#141 What for ? (12 jun 07)

'Ye have said, It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,,,,,?'
Malachi 3:14

It was quite surreal for me to be walking down the lovely stretch of walkway from Raffles City to Wesley Methodist Church up at Fort Canning Hill. On a windless but nevertheless rather comfortable Sunday morning(at 7a.m) , now we understand why nostalgia sells, for this was the stomping ground of my youth, when most of the so called elite schools were in the Bras Basah vincinity.
On my left were the vestiges of the past, the old Capitol theatre(with the old Polar café having long vacated its premises), a few steps down the now defunct temple of knowledge, the old MPH bookstore, replaced by some advant garde furniture shop and just across the road, the newly revitalized National Museum, with a spruced up façade saved for a few old Banyan trees.
Running parallel to the old, on my right, was the new and the vibrant. The spanking new city campus of our third University, the Singapore Management University(SMU) came across like a breath of fresh air, a vibrancy that reminds one of an earlier and more youthful past, with the promise of a brave new world

'He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers…'
Malachi 4:5-6

Can an old work horse teach new tricks to the frolicking foals?

I was younger once, but could have we learned anything from the experiences of life, that can be imparted to the new generation?

'…for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.'
2 Kings 22:13

Like the financial markets, in every new cycle, it is a new paradigm and those who are not burdened by the fetters of past experiences tend to do better for a while, because they dare to tread new grounds(risky to us, exciting to them) and the old are consigned to history. Yet, like the regularity of the tides, man tend to let their pride blind them to the follies of their greed and when fear finally comes to the forefront and cut through the illusion of invincibility or more like bravado, the perceived derring do of youth, transforms into an overbearing albatross of pain. The consistency of markets in punishing greed and ill-discipline does not differentiate between ages.

'Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple…..
But who may abide the day of His coming….?'
Malachi 3:1-2

Today, investors are again caught in this coundrum of certain greed and uncertain fear. Whenever I reflect back on the lessons learnt from the post party hangovers of past stockmarket crashes, of what was till recently a surging period of greed and bullishness, to only subsequently end in grieve and dismay, is that man is always consistenty inconsistent? We are no different from the mice on a threadmill. Our fears and our greed keep us going and we cannot bear to stop till the train derail upon us.

'Woe to those sho go down to Egypt for help…..who trust in chariots……
But don’t look to the Holy One of Israel. Nor seek the Lord….'
Isaiah 3:1-2

God took us out of the bondage of sin and death by the sacrifice of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. But for many of us, the forbidden fruit of pride, lusts, greed and all that is potent is difficult to give up and we find ourselves often going back to the bonds of our Egpytian past, for that momentary pleasure.

'Now the Egyptians are men and not God'
Isaiah 31:1-2

"What for!!" was more an expression rather than a question that my daughter posed to me in her semi-groggy and incoherent sleepy stupor, as she happened to awaken as I was about to embark for my nice 15mins walk to church. The family took a night stay at the Westin hotel, and understandably, it is hard at the wee hours of the morning to be fully cognizance of one's thoughts.
But in our more conscious moments, many of us, by our actions and by the way we live our lives, do emanate or rather imply quite clearly a 'what for' attitude, often veering dangerously close to a total disregard for the Lord our God, whose very presence is with us all, much as we might choose to believe otherwise.

'..The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, on your account, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed will be burned'
2 Peter 3:8-10

Patience is a virtue. Trouble is that most of us are fast degenerating into ' terminally ill' souls, whose very sinfulness and disobedience placed us squarely in the hothouse of Satan's realm.

'But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in Your sight….'
Nehemiah 9:28

God draws near to us, as we draw near to Him. Coincidentally or rather, by His perfect Hands, the sermon for that Sunday was about "following Jesus every way - He will come again to judge the living and the dead"

For truly,

'But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father'
Matthew 24:35

''Those who believe in Him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the Name of the only Son of God'
John 3:18

As I retraced my footsteps after the Church service, to return back to my temporary abode at the hotel, the sun was out, but so was a nice comfortable breeze, for the Lord not just comforts us, but provides comforts even in such small matters. Wondering and wandering souls of sinful distractions some of us might be, but as I journeyed back, it sort of struck me that the parameters of my walk was marked by a triangle with a church at every point ie
The St Andrews Cathedral(across from Raffles City) at the starting point of my journey,
The Wesley Methodist Church at the end of the road
And the Church of the Good Shepherd at the mid point of the two churches.

Indeed, God truly wants us all to come into His kingdom. We are in the midst of His grace, but we often tend to be ignorant or consider irrelevant His call, till the day, we take that little big fall from our sinful pedestals of life. Prayerfully, in such moments, when we might engage both in nostalgia and regrets, the Lord will lift the blindness in our hearts, to see His grace.
Still, we must be willing to let Him.

Maybe, just maybe, at that point of inflexion, we will move away from 'what for' to 'going forth' into His kingdom

God Blesses

Eng Hieang




But not what for, but rather to go forth

'Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near….'
Isaiah 55:6

'His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps'