bible

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shows also in Luke chapter twelve and verse twenty. But

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God said to that kind of a person full this

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night your soul will be required of you. Then whose

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will be these things which you have provided? Okay, and

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so there's so much more, But the bottom line is

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that this person who does not understand God's will does

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have the privilege to trust God enough and wait for

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the outcome. Make it a great day.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening.

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Speaker 2: Friends.

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Speaker 1: Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by

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every word that comes from the mouth of God. This

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has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make

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it a great day. Yeah,