Dear…
'Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.'
Isaiah 6:8
There is a programme on television that shows in its weekly segments, all these what we call in Singlish "die, die must try" type of wonderful restaurants in Asia. The series is titled "A thousand places to dine before you die" If one starts on this quest right now, you will take about 8 years and a half to complete it, assuming one takes in each place every 3 days, and no unexpected delays arise be it health, wealth or other perfunctory factors, for life can be uncertain, even if one is certain about one's plans.
Stretching the mickey a little, it could be a thousand of other things you might aspire to do before you expire, be it places of the world for the avid traveler, a thousand or for some a million facebook friends, etc etc and yet for others, a thousand million dollars in their bank a/c notwithstanding it is in Zimbabwe dollars or just simply a chance to experience that peace and joy they never had.
'Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.'
Psalms 46:11
With 6.8 billion people and still growing in this overstretched Earth of ours, solitude or rather, a quiet place for personal reflection seems increasingly pretty hard to come by. The yaks in Tibet, the top of the world will tend to agree with you, now that the new high altitude railway is plugged into the rest of China, the most populous nation in the world. The polar bears and the penguins are not much better off, having to not just contend with those lurking nuclear powered submarines of the superpowers, but very soon, all the commercial traffic with the melting ice caps.
But reality is, time with God is less a function of our physical surrounds, and more a child of our own sense of willingness and priority. And for most of us, time with God is the 1001th thing that you might do, once you are done with the first thousand.
'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord…'
Acts 3:19
Does following God mean the need to totally abstain from what appeals to our senses, to forgo the many panderings that the world has to offer, and worse, to put others before self?
If it is so, then many would rather not be a Christian till they have "seen" the world and "lived" life to the fullest. But can satisfaction be truly numerate and that vacume or emptiness in our hearts be ever completely filled by things of the world?
'By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not…'
Songs 3:1
Much as I have, these past few years, believed that I have grown in my relationship with our Sovereign God, my imperfections are far from diminished, and I continue to struggle in letting go and letting God. A verse I read a couple of days back talk about how one lies in bed and ponders upon the will of God. I cannot find the verse now, but this new verse I just read from Songs 3:1, does put in context, my and your struggle often, when God seems so invisible, yet the challenges of life are dauntingly real.
'Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, 'this is the work of God, that ye believe on him Whom He hath sent.'
John 6:28-29
God is good. He does not leave us drifting too long. In fact, His presence is always with us, it is us who are often blinded by our own understanding. These past couple of days, even as the spirit of insecurity tries to blanket me, by the grace of God, I willed myself to spend an even greater time with our Lord and may the following thoughts imbued in my heart speak to you as it has to me.
John 6:28-29 talks about the desire of the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ to do God's work. They were thoroughly impressed by the miracles Christ showed them. Like them, us who are blessed to know our Lord Jesus Christ, to experience His healing touch in our lives, seek to be like Him, to follow His calling. But we often struggle in doing His work, and in this context, in work separate from that of our secular jobs or even daily lives. For many, God's work is classified as in the church or church related work.
'Our sufficiency is from God.'
2 Corinthians 3:5
Within the narrow context of defining God's work as church related work, many of us often feel inadequate or even short-changed. Like the disciples, we are often caught 'doing' God's work from our own understanding and our own strength. Christ reminded his disciples then, and us today, that truly, some will plant, some water, but it is God who will bring about the increase. It is not about what we think God would want us to do, but rather, what God wants us to do.
'Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath….'
Zephaniah 1:18
But can our life truly be segmented between what is work for God, and what is other work? Many are confused thinking or more like deluding themselves that they should act like a Christian only in church, and act like a true survival of the world, using the rules of the jungle, once out of church. You are either with God or not with Him. If you are with God, you must live and be led by the Spirit in every aspect of your life, and no longer can we live in the flesh selectively.
'You stoop down to made me great..'
Psalm 18:35
What about those who are like me? Who knows that our life must be lived as our Lord leads, to be a living sacrifice to Him. Yet, are you like me, sometimes feeling inadequate, insecure, not sure if I heard God right, am I doing the right thing His way? And what about my needs in this world? Can I trust that He will provide, and this becomes particularly acute when things seem not to be going well? Silly as it might seem, I sometimes in my sinful weaknesses, asked myself, I am doing God's work, but is He doing His for me? Actually, it is not silly but stupid, but then, we are imperfect, but thankfully, God is perfect.
'Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.'
John 6:27
Breakthoughs in our faith comes from a broken or more like, humble and contrite heart. I have been broken 8 years back, and my heart was ready to be filled by the healing of the Holy Spirit in my definiing moment with our Lord that night in Bangkok. God brought me across the chasm of faithlessness to faithfulness that night, not by my will, but His. But being imperfect, my journey with our good Lord continues to be a series of a few steps up, and thankfully, fewer steps down, but no less not a straight way up. There are still many parts of me that needs to be set right.
As I close this latest chapter on my journey with our Lord. God brought me out once again into His light, as I read this verse in Psalm 18:35. Truly, our awesome God has always cared for us. He is always faithful and has come down to our level, for He knows even the finer strands of our hair. And He is our Father Who has brought us forth and will continue to, even when we resist. Why not just believe, acknowledge His Sovereignty and do what honours Him, without much thought to anything else, except to be aligned to His will. For it is not what must we do, but what God wants us to do.
But is there anything else we can do while we wait upon the Lord?
God is prescient always. Let me answer this last question with these two verses I read in an invitation card that I just received from this charity, aptly named "Breakthough Missions" that helps ex-prisoners to not just reintegrate into society, but into the Kingdom of God.
'If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'
John 8:36
Indeed, God has, through His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, already opened the gates of our spiritual prison, a life that was in bondage to the wiles of the devil.
And what should be our response. To walk out as a free man and how do you walk? You walk by always coming unto the presence of the Lord.
''We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word.'
Acts 6:4
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(8th July 2009)
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