God blesses… (Psalm 67) 100209

When I read this psalm, I cannot help to pronounce a benediction from Numbers 6:24-26:

The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD life up His countenance on you, And give you peace.

I am sure that the psalmist understands the context and has experienced God’s bountiful goodness and greatness for both himself and his people; that is why he also desires such blessing to be extended to all the people in all the nations (v2-5). He is so intentional in his message, that the structure of this psalm shows it all:

A. Prayer for God's Blessing (vv.1-2)
B. Prayer for Inclusion of the Nations (v.3)
C. Prayer for the Rule of God (v.4)
B'. Prayer for Inclusion of the Nations (v.5)
A'. Prayer for God's Blessing (vv.6-7)

You and I know that God blesses. He has blessed me, and He has blessed you. But you and I also know that His blessing comes with His ruling. Unless we are being ruled by Him, we will not be able to experience the fullness of His blessing in our lives. I must put a disclaimer here: God still blesses the whole earth and the people in it because of His love. But in order to experience the fullness of His blessing, we have to allow Him to rule in us, so that we can be in tuned with His working in and through our lives.

God blesses, and God rules. Recently, I read in the newspaper that Singaporeans have been more ‘religious’ during this economic downturn. More people are swarming into temples and churches. They are seeking after some sort of divine blessing upon them, they are longing for some sort of ‘deliverance’ from such a difficult time; but not many people are seeking to be ruled. They want blessing with no string attach. They want a god who can simply manipulate by their ‘sincerity’. They want to be blessed without to be ruled.

As I reflect on this, aren’t we Christians also having similar attitudes? We go to church to listen to a sermon, and then we critique it or the preacher and left the church without being transformed at all. We come before the communion table to confess our sins and ask God to forgive us, and continue our Monday with the same sin again. We serve the church on our precious weekends and hoping that God will see our diligence but just to find an excuse to be late for Monday work or having Monday blues. We even gather people to fast and pray and thinking that our numbers can overpower God’s sovereign will. (I am not against fasting and praying, because fasting gives us time and space to reflect upon God’s blessing, and acknowledge His ruling in our lives. I am encouraged to see many people fasting and praying; because in such manner, we can grow in intimacy with God, understanding His will.) But the goal of Christian life is to be more and more under that rule of God and hence live in the Spirit.

God blesses, and God rules. Let us remember this truth. And the psalmist echoes it in his concluding verse:

God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him. (v7)

HHS…

Abel…

Come and see and hear… (Psalm 66) 070902

This psalm is definitely a joyful one (v1), it speaks of praises (v2; 4; 8), it also speaks of answered prayer (v19). But there are two stanzas which sum up the theme of this psalm; verses 5-7 and verses 16-20. They begin with similar idea but with distinct features of the psalmist understanding of God’s dealing with His people.

Verse 5 begins with “Come and see the works of God”, and in verse 7 it reminds the readers that “His (God’s) eyes keep watch on the nations”. It has some sort of idea-play here; as we see, God watches.

Verse 16 also begins with “Come and hear, all who fear God”, and verse 18 comments that “The Lord will not hear” if I regard wickedness in my heart; and verse 19 also highlights that “certainly God has heard… the voice of my prayer”. This is again another idea-play; we invite others to hear how God will hear or not hear our prayers.

But both have an invitation to come. And I think this has to come before both seeing and hearing. Unless we come before God, unless we come with an open heart, and unless we come to the throne of God; we will not see or hear anything. This psalmist must have gone through great distress or threat in his life, but because he comes before God to pour out his needs and troubles and maybe even complaints; he is able to see God’s awesome works (v2) and hear God’s comforting words. And because he comes to God, he knows that God is watching over him (v7) and God is actively listening to his prayers (v18-19). This allows the psalmist to understand and know God more and better.

We are all in one way or another way in difficult situations whereby we need divine intervention. Before we can see how God is going to work through our life or situation, we have to come to Him; and before we can hear God’s answers to our prayers, we also have to come before Him. Unless we come into the Presence of God, unless we come before the gracious throne of God, and unless we come with a hungry heart and a thirsty soul; we cannot see and hear God.

We can keep making things happen and saying our prayers louder; but we cannot see and hear God. It is not because God is not doing His work in our life, or not hearing our prayers; but it is us whom cannot see and hear; because we have not come near to Him.

It is not easy to come to God. We all have different ways to approach God, and we must all find our unique way to do so. I love to come to God in the morning and write down my thoughts as I come near to God through His words. Though I am struggling to wake up at 5.30am, I really enjoy the moments I am in God’s Presence. You do not need to wake up at 5.30 am, if you are not a morning person. If you are those who wakes up at 5.30am and feel very grouchy and cranky; so much so that no one wants to be with you; I think God also don’t want you to come near Him at that hour. You got the point?

Where are you today? Have you come before God already? If not, come and see and hear.

HHS…
Abel…

Visited… (Psalm 65) 060209

It’s 7am in the morning; I have finished my breakfast and read the newspaper. I am too early to prepare to go out. Today will be a busy day for me, even though I will not be going in to the church office to work; I will be attending a seminar at Singapore Bible College, and during the lunch hours, I will be rushing over to a Presbyterian school to preach in a chapel service, and will be most likely doing a hospital visit after the seminar, and head home to prepare for small group meeting. I have not been so busy or pack a day with so much for quite awhile. Today will be a litmus test for my tenacity against stresses.

As I read through today’s psalm, I am drawn to verse 9: Thou dost visit the earth, and cause it to overflow; Thou dost greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; Thou dost prepare their grain, for thus Thou dost prepare the earth (NASB).

There are three things that speak to my heart this morning. And the first one is that God ‘visit’ the earth, and causes it to overflow. This reminds me that God is not far away, or sitting at the remote corner of the heaven looking down the earth, or hiding in His private room staring at his CCTV monitors. God does ‘visit’ the earth. He is near. He comes to us. He comes to me.

When I was young, I used to have this understanding that when someone in high authority came to visit me, I must have done something wrong, or I must bring something nice to offer to him. But this psalm reminds me that God visitation is not to find fault with me, or to ask me for offerings, but rather He visits me to cause me to overflow. I am so blessed with this. I am so comforted with this. I am overwhelmed by such love of God. He comes to cause me, my soul, to overflow. He does not come to just fill or refill; but to cause me to overflow. This is a promise of abundance.

And when I read on in verse 9, I come across the phrase: greatly enrich. This speaks of grace in abundance. I do not know how can I better put it, but to use the phrase ‘greatly enrich’ is redundant in English, and I think so for Hebrew. To be enriched is to be in abundance. NIV translates this as ‘enrich it abundantly’. But I think, there is no better way to express the richness and abundance of God except using two positive words to enhance each others. This shows only that God is so generous in His blessing, and sometime I wonder why I undermine His riches. Do you? Have you ever doubt that God can provide for you more that you need?

I have been hoping to have my own transport, maybe a motorbike or a car (as now I have a driving license); I know it will be demanding and challenging for my family financially. But I have a hope that God will send someone to provide this need for me so that I can be more mobile for His works and for my family too. (If you are reading this, it is not for you to provide for me.) But I also at the same time doubt it. Today, I am going to claim upon this blessing: God will provide me with a car or a motorbike!

And lastly, I am reminded by the psalmist that there is a ‘stream of God’, which is full of water. I have been writing about thirsty souls and our longing for the living water. There is a stream of God, full of water, full of living water. This stream is whereby you and I can rest in the Presence of God. This stream is whereby our souls can be refreshed and find rest. This stream is whereby we can encounter God face to face. We are not only allowed to drink from this stream of God, but we can also jump into the stream of God to soak ourselves in it to be washed and cleansed; and also we can simple lay down beside this stream of God and listen to the peaceful gush of water flowing.

Today, you may be as busy as I do, or even more busy than me. Take some time to go near to the stream of God to find rest and refreshment. I am ready to face my day, are you?
Remember, God visits us at where we are, and wants to greatly enrich us, as we take time to be near at the stream of God.

It's almost 8am, I have to go. God blesses you.

HHS…

Abel…

Complain!!! (Psalm 64) 050209

I want to complain! I want to complain about the air-conditioning in the church office is too cold! I want to complain about the church not giving me an office room to study and pray; it’s too noisy! I want to complain about the programs we have in church; it’s too many and not family friendly! I want to complain about the MRT being too crowded in the morning; I have to be squeezed in order to get on a train! I want to complain about not able to have my own transport (I am referring to motorbike here)! I want to complain about the cockroaches which still keep coming to my house without my invitation! I want to complain about everything which I didn’t write here. I just want to complain!

I thought only Singaporean is very good at complaining, actually psalmist also likes to complain. This psalm is more likely to be a soliloquy than a prayer to God (commented by Stanley L. Jaki). And such soliloquy is actually a complaint. The psalmist asks God to hear his complaint (v1), and then he lists down a long list of things which he wants to complain. But I think all these things can be summarized as sin of the tongues. The language uses here in this psalm refers tongue as a sword and bitter speech as arrow (v3), and talk of laying snares secretly (v5); it also refers that the words from the mouth are a reflection of one’s heart.

When I list down all my complaints, I know you might think that I am such an ungrateful guy. I am able to work in the comfort of an air-conditioned environment, yet I complain. I am given a spacious working desk of my own, yet I complain. I am in a church which organizes meaningful activities for families, like Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) and Family Wise Series, yet I complain. I am able to go to work by some form of transport system and don’t need to walk to work, yet I complain. I only have cockroaches coming to my house instead of rats and snakes, yet I complain. But I will still complain about not being able to own a motorbike.

Complaint reflects a person’s heart condition towards God. Actually complaint is not much of a difference from other sins of the tongues mentioned by the psalmist. As I read this psalm, I was thinking that: isn’t this psalmist a pot calling a kettle black or a kettle calling a pot black?

The psalmist is basically spiritualize his sin of the tongue, and calls it a prayer! Beware, when we pray a prayer of complaint, or share our complaints with other people; we are revealing something deep within our heart.

God allows us to complain. He actually uses our complaints to reveal to us our deep secrets of our hearts, so that we can deal with those issues. If you have things to complain to God, go ahead and complain; but do not stop there. Let God also shows you your heart’s condition; why are you so grouchy and full of complaints. Let God deals with those issues as He reveals and brings them out into the light from the darkness of your heart. I think that is why the psalmist concludes his psalm with this:

Then all men will fear,
And will declare the work of God,
And will consider what He has done,
The righteous man will be glad in the LORD, and will take refuge in Him;
And all the upright in heart will glory.

(v9-10; NASB)

Please do not go around telling people about my complaints, lest you also fall into the sin of the tongue (this is called gossiping). I have dealt with them with God already, except about my motorbike!

HHS…
Abel…

No Water… (Psalm 63) 040209

This psalm paints a picture of a very dry dessert. This reminds me of Psalm 42, where the deer pants for the water (Ps 42:1), it is a picture of a thirsty deer. And recently, I heard a sermon on John 7:38-39, whereby Jesus was inviting those who are thirsty to go to Him and drink from Him and drink of Him (Jn 7:38). All these imageries bring me to a conclusion: we are all thirsty people, because we are living in a spiritual dessert.

I am not saying that we are all spiritually dry, or died; but the earth which we are living on, is spiritually dry, hostile to the Gospel, and full of temptation. We are all thirsty people; we need to be constantly refilled by the refreshing water of God, which flows only from Jesus Himself. If we try to depend on this world, or other things beside Jesus, we only find dryness, dessert, and no water.

I need spiritual refreshment regularly. I understand what it meant to be spiritual thirsty. I have experienced going through the spiritual dessert or wilderness. It is called wilderness, not only because it does not have water, it also have a lot of other ‘wild’ things to distract, tempt and endanger us. When we are thirsty, we are easily tempted to give in to other kinds of ‘water’, and in the wilderness, the Enemy provides great variety of choices of water which will poison our soul. This ‘poison water’ comes in the form of entertainment, achievement, accumulation of wealth and degrees, lust, greed, security and the list goes on.

Are you feeling thirsty today? You should. Because we are in a dry and weary land, where there is no water (v1). Are you feeling dry because you don’t seem to have your prayer answered? Are you feeling weary because you have been serving so hard and no one seem to be noticing you or giving you any credit? Are you fed up of having to wake up early to prepare your family to work and school, and then being all alone after that? Are you afraid of going to work because you may be called in by your boss and told to leave due to your company downsizing? Are you thirsty?

But there is a solution, there is a source of refreshing water which we can draw from, that is Christ. His lovingkindness is better than life (v3), and our soul will be satisfied by Him (v5).

Are you drinking from God? You should. Because He is the living water (Jn 7:39), in Him we can be refreshed and renewed. Have you drink of Him today?

You and I are in a world where there is no water, but we can have the living water in us. Not only we can have the living water in us, we can keep tapping and drinking from it, so that our soul can be refreshed.

May you find refreshment today from the Lord.

HHS…

Abel…

Rest and Reward… (Psalm 62) 030209

Last night, I was asked to preach at a funeral wake service of my senior pastor’s brother. As I prepared the sermon and myself, I discovered that there was a mixed feeling within me. There was a sense of sadness because a man whom I witnessed his baptism only 2 months ago, has left the world. But there was also a sense of hope and joy because this man knows Jesus as Lord and Savior, and I know that he is now in a better place; in the arms of Jesus with all his pain and sufferings removed, and resting in peace.

Today’s psalm is a psalm of rest and reward, as the commentator, VanGemeren, names it. He proposes that the structure of this psalm is as follow:

A. Confidence in the Lord (vv.1-2)
B. Man Is Unreliable (vv.3-4)
C. The Lord of My Salvation (vv.5-7)
B'. Exhortation to Trust, Not in Man, But in the Lord (vv.8-10)
A'. Confidence in the Lord (vv.11-12)

That will make the central theme of this psalm concentrates at v5 to v7:

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

The NASB translates v5 as “My soul, wait in silence for God only.­” This implies that the idea of “rest” is more than lying there doing nothing. It is an active anticipating of waiting for God as the sole purpose in silence. Resting is not idling. Resting is not merely recovering. Resting is definitely not wasting time sleeping or stoning. It is waiting quietly and with expectation for the God. It is giving God our wholehearted devotion by meditating on Him and Him alone. It is thinking and thanking God over and over again for His love, grace, mercy, goodness, faithfulness and all other attributes and works in your life. This is resting.

Only when we have enough of rest, we can be like the psalmist, receiving the rewards of life. This reward is not merely material reward, though it is also included in the package. Such reward is found in intimacy with God. This psalmist, which probably is David, has a tough time from his enemies. He has been pursued, threatened, betrayed, misunderstood, and depressed; but he emerges as a victor. He receives his reward as he is able to pour out his heart to God and seeks refuge in God (v8), and as he is able to have the confidence that he has God as his stronghold, he will not be shaken (v2, 6).

You may be going through difficult situation in life. Maybe your boss is giving you overwhelming amount of work in the name of downsizing; maybe you are worried about your rebellious teenage children; maybe your job and income is at risk because of the economic crisis; maybe your relationship with your spouse is drifting apart because of some in-laws issues; maybe you felt spiritually dry and tired of trying all sort of spiritual practices; and maybe you are lost in this world thinking that you are without hope. I invite you to find rest in God; wait in silence for God only.

Find a place and find a time whereby you can give God your hundred and one percent attention. You don’t need any other books beside the Bible, that may not be even necessary if you already have a verse or some verses memorized. Simply wait expectantly for God to meet you at where you are. You do not need to feel guilty if you don’t receive any new truth, but what you really need is God and His Presence. That will be your best reward. That will be the most important reward. What else can you ask for more, in comparison to the Presence of God?

May you find rest in God and receive His reward for you.


HHS…

Abel…

There is a longing… (Psalm 61) 020209

This psalm, so simple, yet so full of longing (Stanley L. Jaki, Praying the Psalms). Yes, this psalm is full of longing, longing for God of David to answer his prayer (v1-2; v6-7). David has a longing, a longing that one God can fulfill. David longs to be in presence of God; he longs to take refuge in Him, he longs for God to be his tower of strength (v3), he longs to dwell in the tent of God, and long to be sheltered under the wings of God (v4).

We can long for many things in life; I long to own a motorbike, so that I won’t have to travel by bus and go home early to see my Alethea. You might long for a miracle to happen, so that you won’t have to work on Monday. You might long for your family member to be healed from a sickness, so that it will spare you from grieve and disappointment. You might even long to become rich, so that you can be as generous as you want. But there is only one thing which is the most important to long after; that is, the presence of God.

These longings are not invalid, but they are not the most important one. David teaches me that, in the midst of all his troubles and all his misdeeds and even all his powers; he finds that there is only one thing can made him satisfy; that is, the presence of God. That is to be in the tent of God, to take shelter in the wings of God.

I particularly like this image: let me take refuge in the shelter of Thy wings (v4b). It is an image of a weak young chick seeking protection and love from its mother bird, which most likely to be an eagle. At home, my 14 months old daughter likes to play ‘run and hide’ game with me and my wife, Esther. When I am doing some housework in the kitchen at night, such as washing the milk bottles, hanging up the laundry, refilling thermal flask, or getting ready her milk power for the next day; Alethea will like to sneak out from her mattress to venture into the kitchen and see what I am doing. I will pretend I didn’t notice her and let her come close to the kitchen, and then I can suddenly turn towards her and pretend to be a ‘monster’ and chase after her. She will quickly make a turn and run towards her mother and hide in herself in Esther. She loves to play this over and over again. I realize that she not only finds protection from her mother, but also love.

As a Christian, I have the habit of coming to God whenever I am in deep troubles or sometime small troubles. I believe I am speaking on behalf of many Christians too. But seldom do we come to God to enjoy His presence and enjoy His love. We study the bible for information, but God wants to meet us there and gives us a transformation. As we are approaching the season of Lent in two weeks time, it is a good time to come to God for love. It is a good time to experience Christ and Cross in a refreshing way. It is also a good time to learn to cast all our troubles and worries at the feet of the Cross, and only focus on the risen Christ of the Cross.

Let us also learn from David as he will sing praise to God’s name forever and pay his vows day by day (v8). David knows that his longing can only be filled by the Presence of God. My longings will be filled by the Presence of God too. And your longings will also be filled by the Presence of God.

Deeper in Love (by Don Moen)

Verse 1
There is a longing only You can fill
A raging tempest only You can still
My soul is thirsty Lord to know You as I'm known
Drink from the river that flows before Your throne

Chorus
Take me deeper
Deeper in love with You
Jesus hold me close in Your embrace
Take me deeper
Deeper than I've ever been before
I just want to love You more and more
How I long to be deeper in love

Verse 2
Sunrise to sunrise I will seek Your face
Drawn by the Spirit to the promise of Your grace
My heart has found in You a hope that will abide
Here in Your presence forever satisfied


HHS…
Abel…