#146 Hiatus (20 jul 07)

‘……Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away……’
Isaiah 47:10-11

Fear, greed and pride is not new.
In the long destroyed city of Pompeii, archaelogists have unearthed entombed remains of long departed souls, still clinging on to their earthly treasures, even in the face of death. If not for the fact that the treasures had weighed down their agility, could they have fled the wrath of Mt Vesusius?

History is not everyone’s cuppa.
My daughter had a great way to stay awake when revising this dry and laborious subject(at least for her). She tested me and thankfully, by the grace of God, I managed to get some answers right, despite leaving school eons back.

One question raised was “What is meant by the Golden Age?”

By all accounts, we are in the Golden Age.

This is a time of great prosperity(booming stock-markets, bricks and mortars worth more than their weight in gold and stratospheric art prices), innovation(the world and all its shenigans are in your room) and cultural achievements(eg the Paris charm on the Hilton name)
Millionaires while not a dime a dozen, are aplenty and billion dollar income while mind boggling is a reality.

Looking good, living longer, increased mobility and global interface have indeed made our world smaller, but no worries, space travel will bring new enthusiasm to the jaded palate.

‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’
Psalm 22:1

As most of us who are privileged to be comfortable ensconced on this Sunday morning reading our papers, be it in our nice abode(though increasingly there will be many homeless millionaires, but that is another story about the Great Singapore en bloc sale) or be in one of those popular Sunday brunch wolfing down our monies worth, it is indeed strange and maybe disconcerting to read about the increased rate of suicide amongst the older and usually single folks. And not forgetting teen pregnancies, paedophiles, broken homes, depressed teenagers, and the whole works.

Are we missing something??

‘Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering , He will see His offspring and prolong His days and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand…’
Isaiah 53:10-11

The self righteousness be it a deliberate comment or a manifestation of our sinful subconscious, often tend to draw a judgment upon the miseries of a person as a result of past sinful behavior or fate(synonym for luck).

God allowed His only Son, Jesus Christ, the perfect and unblemished lamb to be sacrificed to atone for all our sins. It was not a question of sinful behavior or fate.

But what about God’s intent for His flock, ie you and I?

‘…now we know that You have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he will never taste death’
John 8:52

Eternal life might be the last thing for one who is wallowing in the present misery but it should appeal to those swimming in the midst of plenty. but would it??

There are many ways to skin a cat, and in the same vein, people of all shades, color and across the spectrum of society end their lives for various reasons and in various ways.
The finite world and the finite human can never achieve by our own efforts, what the Lord our God has programmed in all of us, ie that desire to know God and be like Christ, and to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit who will fill us with this indescribable peace and joy, for then only can our DNA be complete.

‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord’
Luke 55:8

Not all will share this view, not all will understand or want to understand.
The print media in recent times have brought to its pages interesting thoughts and discourse on issues of secularity and spirituality.

There was a book(a best seller to boot, at least that is what the publisher claimed) that has its theme, “religion is the cause of all evil”
The author claims in his diatribe against spirituality, that without the deep-rooted biasedness of religion, the intelligent men will be free from the fetters of hatred and judgement, and the world will be a better place for all.

‘And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life’
John 5:40

Adolf Hitler believed in the superiority of the German Aryan race and the world almost ended in a mess. Karl Marx was a great thinker and the underpinnings of communism was for a more equitable relationship amongst men. Like the pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, all are equal, but some are above equal in practice.

Man, the imperfect and sinful creature cannot play God.

Look at the hullabaloo and tense relations in almost all condominiums in Singapore as men play judge as regards what is good for the community and themselves.
The tourists looking for new sightings of the “Ugly Singaporean” need not look too far.

To use a broad brush generalization on all humanity as greedy and selfish might not seem too fair. There are indeed good man with good intentions, even if they do not believe in God.
But what is good? Only God knows a man’s heart. Only God knows what is ahead, and so often, good intentions by the mortal man might lead to disastrous consequences.
Maybe, Bush and Blair will continue to sing this song about Iraq.

What about the religious man? Is his god or gods better or worse than my God?

Some might believe that the troubles of the world today is a direct consequence of the clash of civilization, between the dominant Western democracies, girded on Christianity(though interestingly, Europe save for Britain and Eastern Europe) is more secular than God fearing today) and the resurgence of the golden age of the Muslim world, which ended with the Ottoman Empire.

If life was this clear, than the Catholic Irish and the Protestant Irish in Northern Ireland should be at peace, for they share the same God.
Or for that matter, Christians anywhere in the world should always be enamored of each other and quarrels and divorces should have never part of the statistics of the ills of every society.

‘Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy…..’
Psalm 33:18

By the grace of God, my God and your God, I have learnt that it is better to take time with the Lord my God than to whine away and draw lines upon which one play judge on others.

Hiatus is not the same as the word, ‘furlough’ or for that matter, “siesta” but it does evokes thoughts of truly taking time off, for recharging, for reflection.

‘…a man after My own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’
Acts 13:22

When was the last time, if at all, that you took time to be with the Lord our God?
For those who disbelieve, when was the last time that this niggling in your heart, a vacuum in your hearts, that the things of the world can never fill?

On the plane two weeks back, I happened to come across an article on the father of minimalists advertising. This German chap who started with a fairly detailed painting for an ad-print for a tobacco company, and by the time he was satisfied, it was down to 2 matchsticks in a plain vanilla background.
Simplicity does have its virtues, and his career literally took off on the coat-tails of an uncluttered message.

Let me end my convoluted sharing with this verse and indictment. Do reflect upon it as you take time or at least entertain that thought of ever coming to the Lord.

‘…it was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put if from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles’
Acts 13:46

God Blesses

Eng Hieang