I've moved!

Dear Readers and Friends,

I have migrated this blog to a new host. It's still called Finding Life and its new address is matthew1039.wordpress.com. In part, this move was because I wanted a new web address, and in part because I want to try out WordPress. I won't be deleting this blog, but I won't be posting here anymore. Do direct your "Favorites" tab to the new address. We hope that you keep reading Finding Life.

Thank-you and God bless!

He remains faithful

¹¹ The saying is trustworthy, for:

            If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

             ¹² if we endure, we will also reign with him;

            if we deny him, he also will deny us;

             ¹³ if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

            

for he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2:11-13

If we persevere to the end Jesus promises us a new life with Him, sharing in His authority and enjoying Him forever (Revelation 2:9-11). If we are to reject Him, God allows us to remain in that spirit of defiance and resistance to His glory, and we will be judged for it (Matthew 11:20-22). Yet, no matter how unfaithful we are, God remains the same. He ever holds out the promise of redemption to us, for his nature is perpetual and changes not. For that reason, God in His covenant with Abraham, swore by Himself, for there was nothing greater that He could swear by (Genesis 22:15-18, Hebrews 6:13-15). God is unchanging: He is still the same God of both the Old and New Testaments, a God of love and a God of judgment.

May we all remember that God is faithful to keep His chosen ones till the final judgment (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24), and make every effort to be chosen by God.

A miraculous catch of fish

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Luke 5:4-11

I wanted to blog on this passage last week when, coincidentally, I taught on it in Sunday School and Pastor Dick preached on it as well. What stood out to me was Peter's response to this miracle. He saw something amazing and knew that God was working through Jesus, hence, his sudden awareness of his sin and unworthiness. He went from tired, grudging obedience to being awestruck. Did he know that Jesus was God? Maybe not yet, but there was certainly something about Jesus that commanded more than just his attention. For there and then, Peter, James and John left their family, their livelihoods as fishermen, and followed Jesus.

 

Does Jesus command your heart and will as He did theirs? Are you willing to call Jesus Lord, and LORD? When did God come into your life, when you knew, unmistakably and irretrievably, that the only thing you could do was follow Him?

To fight for joy

I'm naturally prone to be melancholic and intense. But I've been convicted recently that I am to call myself a child of God, how can I be anything but joyful? How can anything but the deeper, pervading, unshakeable joy of God shine in me? I can be faced with all sorts of things: a frustrating physical injury, an urgent deadline, anything at all, but the joy of the Lord is not to be lost. See what Romans 15:13 says:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Because we believe, we have joy, and we have hope! A hope that surpasses this life, a hope that lasts to all eternity.

If you're like me, often glum or depressive, you'll find this a convicting reminder that the joy of the Lord is to be a hallmark of our life: How Shall We Fight For Joy

The Girl In The Orange Dress

When I was in India, I had this startling, heart-wrenching experience.

We were in New Delhi, crossing the road to a McDonalds, when this little girl ran up to us. She couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old, and she was wearing a dirty orange dress with a patch of sweat at the front. She was selling beaded necklaces. "One for 10 rupees." She follows us as we cross the road and counts out eleven necklaces. "Eleven for 100 rupees." (10 rupees is about 30 cents.) We are standing at the road divider and she sticks out her small free arm in front of one of my friends. "Be careful," she says authoritatively.

Something about this girl strikes a chord in my heart. I buy one necklace from her. Later, I wish that I had bought more, but she is gone when we leave the McDonalds. Maybe it is her energy, her spirit, how she spoke. Maybe she reminds me of my little cousins. Anyway, I can't get her out of my mind.

She could be anywhere else. Were she born somewhere else in the world, she could be in school, playing in a playground or in a comfortable home. She could grow up to be a lawyer, a dancer, a sports star,anything she wants. Instead she's smart, pretty, spirited, but running about the streets of Delhi selling necklaces.

That day, I'm lost in thought. I realize that when we serve God, and our service comes out of faith and obedience to Him, He will always call us to serve another person in the course of it. God never calls us to be hermits in a mountain somewhere. He will always call us to help someone, be it physically, emotionally, but most importantly, spiritually. The best thing we can do for anyone is to bring her or him to life-saving faith in Jesus Christ. And perhaps, in the course of it, we will feed the hungry, give medicine to the sick, house the homeless, counsel a depressed person, speak up for the downtrodden, and so on. But the overarching motivation is always to serve God.

I realize that I must never, never live for myself. Whatever I do in the future, I want to live for Jesus. He gave everything for me, that I may give everything for Him and for all He calls me to do. Oh Lord, use me. Remind me to always live for you, and use me to bring love and peace to a world so in need of them.

Storehouses of the snow

 ²²"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
   or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
²³which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
   for the day of battle and war?
²⁴What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
   or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
 ²⁵"Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
   and a way for the thunderbolt,
²⁶to bring rain on a land where no man is,
   on the desert in which there is no man,
²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
   and to make the ground sprout with grass?
 ²⁸"Has the rain a father,
   or who has begotten the drops of dew?
²⁹From whose womb did the ice come forth,
   and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
³⁰The waters become hard like stone,
   and the face of the deep is frozen.


Job 38:22-30

Every knee shall bow and every tongue swear allegiance

I'm in Hampi, India now, the site of famous ancient ruins. These ruins are mainly Hindu temples and palaces. To many who come here to "find themselves", the country of India conjures images of the mystic and spiritual enlightenment. But it is a nation that has been bound in spiritual darkness for centuries now. This is a spiritually dark land, and travelling here, I am emboldened by 1 John 4:4: He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world.

When I see these crumbling buildings, I wonder about the thousands who wore out their lives labouring in the grip of the evil one to craft these vast complexes for false Gods. Please pray for India and for missions like Gospel for Asia, which are, by power of God, bringing the Gospel to unreached millions throughout the world. It is a comfort to remember Isaiah 45:23: that one day, every knee shall bow and every tongue swear allegiance to Jesus Christ.

To show that the surpassing power belongs to God

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

This passage is a paradox, and a magnificent, Christ-exalting one. God chooses to use common pottery and not reinforced chests to store His treasure, because in doing so He is glorified. God chooses to use our weaknesses and insufficiency because in doing so He is shown to be ever more wonderful. It is unremarkable when smart, capable people achieve great things in their own might. Yet, when great things are accomplished by frail men we know that God alone must be at work.

So this is why Paul willingly describes how he and other early Christian leaders are beaten, worn down and suffer to spread the Gospel. He acknowledges their weaknesses, as fragile, common "jars of clay", because this brings out, all the more, the wonder of the treasure they contain: the death and life of Jesus. In following Jesus' example of death, they willingly suffer. And in knowing that they have eternal life in Jesus, they can rejoice.

I pray that I will always live as a "jar of clay": humble, unremarkable and brittle, perhaps, but always bearing witness to the treasure and its "surpassing power" that God has put within me.

Abide With Me

A lovely rendition of one of the most beautiful hymns, and a prayer I can't pray often enough.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Sharing the Gospel: help me Lord!

This week I feel a very strong conviction that I want to share the gospel with my school friends. Perhaps it's the many long days and evenings we've spent together elbow-deep in our revision for the exams. I enjoy their company and friendship so much, and we have grown so close, that I know I cannot carry on without sharing with them the most precious thing in my life, and that would be in theirs.

How do I do this? When is the right time? This is such a challenging, difficult matter. I have been praying that God will show me the right time and the right way to share my Faith with my friends. When the time comes, I just ask that God will speak to me and through me. Isaiah 55:10-11 is great encouragement to me:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

I hope and pray that God's word will accomplish its work of redemption in the lives of my friends. Quite often, I feel guilty for not being more sincere or serious about the eternal destinies of those around me. Please Lord, show me when and how to tell my dear friends about Jesus. 

P.S: Pastor John Piper gives some guidance on this matter in a recent APJ session.

At what point should I share the gospel with my neighbour?

Numbering my days

So often I take my life for granted, and spend day after day in a spiritual oblivion. With exams looming around the corner, it's so easy to rush to school in the morning, start studying, stay in school till late, chat and laugh with friends, all without even thinking about God.

Then God sends something my way, a little problem or a kind friend, to remind me what life is about. Then I remember that our life is not our own to live. That's what jumped out at me when I read Psalm 90:12 today:

So teach us to number our days 
that we may get a heart of wisdom.

I want to live my life aware that my days are limited, so that I will use them wisely, that is, to glorify the one who saved me. And that is wisdom: using my life in accordance with God's will. I know that when I am living in God's will, I can never be afraid or unhappy. Although following Jesus can be difficult at times, and can demand giving up things of this earth, God promises us a greater, surpassing joy that comes from being filled by Him alone.

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, 
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:14

The Secret Things

Have you ever had questions about the Christian faith? I certainly do. 

"Why does a holy God allow sin to happen?"

"Why did God choose such a painful, roundabout way to secure our redemption through Jesus?" 

"How can God be "one in three persons"?" 

"What will the new heaven and earth be like?"

... and more, which is why I love Deuteronomy 29:29.

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

There are things about our faith that God keeps secret from us. But He has revealed enough to us, in His word, for us to have faith in Him. The things that He has revealed are ample for us to obey and follow Him. Nothing that we cannot ascertain from His word is crucial to us coming to faith in Jesus Christ and loving God. When we're full of questions, this is a great thing to remember.

The Point of Easter

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:4

Jesus died that we, like Him, could die: we died to sin, such that sin no longer has control over us. And Jesus rose to life that we, like Him, could enjoy eternal life, forever reconciled with God. Jesus died for us and rose for us, that we may praise and glorify God with our lives.

I often reduce Easter to thoughts of a long weekend and colourful eggs. I know that I always forget the heart of Easter. I need to remind myself of the point of Easter each day of my life. How about you? 

When his soul makes an offering for guilt

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:10

On Good Friday, remember that Jesus' cruel death was not by chance. Every taunt and torment that Jesus suffered was part of God's good plan, in order that Jesus might be for us "an offering for guilt". Jesus became the perfect guilt offering, the perfect Passover lamb. The shedding of His blood stopped death once and for all. Everything God had done for his chosen people, the institution of the law and the commandments culminated in Jesus' death and resurrection.

To seek out out a place to pitch your tents...

Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.

Deuteronomy 1:29-33

In spite of this great assurance, the Israelites were fearful to enter the Promised Land. Despite the ten plagues that had been wreaked on Egypt, the daily provision of manna, the fire and cloud that led them and many more miraculous signs, Israel turned back on the border of Canaan. They paid dearly for this lack of faith.

Do we recognize the glorious signs that God performs in our lives? Or are we blind to His almighty hand working wonders in our lives? Do we cling to Him in spite of what happens, or do the slightest anxieties and trials shake us to the core? 

I want to believe and know and trust that my God goes ahead of me, to seek me out a place to pitch my tents, blazing a trail in cloud and fire, and to show me the way by which I should go. I want to live like this everyday.

Cities and Sleep

Unless the LORD builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Psalm 127:1-2

This is one of my favourite Psalms and I think these two verses are among the most supremely comforting and assuring in the whole Bible.

I have a rather intense, perfectionistic personality. I want to do things right and well. It is easy for me to carry this too far into mindless, compulsive anxiety about work and life in general. I want to plan things so that they go just right. I want to make that my plans are carried out well. I feel the need to plot out the steps I take, in order to retain control over my future. This certainly does not honour God.

Our God is the one and only God, the Sovereign God. Everything in our lives is in His hands, and ultimately, it is His will that controls our destinies. And that is why these two verses are so comforting to me. They remind me that for all the time and energy I pour into planning and trying to keep a grip on my future, my effort is futile if I do not let God take control. So God is telling me: "Let me run your life: unless my will operates through your life, everything you do is in vain." I should surrender my life to Him and let Him "build my city" for me. If I think that I have absolute control over my life, and run it according to my finite wisdom and abilities, I'm headed for trouble.

What then is left for me to do? All that I have to do is sleep in peace. Sleep is beautiful, precious rest that God created for us weary, puny beings. This doesn't mean that I shouldn't work late if I have to. Rather it means that if I toil, thinking that late nights of work alone can give me security for the future, I toil in vain. What futility and silliness, when God means for me to be able to rest peacefully with the assurance that my future is safe in His sovereign, perfect will.

These two verses are such a sweet yet incisive indictment of anxiety and futile human efforts to run our own lives. Will we let God build the cities of our future and trust Him to watch over them? Will we accept His gift of dreamless, peaceful sleep? I pray that I will and that you will too.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away

There is so much to be thankful for, isn't there? It's easy to forget to be grateful for what we do have. Sometimes, we've enjoyed something for so long that we've ceased to be grateful for it. But if we'd just imagine what it would like if we didn't have that something, perhaps we wouldn't so easily take it for granted.

For me, I could imagine what it would be like if I didn't have such sensible, loving, caring parents. Or I could imagine what it would be like if I had been born with a severe learning or emotional disability. Or if a loved one were stricken with a severe terminal illness or injury. Or, simply regarding something we've been celebrating recently, what it would be like if Dave didn't get the good A-level results he did. God could have changed my life in any of these ways, and He would not be wronging me.

God has the sovereign right to do anything He wants. As Job said, "I know you can do all things, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2) God never told Job why he had to suffer the way he did. God may put us through all sorts of trials, and we may never know why.

I pray that I will always be thankful for what I do have. And when God in His sovereign will decides to take things away from me, may I do as Job did when all his earthly wealth and beloved children were destroyed: 

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Job 1:20-22

What God says to he who trusts in Him

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 91:14-16

... that you may tell the next generation

Walk about Zion, go around her,

number her towers,

consider well her ramparts,

go through her citadels,

that you may tell the next generation

that this is God,

our God forever and ever.

He will guide us forever.

Psalm 48:12-14

God reveals to us His glory. In this Psalm, the psalmist speaks of beholding the glory and splendor of the City of God, and the awe and terror this strikes in mankind. What is the end to which we, who are saved, witness this? To praise Him and proclaim His glory. We are saved that we may bear witness of Him to others. This is a challenge for all of us for us to "tell the next generation", both physically and spiritually, of the glory of God. That He is God forever, and will be with us forever.

Fear. Hope. Wait. Trust.

¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love, 
¹⁹ that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
²⁰ Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield. 
²¹ For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name. 
²² Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Psalm 33:18-22

What assurance! What peace we may have! The eye of the Almighty God being upon us, that we have no reason to be afraid or to be anxious! He is our help and our shield, aid and protection in every situation of need. We can put our trust in Him. Will we believe this promise, or will we continue to persist in the smug self-satisfaction of our own puny strength? I pray that I will daily fear Him, hope in Him, wait for Him and trust in Him.

The Finger of God

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:19

What does it take for us to recognize the "finger of God"? Will we remain blind to the work of God even when others around us see? May we pray that we do not remain in darkness, but see Light.

Walking in God's ways

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.

Hosea 14:9

This verse, the last in the book of Hosea, struck me last year while on vacation. The prophet ends the book by this succinct, incisive reminder to walk in God's ways. Calling the nation of Israel to repentance, he pleads with them to return to God and follow Him.

Are we "wise" and "discerning"? Do we desire to know God's ways and walk in them? To the righteous, God's way is a firm, safe path to deliverance. Yet, those who do not know him, they cannot follow his commandments and "stumble".

Our family's scripture for the year

"You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year."

Deuteronomy 11:1-12

In New Zealand on vacation, our family decided that this should be our family's scripture passage for the year 2010. This year, we are going through the uncertainty of searching for a new home, and these verses remind us to trust God. We may think that we can guarantee our own future by the work of our hands, building ourselves a home in Egypt. That, however, is not God's plan for us. He will prosper us by His own hand. We will have to rely on His goodness and His provision, like rain from heaven, which is beyond our human control. Nonetheless, our Father promises to give us rain and to care for us. This year, we want to live trusting that His eyes are upon us, and hence knowing that we have nothing to fear.