#153 Fish in troubled waters (26 aug 07)

'As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world..'
John 9:5

This was Jesus Christ's obedient and faithful response to the will of God His Father and a call to all of us who have been blessed to be brought out of the darkness by the Lord our God to do the same.
But can we the imperfect be the same as the Perfect and unblemished lamb of God?
I have come to learn that what matters is not us, but God and our desire to be in His presence. He will use us warts and all, as the lamp upon which His light will shine forth.

'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them…'
Ezekiel 37:25-27

You might by God's grace come to the same realization as myself and be willing to be renewed by the Spirit of God, but would most of the world be willing?
Can a square peg be willing to be chiselled into a round hole?

'If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?'
Psalm 130:3

What about the world?

'So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was a beast before Thee. Nevertheless, I am continually with Thee; Thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Thou guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Psalm 73:22-24

Sometimes in our desire to change the world, there is this burning desire or more like anger in us to literally be a firebug. To reduce to sooty ashes, the human representation of all that is dark and sinful in this world. In our own warped and deceitful thoughts, we do allow Satan to slip in a thought that the 'end do justify the means' and such riff raffs of the sinful world deserve their just desserts.
Thankfully, God has never left us to our own devices, for His love clings on to us, and even on the many occasions that we blink and lose our focus on Him, He is there.
Still on the wild and sinful side we might be, but it is with gratitude that God placed that desire in us to want to look to Him always, even if the pulls of the sinful world and the push of our sinful self pleads otherwise.

'But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Thy works'
Psalm 73:28

Like the intense fires we witness on the television screens during those scorching dry summers in Australia, Europe, California, can we sinful and wilful humans, with too fertile a lustful mind, be able to achieve that degree of intense passion and comittment to our faith and to the author of our faith, Lord Jesus Christ?

Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.'
Psalm 73:25

I am given to understand that one reason bush fires burn so intensely is because of the hugh amount of dried dead leaves and branches, that was never cleared and became a natural source of fuel for the raging inferno.
Metaphorically, is it always a necessity for our very souls to be parched, our hearts totally downtrodden, our pride turn to despair, our efforts and sense of control gone haywire, will then the unrepentant men be willing to thirst and reach out for the spring of God's love that waters forth?
How much more troubles must a man go through before he realize the futility of his earthly pursuits, the paucity of his human endeavours and the infinite grace of God?

'Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield not meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls;
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation..'
Habakkuk 3:17-18

I have improved that tad more. I still allow my sinful emotions to lead me for a while, but I have learned not to let it reign supreme, by always willing myself to come to the Lord our God.
Even as my carnal flesh wars against my inner soul's desire to be right with the Lord, as I go through spasms of guilt and self-righteous anger, I am thankful that the desire to seek the Lord's presence has never left me.

'Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord………….'
Psalm 130:3-4


'I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning.'
Psalm 130:5-6

At this juncture, some of you might not be wrong to think that here was a chap whose life is quite often emotionally wracked, hence the fertile material for his torrent of weekly ramblings.
But rest assured that truly, by the grace of God, I have always emerged stronger in character, and my faith furthur reinforced, for it is often in such times, that God speaks to me or rather, I hear Him better.
A touch of arrogance it might seem, but it is not meant to be, but rather an awe inspired statement of fact of truly how God moulds us, if we let Him.

'…Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught'
And Simon answering said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net'
And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their net break'
Luke 5:4-6

This was the verse in a note of thanks that I received from the Daily Bread for sharing with them God's blessings. The story of how plentiful fish appeared where none was before is not new to us. However, it was an appropriate reminder for me, as I wallowed in frustration at how difficult and how illogical are the people whom the Lord places in my path, who are still blinded by their greed and fear, and still cannot understand the blessings that they have, and with their eyes fixed on the world, the Godly values of contentment and stewardship resonates not.
Does not that same sense of despair not emanate from the many faithful servants of the Lord in whatever ministry that the Lord places them, for we are in a world that is blinded by its sins.

'I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase'
1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Truly, I am reminded that it is not what we do, or think,but rather what the Lord wills and whether we will be prepared to respond in obedience and faith, much as we might want to question the wisdom of God's command. Simon in Luke 5:4-6 epitomises the questioning us, but he also led by example, the response that all who knows God should exude.

A few years back, I was on my one and only deep sea fishing expedition(if a half day trip qualifies as one). It was an epic, for myself and my two dear but now departed friends. Each one of us were in various stages of sea-sickness, and fishing was the last thing on our fully roiled mind. Still, in those brief moments of stability, we managed to get a few decent fishes, simply because the guide just passed on the hooked fish for us to reel in. I still have a picture of 3 of us with a man size marlin, standing on solid land and looking none the worse.

The fish has long been eaten, and both my friends have gone on to, I pray a nicer place with the Lord our God, but I am while alive, no different from those sea sick moments. Much as I like to be a good fisherman for the Lord, to reel in more souls to His kingdom, the troubled waters that the world finds itself enmeshed in has often caused me to struggle in finding my feet and like the ' bridge over troubled waters' (a song by Simon and Garfunkel), truly, God is the One who has seen me through and used me, the unusable, by bridging the many deficiencies in my life, by being that bridge that allows me to rest my troubled soul upon.

'I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bonds of your yoke and made you walk upright'
Leviticus 26:13-14

God Blesses

Eng Hieang

God affirms, when we respond. As I finally cleared the fog in my brain and understood His will. He brought me to this verse that I have been searching for the past one week. This was a verse that describe my one and only visual experience with Him, a few years back. Crazy as it may sound, as I read my Bible this morning, it slipped off my hands and the page opened into this very specific verse which stared right at me.

'And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the East; and His voice was like a noise of many waters, and the earth shined with His glory.
And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw……..
……And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate…..
So the Spirit lifted me up and …….behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house'
Ezekiel 43:1-6
(if you care to, do read http://www.hieang.com/12To%20be%20like%20Joseph%2027aug03.htm)