ear…
''.Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning..if I had said, "I will speak thus, " behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me..'
Psalms 73:12-16
There are times in our lives when one seem to be buffetted from all sides. No one thank us for our kind intentions, and the unkindest cut is that the clearly recalcitrant gets the rewards. Asaph was a man of great faith, who led worship for King David. Like him, there are times we start to question our faith in God, but like Asaph, even in the doldrums of his emotions, there is still a fine line we will not cross, ie to look away from God and profess our disappointment. And like Asaph, when he stopped worrying about the harshness of the desert that he was in and instead willingly came unto the presence of God, we will like him, not just understand the will of God, but will be refreshed and reassured.
'Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.'
Daniel 6:5
Bigot is a term reserved for someone who is not just uncompromising, but intolerant of anyone who is different be it in identity, lifestyle or opinion. A Christian who truly seek to be like Christ cannot be a bigot, for Christ is willing to love all and not just his disciples. Christ espouses God's wisdom, to clarify any doubts expressed. Christ welcomes all to the Lord's table. However he will not tolerate any attempt to desecrate the sanctity of His father's house.
'Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places, Thou castedst them down into destruction.'
Psalms 73:17-18
Enlightenment comes from the Lord our God. Once we understand that, oiled by a heart of love that God imbue in us, one would no longer be too disillusioned by one's seemingly futile and unappreciated efforts to bring understanding to whoever God places in our lives. In pushing against a seemingly immovable rock or more like hardened heart,, God is strengthening our own faith much as He is using us to chip away at our counterparty.
There is no reason for us then to allow our carnal self to direct our relationship with whoever God places in our lives, but rather we should let the Spirit of God lead us, and God is love.
'…Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee…'
Daniel 6:16
The Lord has delivered me from all financial crisis since the day I started to work. He gave me the intelligence, the discipline and the prescient timing, but on hindsight, none of this matter for it was the Lord Who truly delivered me from walking off the edge, that would have make it very tough and painful to bounce back. God knows our limits, even as He refines us.
Should not one stay firmly grounded upon the Lord our Rock?
'…a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.'
Psalms 78:8
Does your present life mirror the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 78:8? Only the Lord knows your heart and would you rather live a life of heartfelt joy and peace or heartache spiced with regret?
'For thus saith the Lord God, how much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth….and ye shall see their way and their doings, and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem….'
Ezekiel 14:21-23
This verse came to my mind these past few days. Prayerfully, it is not a verse that I dust off the shelf just to suit the times. And such times like this where a potential pandemic is brewing, as the viruses are stirring and mixing to concoct some new mutations faster than our bodily defense system can keep pace with. A deja vue it is for those of us who have gone through SARs.
Will swine flu be the equivalent of the subprime crisis, what on hindsight, SARs was to the Asian crisis preceding it?
It has been 8 years, but after the internet madness of the late 90s, the stockmarkets sobered up in early 2000 and like a half weaked body, only to be dealt a near fatal blow by SARs. And personally for some of us, between the 2 events were a series of fatal heart attacks and cancer for some of our dear friends, and the last death if some might recall, occurred just before SARs got fullblown.
Literal and probably liberal interpretation it might be, but I did remember than that it was the first time for me that I came across the verse in Ezekiel 14:21-23 and it did struck me then that the sword(was as swift and lethal as the heart attacks were), the famine(the very tough business conditions after the froth of the internet), the evil beasts(no different from the cancerous cells run wild in the once healthy bodies of many) and with the grand finale of a very challenging yet blessed period when the pestilence plagued us all in Asia(SARs)
Painful yet gainful period, for indeed while it was an emotionally draining period for some of us to lose friends who are still dear in our hearts, yet we were blessed to witness God's grace in the lives of the many departed and in the living.
But must we come to such defining experiences before one will move away from the mantle of one's own understanding to acknowledging our limitations and the Sovereign God?
'I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me…..'
Daniel 7:15
Unlike Daniel, I have had no vision, and definitely not of birds morphing into flying porkers, but what concerns me like many is how far will the swine virus mutate to the point of a pandemic? Do take time now to reflect upon the thoughts the Lord our God placed in my heart in my previous sharing on 6thJan 09(Running the race #27 "The next wave" see excerpt below in smaller print ). But it is not because I can predict, but rather, it was the obvious scenario that the scientific community and the governments have been preparing for these past few years. There were more than suffice early indications.
But is this not the same with the will of God? God has been very prescient and crystal clear in His leading to us, but we choose to remain oblivious to it, and rather wallow like the pigs in the sludge of our own understanding and sinful pride, till oblivion stare us in the face.
The next wave of pain, might seem to be the obvious to me, for the real economy must now reflect the same consequences of the fallout from the financial economy. But it is not what one's think that matter, but rather, the need for us to come back unto a loving and waiting God, that many of us have long ignored.
Much as our bodily needs are important, it is the soul that is paramount and the shaking will intensify, if we continue to show that inattention to the very danger to our souls.
Would the next wave be not in the economic arena, but in a different form where our very lives are at risk, that it will make our continued angst with loss material wealth, seem so immaterial?
'Who is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel(He is the God,) which is in Jerusalem…'
Ezra 1:3-4
Ezekiel 14:21-23 was the verse that came to my mind yesterday, but the book of Daniel chapters 7 and 8 was what the Lord our God brought me to this morning.
In Daniel 7, it recorded that Daniel had a vision of 4 beasts, ie a lion with eagle's wings, a bear in a devouring mood, a leopard and the fourth, a dreadful and terrible beast with 10 horns.
I have no interpretation for this other than what the Bible recorded and you can read this prayerfully in the same chapter 7 of the Book of Daniel.
But it is still good to ponder upon the distinct possibility that we have entered the next phase of God's promised wrath for all who continue to sin against Him?
Interestingly, even our Minister Mentor Mr Lee was quoted in the newspapers this morning that the swine flu is an act of God. But is this so? What matters more is how do we respond, in belief and repentance.
'……….if there be pestilence, ….whatsoever sore or sickness there be. Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man….when everyone know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house. Then hear thou from heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest..'
2 Chronicles 6:28-30
King Solomon when he consecrated the temple of God, also aptly described the very act of belief, repentance and obedience that God command us all. You could say, our side of the bargain, a part that many of us have reneged upon.
Sprinkled across the Bible are many examples of men's follies and unfaithfulness, yet God's love has always undergirded all who are repentful. God is a God Who will want to bring us back, and like the sieve that one uses for the flour, how many more shaking would one want to be subjected to before one is willing to acknowledge the Sovereign God?
'The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'
Isaiah 40:3
'And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shalls see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.'
Isaiah 40:5
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(29 April 09)
Note
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If truly this is a pandemic, God never promises to take us all who trust Him out of the storm. But God will anchor us all through and it is not the temporal bodily shelf that should concern us, but eternity that matters more. Still it is good to remember the promise of God to those who are faithful and for those who choose not to, a loving God does not mean a God who will close a blind eye to our continued disobedience.
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God…..Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters……'
Ezekiel 14:14-16
Is this all hogwash??
If you do not think so and is asking, what must I do to be saved? Take heart that God looks not for the perfect us, but a willing and repentful heart.
'But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon everyone. That prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.'
2 Chronicles 30:19-20
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