#135 Papillon (3may07)

And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for My name's sake, not according to your wicked ways....'
Ezekiel 20:44

Today, the palm fringed beaches of French Guiana, South America evokes memories of your last idyllic escape from the demands of daily life.
But till the better early half of the 20th century, these cluster of islands, the most notorious of which, appropriately named "Devil's Island," were the infamous French penal colony, where the so called misfits and smut of Viva France were exiled to, to live out their last days in absolute misery.

'Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart'
2 Corinthians 3:3

Papillon was a film based on a true story about a man wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to spend the rest of his life at Devil's Island in brutal French Guiana. It starred the late Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. I was reminded of this film last week, when I happened to watch a documentary in Discovery Channel on the conditions in the penal colony.
There were different stages of hell these men would go through, depending upon how soon their will and spirits were broken. The least subservient were subjected to the most brutal treatment and none were ever expected to leave Guiana alive.

'But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. For He shall receive me'
Psalm 49:15

Often, from a physical context, life on earth might seem that way for many. For all of us on this mailing list, it would be correct to say that we are very blessed to be living in an environment of general comfort, peace and plenty. If you were in Iraq, Somalia, Dafour where miseries are aplenty, than death for many might be a release.

If life on earth is a bliss, why are so many of us still sporadically happy, never really at peace and by habit, put on worry as our permanent second coat??

'...behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me , and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper'
2 Kings 5:11

Naman, who was a highly regarded general of Syria, expected the famous prophet of Israel, to do something miraculous, when he seek his help to heal his leprosy. Naman expected some dramatic sound and light show, he never expected a simple solution as a prescription to his long intractable skin disease

There is a Naman in each and everyone of us. We often define 'bliss' in our very finite and flawed terms. If not an idyllic but materially gratifying existence and if that is not possible, then it should be us who set the parameters of our miseries and no one else.

'...Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel...'
2 Kings 5:15

Life as defined by the secular world is indeed stranger than fiction. For many, we hope to cumulate immense wealth to last us more than a lifetime, though our life is finite. Many are prepared to endure that pain and strain, inorder to get that material gain, which in reality, is immaterial for it will not extend our immortality nor can we bring our earthly treasures beyond our mortality.

'Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lod's wrath...'
Zephaniah 1:18

Ever since the collecting bug took a more intense bite out of me the past 5 years, I have spend a fair bit of time rummaging through estate sales worldwide(ie the sale of mementos cumulated from years of dedicated collecting). What was perceived to be treasures to the deceased, might not be for their heirs, and what gripped the now dead owner's hearts, mind and their very soul might mean nothing to their heirs, other than the financial value of such sales.

Provenance is a key factor for any serious collector when it comes to parting with their monies for that next delectable piece of inanimate work of art.
Provenance is the history of the previous owners of this now for sale item, and an item which has a string of reputable owners will give alot of credence to the genuiness and value of what one is about to buy, for quality fakes do abound in this fast booming area.

Coming to the human life, very few of us collect cadavers, unless you are in the medical field or there is a change in your taste buds.
But for all of us, by the time we depart this world, we would have cumulated a history, be it chequered, glorious or just plain as vanilla.
Some of us placed our life's story in an obituray, some on their tombstone, some in some endowments or in the history books, for most, time will consign us to distant if not fading memories.

Rich or poor, eminent or just a Mr Average, having lived a full life or a foolish life, are we all not any different from the prisoners in French Guiana?
Is not our life driven by our sense of insecurity, selfish pride, insatiable greed, fleeting lusts. These are the chains and balls that are strapped to our hearts and soul, and as long as our focus is upon what the sinful world offers, we will always be a prisoner of our desires, be it a gilt edged cage or a mud-baked cell.

In French Guiana, the prison wardens want to break the prisoners' spirit. Once subservient, they are treated less cruelly.
With the devil, he does not want to break you. But rather, he wants you to be entrapped in his illusory world and till the day your soul leaves your bodily shell, it would be too late for you to break free.

'I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living'
Psalm 27:13

God wants a broken and contrite heart from us. For only in letting go, will we let Him. God is not looking to impose His will upon us, but He knows that till the day we learn to look to Him and let Him, can we truly break free from the grip of the devil.

I am often reminded in my times of difficulties, when it seems easier to submit to the ways of the world, for relief albeit temporal, seems much more within reach, that we are asked to truly remember that God is in-charge and that submission there must be, but only to Him and Him only.
Difficulties of life are often the softener that God uses to loosen our fearful and fretful grip on the wrong hands, ie the hands of the devil that is leading us astray and away from His love.

'I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to Me, saith the Lord.'
Haggai 2:17

If He breaks us, He will not just heal us, but bring us out even more wonderfully. That is God and that is the reason for our desire to seek Him, our confidence in Him, for He is our ever present light and source of all comfort in this present Devil's Island that the world lives in today.

There is a God-shaped vacumn in each and everyone of us. Only in looking to God always will we find fulfilment and can we then be truly free.

'If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own'
John 7:17

God Blesses

Eng Hieang