Reflections for the moment#30 The bear, the lion and the cockerel(31mar09)

Dear…

''The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest.'

Luke 10:2

Yesterday, I was in an expansive mood, slouched on the expensive and decidedly(at least for me) less comfortable Herman Miller chair in the office, and as my eyes rested on the posture of the long neglected trio of stuffed toys that have been warming the space behind my chair for what seems like posterity, the following thoughts came alive in terms of their symbolism. To the left was a bear, named Edward, a gift from the Boys' Town, hand clasped in prayers. Next to it, occupying centre stage was a lion, named Max(a kiddie gift from a local bank for my son when he opened a children's savings account, he must have left it in my office in one of his regular sojourns to spot check on me) with hands outstretched and an inquiring look. And completing the threesome was a pecky, pale yellow cockerel, hunched over my Bible, as if feeding on the Word of God, pious I am not sure, but by virtue of its unstable base, the unnamed cockerel has to hunch over.

'…Go, and do thou likewise.'
Luke 10:37

Much as we might not be fully cognizant of, a decent smattering of words and phrases that we use in the English language have its origins from the Bible. And by virtue that the most recent two great Empires of the world, ie the now toothless British Lion and the fast receding American Bald Eagle are English speaking, Christian origin nations, it would not be presumptive to say that Biblical language does permeate daily thoughts across much of the world, for much as the proponents of Esperanto tried, they could not dethrone the English language as the dominant international and political lingua franca.

Samaritan or rather SOS, most of us will associate with a distress help desk, especially for emotionally issues. The story of the kind Samaritan, most Christians should know, unless the Bible is as foreign to you the believer as Mao's Little Red Book.

This morning, now that my heart is finally at rest(see short testimony below), but not the body as yet, for the Lord our God has as of now, not deemed it time for Him to take me home , for there is still work to be done as He leads. I come to believe that it is time for me to move away from trying to grow my material networth, but rather to leave it to God, and instead, this is the time to fully channel my all to investing in His kingdom, for God has provided the provisions, it is time to use it as He leads for eternity, rather than for the fleeting material.

'And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet,and heard his word.'
Luke 10:39

What is a grown man messing around with stuff toys? Faith is child-like and to "see" God, we must be willing to be like the child we once were, dependent upon the leading of our parents.

Circumstances can be burdensome, demands for our attention and time overbearingly distractive, but like the good bear, we must not just give time for prayers, but always come to the Lord in prayers, all the time. Prayers bring us into communion with our Father. It allows us to know His will, and in being still, we allow our heartbeat to align with the will of the Lord.

Prayers asked in the will of God will always be answered. Would not life be wonderful, where every crossroad is no longer bewildering and every step that we take, we make with certainty that God has laid it and we need only deal with the present day, by honoring Him in whatever we do, not worrying about the provisions needed nor the conclusion of our response, other than knowing that God will more than provide?

'He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.'
Psalm 111:4

Peace and joy is the hallmark that every faithful Christian will have etched upon their heart, and show by the glow of their countenance. It is there for our taking. And so, which expression should one read into that shown by the mangy lion?

Is it like above, where you lived a life of joy and peace, through the sunny days and also the stormy nights, for like the indomitable lion, our response in all circumstances should always be a roaring confidence of "why not" for God is with us, always. And God is Sovereign.

Or should we be the disheveled lion, grimacing with an expression of "why?" Why is life so burdensome? Why can't I be like those on the nicer side of the grass. And when you finally after much angst and strife do reach the other side of the pasture, it is another "why?" This time round, why am I still not satisfied or why do I still have other issues?'

'For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.'

Galatians 1:10

In the rudimentary stages of this Word based ministry that our good Lord has placed in my heart these past 6 years, there were times I wonder, how many will actually read this response of love? But God reminded me in those moments of weakness, that we must plant the seeds as He leads, others will water, but He will bring about the increase.

Like the 'cowardly or insecure' cockerel, if yellow denotes that character, I have learned to only do what pleases God and live by example, always feeding upon His word, and He will, at His timing, bring you to the same desire to know Him.

And in closing, I just realized that there were two more stuffed toys in my menagerie, both bulls. Interestingly, one standing, as if goring the other, a fully flat out bull on its all fours, looking pretty perplexed, as if never expecting its demise. There were no bears nearby, but I do have a bear at the other side of my room, standing on a signage that state categorically,"beware of bears" but located quite far away from the bulls to matter, or does it?

'And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'

Luke 10:41-42

A little testimony
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A note of thanks to some of you who sent me words of encouragement to remain steadfast(after my last sharing( Reflections #29 Noah's Ark revisited), much as I was about ready to tear about the ropes that were holding me back from dashing my head against the rocks upon which the call of the Sirens emanate forth.

At lunchtime yesterday, as I spent time with the Lord, He brought me to revisit Reflections#6 Amnesia and it did surprise me that the first verse in that Reflection was also about Noah, but about how God remembered him and the saved, after the flood. I am reminded that much as we sometimes feel that God has forgotten about us, the fact is that He has never left the faithful or even the unbelieving.

I was next brought to Psalm 73(Asaph) and I truly felt convicted of my sinfulness, just like Aseph, who was angry with God for rewarding the sinful, yet seemingly neglecting the faithful. Like Asaph, only in coming unto the presence of God, did he finally understood the will of God.

With that God given peace and resoluteness, after lunch, I finally completed whatever I needed and could sell in my investments, instead of waiting for that one more push up that I believe will occur, and while markets could go higher in the short term, it was interesting that 1 minute after I completed my sale, the markets took a signficant dip on rumours of tightening of credit in China, the key driver in this liquidity driven recovery these past few months.

Our relationship with God is not about what we think, but His will. And in letting Him, our faith will grow for we will no longer deprive ourselves of seeing God's wonderful hands at work.