2 Kings 25:8-9 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.
This verse accounts for the final destruction of the Temple of God and the kingdom of Judah. When the temple was built, the bible records it in as an amazing work of art. 7 years was spent constructing it and if you read the description in 1 King 6, one cannot be amazed at the lavishness of the materials used to build the temple of God.
Yet, what is a thing of beauty if everything else doesn't reflect the the same values. Judah was corrupt and did evil in the sight of the Lord. So evil that 2 Kings 24 records that "the LORD was not willing to forgive".
As I listened to the passage of how the temple was destroyed and plundered. A sense of regret filled me as I recognised that the temple was only a thing of past beauty. It didn't mean anything to God anymore.
What about us? Are own lives a thing of beauty without the presence of the one true God?
M.
The word of the LORD came to Solomon: "As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel." (1 Kings 6:11-13)
06 November 2009
26 October 2009
The Lord of my Sabbath
Mark 2:27
The Sabbath was made to benefit man, and not man to benefit the Sabbath.
God created the Sabbath for our benefit and to prevent burnout. My Sabbath happens to be the point of contention because the events of the past weeks have made my weekends to be more tiring than refreshing. There are always people to meet and talk, counsel or entertain. Increasingly, each weekends have been a blur of busy activities filled with disappointment as I work with others around me. In spite of the situation, I often need to handle myself maturedly and prevent myself from snapping or just giving up. This takes a very heavy toll on me and on Monday's I end up crawling to work, looking terrible and too feeble to do much.
Every day of the week, it's either work at office or do work in church. Honestly, the work at office is less draining as it doesn't involve the act of imparting into lives and without the emotional and spiritual aspects.
In one of the weekly e-newsletter from Ps rick Warren, he states that the Sabbath is the antidote to burnout and the stress-filled world we live in as pastors and leaders and quoted this verse. It ministered to me when I told myself that man wasn't created for the Sabbath but to have a day which the Lord presented as a gift to man.
In the midst of my demoralised, tired condition on Mondays, I can't help but recognise that my Monday's have been designated as the Sabbath of my life. For the past Monday's, I've received adequate protection from the Lord from major work issues and seek solace through putting on my headphones and soaking in the worship songs being played. For this really simple restful moment, I'm blessed that the Lord is the Lord of my Sabbatha as He provides a Sabbath for me to rest, even though it is at work.
The Sabbath was made to benefit man, and not man to benefit the Sabbath.
God created the Sabbath for our benefit and to prevent burnout. My Sabbath happens to be the point of contention because the events of the past weeks have made my weekends to be more tiring than refreshing. There are always people to meet and talk, counsel or entertain. Increasingly, each weekends have been a blur of busy activities filled with disappointment as I work with others around me. In spite of the situation, I often need to handle myself maturedly and prevent myself from snapping or just giving up. This takes a very heavy toll on me and on Monday's I end up crawling to work, looking terrible and too feeble to do much.
Every day of the week, it's either work at office or do work in church. Honestly, the work at office is less draining as it doesn't involve the act of imparting into lives and without the emotional and spiritual aspects.
In one of the weekly e-newsletter from Ps rick Warren, he states that the Sabbath is the antidote to burnout and the stress-filled world we live in as pastors and leaders and quoted this verse. It ministered to me when I told myself that man wasn't created for the Sabbath but to have a day which the Lord presented as a gift to man.
In the midst of my demoralised, tired condition on Mondays, I can't help but recognise that my Monday's have been designated as the Sabbath of my life. For the past Monday's, I've received adequate protection from the Lord from major work issues and seek solace through putting on my headphones and soaking in the worship songs being played. For this really simple restful moment, I'm blessed that the Lord is the Lord of my Sabbatha as He provides a Sabbath for me to rest, even though it is at work.
M.
"In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat for he grants sleep to those he loves." (Psalms 127:2)
12 October 2009
See you in heaven!
Psalm 96:11-13
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.
No, I'm not dying or going to die. Yesterday, a childhood church friend based overseas popped into church during the service and I couldn't help but squeal in sheer joy before giving him a hug. Yes, I am quite sure I squealed so loudly that everyone in the midst of singing heard me. The last time I was so overjoyed was during my OCS commissioning parade when I squealed in delight with my buddy because we made it successfully as officers. Thereafter, my close collage mate also appeared in front of me uninvited and gave me such a wonderful surprise congratulation.
I can't describe the giddy feeling of joy felt when you meet a close friend after many years, but this is truely joy which bubbles from the inside and causes you to beam with a wide smile. Yesterday, I had to stop myself from yakking and had to refocus myself to worship God.
What dawned upon me as I pondered the moment was the joy which will be in heaven someday when we go up and meet all the friends and family who have gone up before us. It must be a wonderful feeling to meet up with many of the individuals in a beautiful setting and knowing that we made it! Heaven will truly be full of individuals rejoicing, squealing, screaming in sheer delight as one by one old friendships are renewed and we cannot wait to chat with each other.
I really cannot wait to go to heaven, and I also want to make sure that I make it there and not drop out of my christian life's journey. More importantly, may you and many of my friends and close ones will also be found in Heaven someday rejoicing with me.
M.
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' (Luke 15:8-9)
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.
No, I'm not dying or going to die. Yesterday, a childhood church friend based overseas popped into church during the service and I couldn't help but squeal in sheer joy before giving him a hug. Yes, I am quite sure I squealed so loudly that everyone in the midst of singing heard me. The last time I was so overjoyed was during my OCS commissioning parade when I squealed in delight with my buddy because we made it successfully as officers. Thereafter, my close collage mate also appeared in front of me uninvited and gave me such a wonderful surprise congratulation.
I can't describe the giddy feeling of joy felt when you meet a close friend after many years, but this is truely joy which bubbles from the inside and causes you to beam with a wide smile. Yesterday, I had to stop myself from yakking and had to refocus myself to worship God.
What dawned upon me as I pondered the moment was the joy which will be in heaven someday when we go up and meet all the friends and family who have gone up before us. It must be a wonderful feeling to meet up with many of the individuals in a beautiful setting and knowing that we made it! Heaven will truly be full of individuals rejoicing, squealing, screaming in sheer delight as one by one old friendships are renewed and we cannot wait to chat with each other.
I really cannot wait to go to heaven, and I also want to make sure that I make it there and not drop out of my christian life's journey. More importantly, may you and many of my friends and close ones will also be found in Heaven someday rejoicing with me.
M.
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' (Luke 15:8-9)
06 October 2009
What’s in your hand?
Exodus 4:1-2
Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?" Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?"
"A staff," he replied.
What’s in your hand? It is a simple question which we often don’t think too much of it.
In layman terms, it actually means what do you have or what have you been given? There is lots, such as your talents, time, ideas, physical abilities, personality, resources, spiritual gifts, experiences…
To an extent, many of us are like Moses. Educated by the Egyptian court as a prince of Egypt despite the fact that he was born a slave, blessed to grow up in the protection of the royal palace even though the rest of the Hebrew baby boys were killed by Pharaoh. Like many of us, Moses never recognised God's hand upon his life and God's purpose for his life. I'm sure that when he fled out of Egypt, he thought he had abandoned all of his life and was now resigned to just living a reclusive life of a shepherd in the wilderness.
Like Moses when he encountered God in a burning bush at the age of 40 years, you too may never know when in life God will call you and ask you to do something for him. When that happens, it is very much like Moses when God will just need us to present what you have in our hand.
Billy Graham once answered a student who once ask him, “what surprises you of life”. He answered, “the brevity of life. It passes by so fast”. If you look at your hands, you'll be amazed at what God can do with what you have today. Don't wait till you are older, wiser, smarter, richer, have more time or am more successful.
M.
Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life (Psalms 39:4)
01 October 2009
I feel the earth move under my feet
Matthew 24: 7-8
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
I always wanted to go to Japan and experience a mild earthquake tremor. Nothing major and life threatening, just to feel the earth shake under my feet.
Yesterday, some 25 hours ago, I got my wish of experiencing what an earthquake tremor felt like. As I sat in my desk, I felt this weird mild rocking motion of forward and backward. Very mild, but yet very surreal because somehow my body just felt weird. Then I heard the many people in office asking if anyone felt the rocking sensation.
Out of curiosity, I also logged into the website just to verify if it was indeed true, because it could well have been some structural defect in my office building. (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/) Imagine my job when I realised a 7.6 earthquake had indeed struck at 6:17pm. It was such an exciting feeling to finally get my wish.
Today, as I log into the same website, I realise that there is really alot of earthquakes which is happening in greater frequency. However, I asked myself has anything happened differently to my life after experiencing my first tremor? Nope.
That is where I'm concerned that in these end of end days, so many things are happening to demonstrate the sign of times, but yet, we are living our lives nonchalantly in status quo because we are so conditioned by the many reports of floods, typhoons, illnesses and other devastating calamities.
How scary it would be on the day which Christ comes back and we are not ready because we loose all sense of expectancy and have been so dulled by the overly frequent bad news we see all around.
Remain alert!
M.
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. " (Matthew 25: 13)
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
I always wanted to go to Japan and experience a mild earthquake tremor. Nothing major and life threatening, just to feel the earth shake under my feet.
Yesterday, some 25 hours ago, I got my wish of experiencing what an earthquake tremor felt like. As I sat in my desk, I felt this weird mild rocking motion of forward and backward. Very mild, but yet very surreal because somehow my body just felt weird. Then I heard the many people in office asking if anyone felt the rocking sensation.
Out of curiosity, I also logged into the website just to verify if it was indeed true, because it could well have been some structural defect in my office building. (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/) Imagine my job when I realised a 7.6 earthquake had indeed struck at 6:17pm. It was such an exciting feeling to finally get my wish.
Today, as I log into the same website, I realise that there is really alot of earthquakes which is happening in greater frequency. However, I asked myself has anything happened differently to my life after experiencing my first tremor? Nope.
That is where I'm concerned that in these end of end days, so many things are happening to demonstrate the sign of times, but yet, we are living our lives nonchalantly in status quo because we are so conditioned by the many reports of floods, typhoons, illnesses and other devastating calamities.
How scary it would be on the day which Christ comes back and we are not ready because we loose all sense of expectancy and have been so dulled by the overly frequent bad news we see all around.
Remain alert!
M.
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. " (Matthew 25: 13)
24 September 2009
The work of God's hands
Psalm 138:8
"The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands."
A good 4 months is about to pass in my new job. The role has been daunting with increase number of markets for me to handle and new stuff to handle. Worst of all is the politics and frequent dramas of conflicts. Some of which will naturally fall onto my path and result in me looking at the issue and wondering how it will be resolved.However, I've come to recognition that the Lord has been good to me and I've always had the privilege of Him smoothing every pothole and flattening all the warring tribes before me. There are days which I leave office well dreading the next day as I look at the impending doom before me, and yet, it is all pushed aside for me to tread when the I'm tasked to take the next step.
Truely, if the Lord is for me, who can be against me? I truely thank the Lord God for His hand of grace and mercy on my life.
Praise the Lord!
M.
27 August 2009
The benefit of God's covering
This is the prayer of St francis of Assisi (1181-1226) which I chanced upon yesterday as I was looking for quotable quotes to refresh my email signature at work.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
It's often quoted in the catholic church and not that I'm advocating chanting prayers, but it really ministered to me as I reviewed the words.
Background: I had this major drama-mama situation in Korea which needed me to get an answer, but the people involved had some feuds with each other and refusing to agree on a project, but also not doing it blatantly which made things even more frustrating. Didn't help that I had a 12 noon dateline to provide an answer and everyone was just not co-operating. To add to it, I had a 12:30pm lunch appointment and my 1-1 session to get the command decision from my boss was snatched by another colleague.
I was crossed and yet trying to be zen at the same time, but the only result I achieved as the clock ticked was tension. There was when I chanced on the prayer and muttered that in the midst of this messy corporate politics, I am really to be a state of peace because only God is my deliverer.
As I reflected on this, something in me affirmed the fact that everything will work out well at my terms and just a few minutes after 12 noon, I received the answer which I needed and wanted. I can't help me sigh in relief.
Somehow, in all my past experiences, I have always enjoyed the benefit of God helping me solve all my major work issues especially when they were akin to a huge wave threatening to crash over me as I stare helplessly at it. May the covering of God be on you as you stand in recognition of your life as a child of God.
M.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
It's often quoted in the catholic church and not that I'm advocating chanting prayers, but it really ministered to me as I reviewed the words.
Background: I had this major drama-mama situation in Korea which needed me to get an answer, but the people involved had some feuds with each other and refusing to agree on a project, but also not doing it blatantly which made things even more frustrating. Didn't help that I had a 12 noon dateline to provide an answer and everyone was just not co-operating. To add to it, I had a 12:30pm lunch appointment and my 1-1 session to get the command decision from my boss was snatched by another colleague.
I was crossed and yet trying to be zen at the same time, but the only result I achieved as the clock ticked was tension. There was when I chanced on the prayer and muttered that in the midst of this messy corporate politics, I am really to be a state of peace because only God is my deliverer.
As I reflected on this, something in me affirmed the fact that everything will work out well at my terms and just a few minutes after 12 noon, I received the answer which I needed and wanted. I can't help me sigh in relief.
Somehow, in all my past experiences, I have always enjoyed the benefit of God helping me solve all my major work issues especially when they were akin to a huge wave threatening to crash over me as I stare helplessly at it. May the covering of God be on you as you stand in recognition of your life as a child of God.
M.
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3)