#179 Hunger (4apr08)

'Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!...'
Nahum 1:15

Recipients of bad news sometimes kill the messenger and much as my recent sharings have been clothed in less than idyllic surroundings, let me tarry here and remind all that indeed beneath the 'bad' news is truly the good news, of the gospel of peace, love and salvation.

'The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him…'
Nahum 1:7

An oft quoted comment that successful enterpreneurs, when asked for that 'magic' ingredient in their recipe for success besides attributing it to some luck, more hard work and often the right connections, are mostly agreed on the need for self-belief.
Belief might be the same noun used here, but with God, it is about belief in Him, and not in ourselves or others.

'Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods….'
Isaiah 41:23

'Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?'
Isaiah 2:22

Many an astrologer, soothsayer or whatever self-professed predictor of the future might call themselves have had their day in the spotlight, but it usually is not sustainable, for only God is Sovereign.

''Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.'
Isaiah 42:18

Who is blind, but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger that I sent?....'
Isaiah 42:19

Most will probably not agree that they are blinded by the illusions of Satan's deceit and their own self-delusions and that only God can lift the blindness in their hearts.
But all should agree that I cannot predict. If so, what value is there in plodding furthur into this sharing?

'The Lord hath purposed…….He hath not withdrawn His hand from destroying……'
Lamentations 2:8

Now that sentiments in the financial markets are a little more benign or hopeful, what with the Central Banks' intense flushing of the global financial system with liquidity and now that some of the present main actors in the scene seemingly more secure or at least more upfront about their past sins, life should move on and the sun should shine again!!
I have my personal doubts, but rather than give too much credence to at best a guess on my part, why not let us be still and hear what is the will of the Lord our God for us this very moment.

'They who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets…'
Lamentations 4:5

I did promise not to be a bearer of unbearable news, but truly this was the verse that crossed my sight these past few days. But then, I am not alone, for a quick glimpse of the newspapers these past few days would have revealed a major concern with not just the costs but also the source of our food supply. The long neglected agrarian sector has now come roaring back into our senses with a vengeance.

'They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger……………..'
The hand so the pitiful women have sodden their own children; they were their meat ……'
Lamentations 4:9-10

'Our skins was black like an oven because of the terrible famine'
Lamentations 5:10

It is said that a man can live without food for possibly a 100 days, but tarry not more than a few days without water and he is ready for the taxidermist. The churning of a hungry stomach might eventually lead to a less than aethetically bloated belly, but an unsated thirst is not the least painful way to depart this difficult world.
It is also said that the next major conflicts of the world will not be over oil, nor food, but over water. With China damming the upper reaches of the Mekong River, with India damming the Ganges River, maybe we are not too far away from that reality.

'For a dream cometh through the multitude of concerns; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words'
Ecclesiastes 5:3

I am back to my normal parched days of minimal dreams. Possibly, being in a 'safe haven' like our little Red Dot, I should logically feel quite well secured, what with the powers to be reassuring all on the adequacies of our food supplies. Why benefit the weevils by hoarding a couple bags more rice, which will only prolong my agony that bit longer in the event of a true catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.

Being thrifty with my dreams, should I not be equally sparing with my words and end it here(not our lives), but the sharing??

'Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest'
Luke 10:2

Luke 10:2 is not about God's reassurance that there is an abundance of grain just waiting for our pickings( For He hath always and already hath provided to the faithful).
But rather in times of upheavals like now, shaken lives are more ready to be 'harvested,' to be willing to consider the call of God before it is too late.

'Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?'
Job 3:11

Would physical, material and emtional deprivation eventually drive many to a state of mind and desire to end it all. To curse the day that they were born? Who like the many refugees in Darfur ate whatever is available, even branches and roots just to relieve the upheavals in both their groaning stomachs and their wretched lives?

'Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns………..'
Job 5:5

Or would Job 5:5 be symbolic of the great spiritual hunger that will arise in the hearts of many, as they begin to rest their hope in the Lord our God and not upon the things of the world, and as they respond to the will of God, they will begin to experience the living waters of our Great and Divine God?

'Arise, cry out in the night; …….pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street..'
Lamentations 2:19

'I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause.
Job 5:8

'The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him'
Psalm 67:6

I would not dare fathom a hint of a prediction nor do I wish to have a Jonah- like desire to wish the worse for anyone, but lets not wait for this possibility of a conflagration to be a reality before one move from doodle to doing

'For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me…..'
Job 3:12

'In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink'
He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water'
John 7:37-38

God Blesses

Eng Hieang
5April2008