'Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow…'
Isaiah 1:17
Such thought of charitability would be naturally far off the minds of many, for when self is at risk, can we truly spare a thought for others? Yet, the Lord our God says that it is in giving that we will receive.
America has now placed its hope on Obama. Not unsurprising given his great communicative abilities, the freshness of youth, vigour and an electorate who desire change, for change always bring forth that glimmer of hope, especially in such dire times. The whimsical thought just struck me that the President-elect will be the 44th in office. Would the first 4 represent the death of the material riches that many have become addicted to. Does it portend 4 more bad years in Obama's first term in office? Would the 2nd 4 signal a 2nd term for the President and a time that many would willingly sell their souls in exchange for the old glory days of materialism? For 44 be it in Hokkien or Cantonese has the double death intonation. But add the two 4s together, we will get the digit 8, (prosperity in Cantonese). Would the future portend men's willingness to sell their soul for a recovery of their temporary wealth?
There is a season for every reason. In times of plenty, we have the prosperity theory, where many flock to both within and without the church for that ticket on the gravy train. In difficult times like now, many look for that valium of life to not just calm their nerves, but to bring sense to the senseless destruction in their midst. Theories and prophesies do a roaring trade, as deception thrives in the midst of fear.
So it is time for me to move on from my own sinful attempt at postulation and come to what is truly God's calling for all of us, ie to be like Him and not be Him.
'Or did the Word of God go out from you? Or did it reach only to you?'
1 Corinthians 14:36
Encouragement, assurance or even a listening ear is what many will need now and in the near future. Of course, it will not take away their many financial woes, but it is a good start. The Word of the Lord has blessed me in so many ways, and it is my desire to share His Words with all, as He leads. For His Words will not just edify, but clarify. It is manna for the parched souls in the present desert of their lives.
'Also it was I Who brought you up from the land of Egypt. And led you forty years through the wilderness……'
Amos 2:10
The Israelites of old, were groaning and moaning under the heavy bondage of their Egyptian masters. God took them out of that bondage, but after the initial euphoria, the Israelites were harking for the bad old days in Egypt, where in exchange for lousy food, they were subjected to even lousier treatment.
Many of us spent a disproportionate part of our lives chasing the temporal. Many more groan and moan and never found peace and joy in the midst of these pursuits. With the looming economic shakeout, many will no longer have a job to grumble about. And many will not have to worry too much about their wealth, for most of it would have dissipated. Cruel as it seems, these "important" matters are our present day Egyptian masters. We hate them, but we think we need them. God is not looking for starving Christians, but trusting and obedient believers. He has provided. We must recognize that and move on to a life of following as He leads, and not let our own understanding play the lead.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those who are alive from the dead…..'
Romans 6:20
Like it or not, many of us are being moved out of the jungle of life, not into the Paradise we hoped for, but into the harsh desert, stripped bare of what till recently gripped our very hearts and souls. Do we continue to cling to the mammons of our past, which are no better than the mirages of the desert we are in, or do we now truly be prepared to surrender all and let God lead, as He surely will, just like in the days of old, a cloud in the day, and a fire in the night?
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ….For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written. 'The just shall live by faith.'
Romans 1:16-17
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God'
1 Corinthians 2:12
As many begin to ponder upon the implications of a year ahead that could portend a new experience of near to abject poverty or at least a big gap down in their life-style, it is good to remember that God left the sinful in the desert for forty years. But despite the continued disobedience of His chosen people, God still provided manna to sustain them.
God will and has provided for all of us, even for those who did not realize or are willing to acknowledge Him. But the sooner we come unto Him, the sooner will He bring us out of the desert that we find ourselves in.
But letting go and letting God is a process. The sooner we start, the better it is for us.
'The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strenght they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
….So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Return, O Lord…'
Psalms 0:10-13
'For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it.'
Luke 9:24
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(19th Nov 08)
Note
Everyone needs their respite. Guess in taking my break for the next 3 weeks in the land of plenty, ie America it will also give me a chance to truly see at ground zero, the present situation of the source of the world's present economic crisis. And now that all have a break from my meanderings, do stay prayerful, for to see the "clouds' and "fire" of God's leading, we must be willing to come unto His presence always.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Running the race #21 Back to our roots(12nov08)
Dear…
'And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest shall be glorious..'
Isaiah 11:10
The bestseller, " Roots" by Alex Haley sparked this desire in America and to a large extent, many parts of the world, in the hearts of many to seek out their roots. Family trees long buried with time and fading memories and where practicality dictates that for the first and subsequent born in the new lands, far away from that of their forefathers, old links were consigned to the dustbins, as the new generation take on the societal if not cultural norms of their new lands, to fit in.
'And that he died for all , that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.'
2 Corinthians 5:15
Fastforward to the last two decades and with the advent of globalization, riding on the coat-tails of free trade and the internet, is the modern man now truly global and rootless? For the world is his oyster. What about his values? His persona has to take on what the world perceives as desirable, be it in the minds of the masses, conjured by the concoctionists or more like distortionists of the modern world, be it in the media, the print ads and even in the once hallowed grounds of academia or even the church.
'So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.'
Psalms 90:12
The fathers in the ACS family of schools just had a one day retreat. It was an eye-opener for many of us to hear for the first time, an eye witness account by one of those who was on the ground, when the Spirit of God was truly upon the boys in ACS, and from that period in the 1970s, were brought forth men who are now church leaders, be it ordained or lay. As was shared in our retreat, Wells of faith were dug then, and while some continue to spring forth today, many were capped, as the distractions of the world, took away the fervour in those youthful hearts then. But the wells are deep, for they are from God and they are still there, to be used as the Lord leads.
'And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'
Revelations 22:17
Difficult times, be it illnesses or loss of loved ones, an awareness of one's finite mortality or whatever brings us back to earth with a hard thump, usually evokes that sense of vacumn in one's life, that will lead one to seek the comfort of the nostalgic past or possibly meander into the spiritual realm for solace.
'Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old…..'
Lamentations 1:7
Those of us who were the children of the 1950s to early 1970s might better appreciate the material comforts our children today take for granted. But reality is that with the roaring 80s to till recently, many of us more mature folks might have also long forgotten our humbler roots, where running water from the taps was stranger than the familiar community well. And where there was no flushing toilets, but the slurping and gushing of the kampung pigs who happily gather beneath the toilet pit, waiting for whatever is the produce of the day by the individual who happened to be answering the call of nature.
'For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distress..''
Psalms 107:9-14
Flower children we were not in Asia, for unlike the Western world, most of the children of that generation in the 50s-70s, did not have much luxury nor a superfluous material life, to have the luxury of experimenting in more esoteric needs like drugs and sex, to give one that temporal emotional high. Asia then was just reinventing itself and hard work and education was the clarion call, as our generation worked on the sacrifices of our parents. God was very real for many of us then, for much as most families would have the ancestral tablets at home, many of us were exposed to the Christian faith by virtue of our studying in the Christian mission schools. God was real not because many of us truly know Him, but rather, in times of needs, and there were enough samplings of that, the 'foreign father" seemed pretty handy to call upon. And of course, as our lives improve just as the economy grew, many like me have long forgotten the source of our comfort during those early years. But God has never forgotten us and He has now "uncapped' many of those long disused wells and many who are now fathers in my generation, have come back to their source of comfort and grace. But times are short, and we truly believe that God is now "speeding up" the awakening amongst many who have long forgotten their relationship with Him.
'…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
As the world begins to feel the full brunt of the global economic standstill the next few months, many will be licking their wounds, and many more will see their material filled secular lives come to a grinding halt, as many will get hit by the triple whammy of loss of financial assets, loss of jobs or bankruptcy of their businesses, and very likely even the roof over their heads, on top of the many brick and mortars that they might have leveraged on.
'And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust….'
Zephaniah 1:17-18
Many fathers, who till recently were too engrossed with the world, and who felt compelled to separate God from their careers and other worldly interests, will have plenty of time to ponder upon their faith or their lack of it. Admonishment it might be, but God is love and He wants to bring us back into His fold. Our relationship with God is a life long process but it must start with faith which can only come from always coming unto His presence.
'…I have found the book of law in the house of the Lord……'
2 Kings 22:8
Recessions are often good for the soul. For it is like the emergency brake being pulled on a runaway car that is fast heading towards the precipice. It will be painful but it is often in letting go of what grips our hearts, will we begin to see the presence of God in our lives.
',..Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord…..I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place…..'
2 Kings 22:19-20
God has provided. As we begin to pick ourselves up from the wreckage of our lives, we will begin to see His hands in smoothing out the inevitable consequences of our own disobedience. To continue to ignore God and to rely on our own understanding and strength is to bring us ourselves furthur into grief. God has already left us many wells of faith to draw upon. We know the way, it just that we have long placed that knowledge in the unseen reaches of our minds and hearts. God is now drawing us back to Him. And in responding, He will use us to bring our children and loves ones to the same well of peace and joy.
Water does not come up from the well by the turn of the tap. It comes from a conscious respond to pulling up the bucket to draw up the water. The desire to draw upon God's goodness can only come if we consciously seek to know Him.
In North Korea, a closed up communist country, where man plays god, where Christians are persecuted, it was a surprise to me to read recently that the Spirit of God was once truly upon this now seemingly God forsaken place in the early part of the 20th century, from the days of the Japanese occupation right up to World War 2. Whatever happened to those men and women of great faith and fervour. Was God "cruel" in forsaking them?
It is God's timing and not ours, His ways and not ours. But truly the wells of faith have been dug very deep in present day North Korea and much as the repressive regime has tried until today to ostracise, crucify and stump out the faithful, the tree of Christianty might look gaunt, but beneath it, the roots of faith are still very strong. I believe God is preparing to bring forth a full blossoming of the never eradicated Christian faith in North Korea. In fact, it is likely the Christians of the North will be mighty men and women of faith, to be surfaced and used mightily by the Lord, at His time. Even more than the very strong evangelism spirit of their brethren in South Korea, which I suspect, has its roots in North Koreans displaced into the South after the Korean War in the 1950s.
In the increasingly less comfortable world of ours today, is God now removing the caps of faith from the wells He has led us or our forefathers to dig and we are now being called upon to go back to the one and only source of grace and comfort, our Lord Jesus Christ, as described in the opening verse of this sharing (Isaiah 11:10)
'Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!'
Psalms 107:15
'..To be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness'
Ephesians 4:23-24
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
'And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest shall be glorious..'
Isaiah 11:10
The bestseller, " Roots" by Alex Haley sparked this desire in America and to a large extent, many parts of the world, in the hearts of many to seek out their roots. Family trees long buried with time and fading memories and where practicality dictates that for the first and subsequent born in the new lands, far away from that of their forefathers, old links were consigned to the dustbins, as the new generation take on the societal if not cultural norms of their new lands, to fit in.
'And that he died for all , that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.'
2 Corinthians 5:15
Fastforward to the last two decades and with the advent of globalization, riding on the coat-tails of free trade and the internet, is the modern man now truly global and rootless? For the world is his oyster. What about his values? His persona has to take on what the world perceives as desirable, be it in the minds of the masses, conjured by the concoctionists or more like distortionists of the modern world, be it in the media, the print ads and even in the once hallowed grounds of academia or even the church.
'So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.'
Psalms 90:12
The fathers in the ACS family of schools just had a one day retreat. It was an eye-opener for many of us to hear for the first time, an eye witness account by one of those who was on the ground, when the Spirit of God was truly upon the boys in ACS, and from that period in the 1970s, were brought forth men who are now church leaders, be it ordained or lay. As was shared in our retreat, Wells of faith were dug then, and while some continue to spring forth today, many were capped, as the distractions of the world, took away the fervour in those youthful hearts then. But the wells are deep, for they are from God and they are still there, to be used as the Lord leads.
'And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'
Revelations 22:17
Difficult times, be it illnesses or loss of loved ones, an awareness of one's finite mortality or whatever brings us back to earth with a hard thump, usually evokes that sense of vacumn in one's life, that will lead one to seek the comfort of the nostalgic past or possibly meander into the spiritual realm for solace.
'Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old…..'
Lamentations 1:7
Those of us who were the children of the 1950s to early 1970s might better appreciate the material comforts our children today take for granted. But reality is that with the roaring 80s to till recently, many of us more mature folks might have also long forgotten our humbler roots, where running water from the taps was stranger than the familiar community well. And where there was no flushing toilets, but the slurping and gushing of the kampung pigs who happily gather beneath the toilet pit, waiting for whatever is the produce of the day by the individual who happened to be answering the call of nature.
'For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distress..''
Psalms 107:9-14
Flower children we were not in Asia, for unlike the Western world, most of the children of that generation in the 50s-70s, did not have much luxury nor a superfluous material life, to have the luxury of experimenting in more esoteric needs like drugs and sex, to give one that temporal emotional high. Asia then was just reinventing itself and hard work and education was the clarion call, as our generation worked on the sacrifices of our parents. God was very real for many of us then, for much as most families would have the ancestral tablets at home, many of us were exposed to the Christian faith by virtue of our studying in the Christian mission schools. God was real not because many of us truly know Him, but rather, in times of needs, and there were enough samplings of that, the 'foreign father" seemed pretty handy to call upon. And of course, as our lives improve just as the economy grew, many like me have long forgotten the source of our comfort during those early years. But God has never forgotten us and He has now "uncapped' many of those long disused wells and many who are now fathers in my generation, have come back to their source of comfort and grace. But times are short, and we truly believe that God is now "speeding up" the awakening amongst many who have long forgotten their relationship with Him.
'…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
As the world begins to feel the full brunt of the global economic standstill the next few months, many will be licking their wounds, and many more will see their material filled secular lives come to a grinding halt, as many will get hit by the triple whammy of loss of financial assets, loss of jobs or bankruptcy of their businesses, and very likely even the roof over their heads, on top of the many brick and mortars that they might have leveraged on.
'And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust….'
Zephaniah 1:17-18
Many fathers, who till recently were too engrossed with the world, and who felt compelled to separate God from their careers and other worldly interests, will have plenty of time to ponder upon their faith or their lack of it. Admonishment it might be, but God is love and He wants to bring us back into His fold. Our relationship with God is a life long process but it must start with faith which can only come from always coming unto His presence.
'…I have found the book of law in the house of the Lord……'
2 Kings 22:8
Recessions are often good for the soul. For it is like the emergency brake being pulled on a runaway car that is fast heading towards the precipice. It will be painful but it is often in letting go of what grips our hearts, will we begin to see the presence of God in our lives.
',..Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord…..I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place…..'
2 Kings 22:19-20
God has provided. As we begin to pick ourselves up from the wreckage of our lives, we will begin to see His hands in smoothing out the inevitable consequences of our own disobedience. To continue to ignore God and to rely on our own understanding and strength is to bring us ourselves furthur into grief. God has already left us many wells of faith to draw upon. We know the way, it just that we have long placed that knowledge in the unseen reaches of our minds and hearts. God is now drawing us back to Him. And in responding, He will use us to bring our children and loves ones to the same well of peace and joy.
Water does not come up from the well by the turn of the tap. It comes from a conscious respond to pulling up the bucket to draw up the water. The desire to draw upon God's goodness can only come if we consciously seek to know Him.
In North Korea, a closed up communist country, where man plays god, where Christians are persecuted, it was a surprise to me to read recently that the Spirit of God was once truly upon this now seemingly God forsaken place in the early part of the 20th century, from the days of the Japanese occupation right up to World War 2. Whatever happened to those men and women of great faith and fervour. Was God "cruel" in forsaking them?
It is God's timing and not ours, His ways and not ours. But truly the wells of faith have been dug very deep in present day North Korea and much as the repressive regime has tried until today to ostracise, crucify and stump out the faithful, the tree of Christianty might look gaunt, but beneath it, the roots of faith are still very strong. I believe God is preparing to bring forth a full blossoming of the never eradicated Christian faith in North Korea. In fact, it is likely the Christians of the North will be mighty men and women of faith, to be surfaced and used mightily by the Lord, at His time. Even more than the very strong evangelism spirit of their brethren in South Korea, which I suspect, has its roots in North Koreans displaced into the South after the Korean War in the 1950s.
In the increasingly less comfortable world of ours today, is God now removing the caps of faith from the wells He has led us or our forefathers to dig and we are now being called upon to go back to the one and only source of grace and comfort, our Lord Jesus Christ, as described in the opening verse of this sharing (Isaiah 11:10)
'Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!'
Psalms 107:15
'..To be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness'
Ephesians 4:23-24
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
Monday, November 3, 2008
Running the race #20 The Book of Life (3 nov 08)
Dear….
'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of God stands forever.'
Isaiah 40:8
As the economy begins to wilt under the oppressive heat from the financial markets meltdown, the latter itself behaving like a multi-layered cake, where one thought that the layer that has melted is the last, and to be confronted by the next layer waiting to melt down, there are many a soul who can no longer cope with the fruitlessness of their struggles to stay afloat financially, and choose the seemingly easy way out, ie suicide.
'And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.'
Isaiah 29:3
Anecdotal snippets it might be, but if it is true, it seems the incidents of suicide related to this present wealth destruction is on the rise. The difference could be unlike past cycles, wealth destruction now cuts across all spectrum, and is hitting especially hard, those who have traditionally been immune, ie those whose worth are in the usd50mio and above category. The closest living experience for all is the last Asian Crisis, a decade back, but even then, it only really hit a couple of geograhic locations(ie Asia and Latin America), with the West sitting pretty. And unlike this crisis, those who were affected were the business people who took on usd loans, but even for them, their personal wealth were already squirrlled away somewhere safe. Financial market destruction a decade back, was also limited to only the same geographic locations. Today, globalization has brought everyone onto the same level, or more like levelled playing field.
'While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.'
Genesis 8:22
But thankfully, something things do not change. The Word of God is still very alive today and in fact, many of the Biblical truths that God spoke to us are being lived out today.
Eg "lean not on your own understanding…"(Proverbs 3:5) and indeed, many have come to grief today because they have depended upon their own finite prudence, never expecting good quality companies that they had invested in to totally capitulate. This time round, the perceived safe investments were the one that truly "killed" many financially.
'…ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you…….'
James 5:1
Eg "the pursuit of wealth bring much grief"(1 Timothy 6:10) and look around you, you will see the ashen -faced demeanour of many once rich and powerful, now severely humbled by the crisis. Devastated might be the present situation for many once rich, but downright poor might soon be the more apt description if they do not address their situation soon, instead of living on hope. In fact, many are now trying to raise cash selling their many properties into an increasingly illiquid market.
Eg "where your treasures are, your heart is" (Matthew 6:21) and many have a confused state of mind and a heavy heart, for they have the wealth(at least till recently) but know not where is safe to put it. Now many do not have this problem of safe refuge for their wealth, for it is now very much diminished A friend just told me there was this chap who had US$100,000,000 in various types of structured products on a leveraged basis and ended up with a major stroke when his once friendly and subservient bankers, turned the screws on during Deepavali, when instead of bringing light to his day, brought the ominous darkness of impending bankruptcy with their intense margin calls.
'…If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto Me, and keep My commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set My name there.'
Nehemiah 1:8-9
On a similar vein, much as the amplitude of this present cycle might be shocking in its depth and intensity, things will come back, for that is the promise of our Lord, till He returns. But will you be willing to turn unto Him and away from the world?? God forgives a truly humbled and contrite heart. At the sermon in my church just yesterday, my Pastor shared about her own trials and tribulations a decade back in the Asian crisis. The humbling was painful, for her and her hubby to move from being up there in the upper strata of society to living from hand to mouth. Her debts took quite a few years to settle, which by God's grace she did on the day she completed her seminary studies, but God was with them, even as they like Job, put on sackcloth and suffered material deprivation but what material wealth they gave up, not by choice, they more than received in the peace and joy that only God can provide. And God brought her to the right vocation, for all of us are servants of our Lord, be it in full time ministry or in our secular jobs.
'For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.'
Isaiah 66:2
Déjà vu, it might seem indeed for my pastor. Yet, for myself, and for many of us who have gone through the Asian crisis, it might seem like the sequel to Murdur on Elm Street. I started to take a tentative step back to church back in 1997. About the time the Asian crisis began to really look like one, though its begiinings were in end 1994. I went back to church not because of the crisis, but rather, there was this desire to include the church as part of what was missing in my life, having achieved a fair degree of success in the other Cs(ie club, cards, condo and career). Even in my self centred stage, God is good,and He started to bring me into His fold, even with that little inkling of desire I had a decade back, after a previous decade of ignoring Him totally.
To be totally unscathed in that last Asian crisis I was not. But I was truly sheltered to a great extent and though my successful business had to be half destroyed, for that was the only way to suffer and yet survive the relentless destruction, I could sense God's provisions all through that crisis, which culminated in 1998. And now unlike many in the business, my business is being reshaped, but not destroyed.
So what kept me steady even as my world shook then? And what is the will of God for me now as the world shakes even more intensely than a decade back?
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.'
Proverbs 12:25
God is the Word, and the Word is God(John 1:1). And during that time, even in my believer but less than following stage of Christian growth, the Word of God truly came alive for me. God spoke, guided, taught and corrected me in so many wonderful ways and though it needed the sanctification of His Holy Spirit upon me that fateful nite in year 2000,( after the Asian crisis) for me to truly want to follow Him, with no hesitation, those years of the Asian crisis was the time that His Word, the Bible was truly a source of comfort, joy, grace and enlightenment for me. Time being immersed in His Word(during the Asian crisis) were on hindsight, also God's preparing me for the move from believer to follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. For how can we follow God if we do not know Him?
'My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation insecure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.'
Isaiah 32:18
Being blown off the cliffs might be the norm now for many. Despite being buffetted by the storms as well, the Lord our God has been good to me and those who knows Him, for He has placed us all in the shelter of the crevices on the edge of the hills as we cling on to the Rock of our faith, and though it is not a pretty sight to see the angst of many whose comfort were never in our Lord, but in what is now truly the temporal, is there not something us the blessed can do for God commands us to love others as much as ourselves?
'Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him. Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.'
James 5:20
This morning, I was at the Subordinate Court to settle a matter that I believe was important. That is, to try to encourage corporates to take both their corporate and social responsibility and not shirk behind technicalities or strength of their resource versus the puny individual. I went not with any expectations of judgement on my counter party, for to do so, will not make me a better follower of our Lord. But my prayer was to be there and be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It turned out to be a non event as the case was not within the juridiction of the chosen office, but it was still good, the Lord allowed me to convey the message of responsibility to the higher ups of my counterparty. But more importantly, the Lord brought me to a lunchplace across the road. This was no ordinary place. It was a restaurant/Christian bookshop run as a rehabilitative halfway house for ex-prisoners/drug addicts(website http://www.breakthroughmissions.org).
'Hear the Word of the Lord, ye that trembleth at His Word…'
Isaiah 66:5
In allowing our lives to be shaken up, its roots being our own sinfulness, God wants to help us break free from the addictive grip of Satan's wiles. Our souls are at stake and when we realize that, then the pain that one is undergoing will over time pale in comparison to what we will be receiving in exchange. It is a process and God knows our limits.
'Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
….I any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms..'
James 5:11-13
The Word of God is not about knowledge but about knowing God. The Bible is not an old history book from eons back, but truly the Word of God that comes alive and brings healing and His living presence into our lives, if we allow Him( 2 Timothy 3:15-17). "For the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to change the people of God"(Daily Bread 17th Jul 2007)
'Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.'
James 4:10
'Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away…'
James 4:14-15
Do use this present reprief in the financial markets to make right your financials, painful as it is. And more importantly your life, for now is the time to come unto the presence of God our Father, for healing can only start, continue and end with Him. To continue to dither will only deepen one's grief, for to hope otherwise is to look away from God.
'If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'
John 8:36
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(3 Nov 2008)
Do reflect upon the following verses, whatever station of life one finds oneself in, for every Word of God will speak to your heart
'A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke…'
Proverbs 13:1
'Let brotherly love continue……Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body….'
Hebrews 13:1-3
'But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.'
Hebrews 13:16
'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of God stands forever.'
Isaiah 40:8
As the economy begins to wilt under the oppressive heat from the financial markets meltdown, the latter itself behaving like a multi-layered cake, where one thought that the layer that has melted is the last, and to be confronted by the next layer waiting to melt down, there are many a soul who can no longer cope with the fruitlessness of their struggles to stay afloat financially, and choose the seemingly easy way out, ie suicide.
'And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.'
Isaiah 29:3
Anecdotal snippets it might be, but if it is true, it seems the incidents of suicide related to this present wealth destruction is on the rise. The difference could be unlike past cycles, wealth destruction now cuts across all spectrum, and is hitting especially hard, those who have traditionally been immune, ie those whose worth are in the usd50mio and above category. The closest living experience for all is the last Asian Crisis, a decade back, but even then, it only really hit a couple of geograhic locations(ie Asia and Latin America), with the West sitting pretty. And unlike this crisis, those who were affected were the business people who took on usd loans, but even for them, their personal wealth were already squirrlled away somewhere safe. Financial market destruction a decade back, was also limited to only the same geographic locations. Today, globalization has brought everyone onto the same level, or more like levelled playing field.
'While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.'
Genesis 8:22
But thankfully, something things do not change. The Word of God is still very alive today and in fact, many of the Biblical truths that God spoke to us are being lived out today.
Eg "lean not on your own understanding…"(Proverbs 3:5) and indeed, many have come to grief today because they have depended upon their own finite prudence, never expecting good quality companies that they had invested in to totally capitulate. This time round, the perceived safe investments were the one that truly "killed" many financially.
'…ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you…….'
James 5:1
Eg "the pursuit of wealth bring much grief"(1 Timothy 6:10) and look around you, you will see the ashen -faced demeanour of many once rich and powerful, now severely humbled by the crisis. Devastated might be the present situation for many once rich, but downright poor might soon be the more apt description if they do not address their situation soon, instead of living on hope. In fact, many are now trying to raise cash selling their many properties into an increasingly illiquid market.
Eg "where your treasures are, your heart is" (Matthew 6:21) and many have a confused state of mind and a heavy heart, for they have the wealth(at least till recently) but know not where is safe to put it. Now many do not have this problem of safe refuge for their wealth, for it is now very much diminished A friend just told me there was this chap who had US$100,000,000 in various types of structured products on a leveraged basis and ended up with a major stroke when his once friendly and subservient bankers, turned the screws on during Deepavali, when instead of bringing light to his day, brought the ominous darkness of impending bankruptcy with their intense margin calls.
'…If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto Me, and keep My commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set My name there.'
Nehemiah 1:8-9
On a similar vein, much as the amplitude of this present cycle might be shocking in its depth and intensity, things will come back, for that is the promise of our Lord, till He returns. But will you be willing to turn unto Him and away from the world?? God forgives a truly humbled and contrite heart. At the sermon in my church just yesterday, my Pastor shared about her own trials and tribulations a decade back in the Asian crisis. The humbling was painful, for her and her hubby to move from being up there in the upper strata of society to living from hand to mouth. Her debts took quite a few years to settle, which by God's grace she did on the day she completed her seminary studies, but God was with them, even as they like Job, put on sackcloth and suffered material deprivation but what material wealth they gave up, not by choice, they more than received in the peace and joy that only God can provide. And God brought her to the right vocation, for all of us are servants of our Lord, be it in full time ministry or in our secular jobs.
'For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.'
Isaiah 66:2
Déjà vu, it might seem indeed for my pastor. Yet, for myself, and for many of us who have gone through the Asian crisis, it might seem like the sequel to Murdur on Elm Street. I started to take a tentative step back to church back in 1997. About the time the Asian crisis began to really look like one, though its begiinings were in end 1994. I went back to church not because of the crisis, but rather, there was this desire to include the church as part of what was missing in my life, having achieved a fair degree of success in the other Cs(ie club, cards, condo and career). Even in my self centred stage, God is good,and He started to bring me into His fold, even with that little inkling of desire I had a decade back, after a previous decade of ignoring Him totally.
To be totally unscathed in that last Asian crisis I was not. But I was truly sheltered to a great extent and though my successful business had to be half destroyed, for that was the only way to suffer and yet survive the relentless destruction, I could sense God's provisions all through that crisis, which culminated in 1998. And now unlike many in the business, my business is being reshaped, but not destroyed.
So what kept me steady even as my world shook then? And what is the will of God for me now as the world shakes even more intensely than a decade back?
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.'
Proverbs 12:25
God is the Word, and the Word is God(John 1:1). And during that time, even in my believer but less than following stage of Christian growth, the Word of God truly came alive for me. God spoke, guided, taught and corrected me in so many wonderful ways and though it needed the sanctification of His Holy Spirit upon me that fateful nite in year 2000,( after the Asian crisis) for me to truly want to follow Him, with no hesitation, those years of the Asian crisis was the time that His Word, the Bible was truly a source of comfort, joy, grace and enlightenment for me. Time being immersed in His Word(during the Asian crisis) were on hindsight, also God's preparing me for the move from believer to follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. For how can we follow God if we do not know Him?
'My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation insecure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.'
Isaiah 32:18
Being blown off the cliffs might be the norm now for many. Despite being buffetted by the storms as well, the Lord our God has been good to me and those who knows Him, for He has placed us all in the shelter of the crevices on the edge of the hills as we cling on to the Rock of our faith, and though it is not a pretty sight to see the angst of many whose comfort were never in our Lord, but in what is now truly the temporal, is there not something us the blessed can do for God commands us to love others as much as ourselves?
'Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him. Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.'
James 5:20
This morning, I was at the Subordinate Court to settle a matter that I believe was important. That is, to try to encourage corporates to take both their corporate and social responsibility and not shirk behind technicalities or strength of their resource versus the puny individual. I went not with any expectations of judgement on my counter party, for to do so, will not make me a better follower of our Lord. But my prayer was to be there and be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It turned out to be a non event as the case was not within the juridiction of the chosen office, but it was still good, the Lord allowed me to convey the message of responsibility to the higher ups of my counterparty. But more importantly, the Lord brought me to a lunchplace across the road. This was no ordinary place. It was a restaurant/Christian bookshop run as a rehabilitative halfway house for ex-prisoners/drug addicts(website http://www.breakthroughmissions.org).
'Hear the Word of the Lord, ye that trembleth at His Word…'
Isaiah 66:5
In allowing our lives to be shaken up, its roots being our own sinfulness, God wants to help us break free from the addictive grip of Satan's wiles. Our souls are at stake and when we realize that, then the pain that one is undergoing will over time pale in comparison to what we will be receiving in exchange. It is a process and God knows our limits.
'Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
….I any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms..'
James 5:11-13
The Word of God is not about knowledge but about knowing God. The Bible is not an old history book from eons back, but truly the Word of God that comes alive and brings healing and His living presence into our lives, if we allow Him( 2 Timothy 3:15-17). "For the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to change the people of God"(Daily Bread 17th Jul 2007)
'Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.'
James 4:10
'Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away…'
James 4:14-15
Do use this present reprief in the financial markets to make right your financials, painful as it is. And more importantly your life, for now is the time to come unto the presence of God our Father, for healing can only start, continue and end with Him. To continue to dither will only deepen one's grief, for to hope otherwise is to look away from God.
'If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'
John 8:36
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(3 Nov 2008)
Do reflect upon the following verses, whatever station of life one finds oneself in, for every Word of God will speak to your heart
'A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke…'
Proverbs 13:1
'Let brotherly love continue……Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body….'
Hebrews 13:1-3
'But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.'
Hebrews 13:16
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
