#170 Watershed Year (14jan08)

'You cannot serve two masters; God and money. For you will hate one and love the other, or else the other way around'
Matthew 6:24

Another new year, another new beginning, or will it be more of the same pattern of emotional rollercoaster that marks the travails of our finite human life. Drowning our struggles of most of the previous calendar year with a well deserved spending binge at year-end, and as we sober up for this new calendar year, making great new plans, and ignoring the uncertain fears and trepidations of what lies ahead, that might hang over or even hang us, as we plow on.

'Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, to be tempted there by Satan'
Matthew 4:1

If you profess to be a believer, than you must believe that the devil will hate to have you stay faithful to God, and he will want to bring you back into his sphere of influence. We might be the lamp that the light of our Lord Jesus Christ shines forth, but the darkness of the sinful world is the reality that encapsulates our present surrounds.

'…For the Scriptures tell us that bread won't feed men's souls; obedience to every word of God is what we need'
Matthew 4:4

Like the ever indulgent chef, the devil knows that man is weakest, when their flesh simmers in the comfort of their worldly blessings. Just a hair's breath away from year end, this truth was brought to me in a nicely packaged surprise gift. Much as I know what the right decision must be in the eyes of the Lord our God, my carnal self struggled to justify the desires of my heart, Truly, the daily prayer that Jesus Christ taught all who believed, which included the line "lead me not to temptation" attests to the easy susceptibility of all imperfect human beings, to the wiles of the devil and our sinful self-deceitful self.

'And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy you with all good things, and keep you healthy too, and you will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever flowing spring'
Isaiah 58:11

Thankfully, God brought me out of the brink of a wrongful decision, and while He left me to make that obvious first right move, His affirmation and assurance came right on that instant of my Spirit led overcoming of the sinful desires of the flesh.

'But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped'
Psalms 73:1-2

As I pondered upon the Word of our God, in thanksgiving for His grace, in ensuring that I did not make a mis-step in my walk with Him, He brought me to the Book of Matthews. The short synopsis in the page I read, this being a study guide bible, shined forth with the words "God or prosperity?'

It is true that God will bless the faithful. But blessings need not just be material, as many are apt to wrongfully believe. Blessing is the joy of knowing God on a daily basis, knowing that He stands with us through the ups and downs of our lives, that He takes care of us even in the very minute details of our daily steps, as we experience His grace and love.
It is also true that God wants us to enjoy the fruits of the Earth that He created. But it is not about accumulation, but about contentment(ie being thankful to God for all circumstances), it is about stewardship(dependency upon God always) and not on self or others.

'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid'
John 14:27

If we understand the nature of our relationship with God, we will learn to be oblivious(as in ignoring and not as in wistfully unaware) to the alluring wiles of the devil, the rational and sinful deceit that emanates from all of us and will always learn to submit to God, resist the devil and the devil will flee from us. At every fork road of life's dilemma, there is always one right way, God's way, His will.

'And the Lord shall smite Egypt; He shall smite and heal it; and they shall return even to the Lord , and He shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them'
Isaiah 19:22

Litmus test is something that lingered in my conscience as a test that all students took as part of their introduction to the much hallowed study of science, in their secondary one days. Even in those early days, I was not much of a science afiociondo, and if red was the color of choice, than my test marks for science were awashed with that wonderful color.
Without the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I would have failed the litmus test of obedience to God's will. If there was any small credit that can be attributed to me, the sinful soul, it was and still is my daily desire to seek the Lord our God with all my heart, soul and mind. That daily discipline has ensured that I hear God better, that my heart is more aligned with Him, that the fear of Him ensures that I do no wrong, wilfully.

'And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two Thou hast chosen…'
Acts 1:24

For those who professed to be Christians, indeed, we are blessed that God chose us and took us out of the darkness into His light.

'For God Who commandedthe ligth to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'
2 Corinthians 4:6

This privilege is in terms of timing, as to when one sees the light, and not in terms of salvation for all, for Jesus has promised that all will hear the Word of God before He returns.
And for those whom much is given, much is expected in faithful response to God's leading.

'Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it
……Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached, entered not in because of unbelief'
Hebrews 4:1, 6

In life, most swim with the currents of life, like the flotsam in a swirling, polluted river, flowing along till they are caught up by some low hanging branches and hence ends their miserable journey in life.
Some are prepared to swim against the current, determined to create order out of disorder in their lives, but most end in despair and disappointment. Even for the few who made it, it comes with great costs and the temerity of their joy is painfully brief.

Moving onto terra firma, or at least the land from which water is drained into the body of water. Watershed is all the land area that drains to a given body of water. We are that human watershed. Also known as catchment area. On a spiritual level, our souls will eventually leave our bodily shell and end up somewhere, question is, should it be hell or heaven?

'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me……to preach good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim libety to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn..'
Isaiah 61:1-2

The year has hardly started but the floor on the financial markets increasingly looks like it might just opened up and swallow up many who were not too prudent in their investments.
But could this year also be a watershed year for most spiritually? A year where one can no longer straddle the fence, with one leg each on either side of the great divide. This could be the year where one has to either choose to follow our Lord Jesus with all our all, or be truly a scion of the present sinful world.

Would you make that choice by desire or by compulsion?

God Blesses

Eng Hieang