https://odb.org/2023/09/05/everything-is-against-me

There are times when everything seems to be against us. Nothing is going well. We don’t wish for that, of course. We want everything to be for us, to be smooth. We want our affairs to be normalised – not dramatic, not drastic. We want things to just go on a regular and even rhythm. For example, if we save RM1,000 a month, we will have RM12,000 in a year. Unfortunately, sometimes, in the quest to gain something a little out of ordinary, we lose too much because we put in too much. That’s the psychology of how scams and other lures work. They appeal to and attract our inner desire to have more in order to take from us what we already have. The idiom, “a bird in hand is better than two in the bush,” is apt.

In the case of Jacob, Joseph was dead (as recounted by his brothers), his other son, Simeon, was held hostage and in return he needed to bring Benjamin to the Lord of that faraway land to get back Simeon. Jacob lamented that everything’s against him. See Genesis 42.

If everything is against us, the way forward is to bow down humbly before God and seek His counsel on what to do next and do what it takes for Him to be on our side. Get God on our side (or rather, move over to God’s side) and rebuild our lives from there. Then we will see that everything will be on our side, and we will soar high again with wings like that of eagles! The LORD is our answer and the way forward. Go back to Him. Repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness. Don’t repeat our past mistakes and follies again. In most cases, we are where we are because of our own doing.

In Romans 8:31, Paul reminded the Romans – if God is for us, who can be against us? No one can out-give or out-gun the Almighty God, the creator of the heavens and earth and everything on it and above and below it. The power of God surpasses all powers on heaven or earth. If heavens doors open, the blessings are plentiful bordering on the infinite!

https://odb.org/2023/09/04/extreme-kindness

The story of Jehoiachin, a Judah king exiled in Babylon as recounted in Jeremiah 52:31-34, is a picture of God’s love and kindness for us, His children in Christ. The new Babylonian king, Awel-Marduk, released Jehoiachin after he had spent the last 37 years incarcerated in prison and gave him a place at his table, new clothes, a residence and a regular allowance until the day he died. It was kindness in the extreme.

A similar story occurred earlier in the life of Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul and the crippled son of Jonathan. King David remembered his covenant with Jonathan and restored the family’s land, house, and servants to Mephibosheth despite past repeated attempts by Saul to kill him. Like Awel-Marduk, David also gave Mephibosheth a permanent place at his table.

A regular place at the King’s table not only meant that one will not ever go hungry but instead will always enjoy the finest of food (thus the expression, “a dish fit for a king”). It is also a place of honour to dine with the King, not once but regularly. At that time, Babylon, if not the most powerful, was probably one of the most powerful of nations.

Sometimes, we forget that as believers redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, we have also been treated with extreme kindness by God. Many are called, but few are chosen. As chosen ones of God, we have the privilege of being co-heirs with Christ, the King of Kings. We have a permanent place at the King’s table. Thus, like David wrote before in Psalm 23, He has prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies. He has anointed my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever!

Be grateful and thankful to God each day for giving us Jesus and for giving us the privilege of having invited Jesus into our lives. Repay His extreme kindness by being faithful and committed to Christ. Serve Christ with all our heart, soul, and mind. He is worthy of our worship, service, obedience, and sacrifice, for He died for our souls and our sins.

https://odb.org/2023/09/03/the-blessed-mask-2

In 2 Corinthians 3:1-6, Paul, in reminding the Corinthians of who he was to them, commented that their lives is a letter of him, written on his heart, known and seen by all. He went on to say that their lives are a letter from Christ, the result of his ministry, written not in ink but by the Spirit of God, not on tablets of stone but on tables of human hearts.

Thus, in ministry, our credentials lie in the lives we have blessed and touched. We testify to the goodness and greatness of God through the people who have been blessed by God through us. The proof is in the pudding. Res ipsa loquitur, we say in Latin – the facts speak for itself. Our fruits will define us. Not letters of commendation or recommendation from respected or prominent people. Our work speaks for itself.

In the same vein, the evil we perpetuate will haunt us. If we have known Christ and yet we are as cunning and devious as before, people will notice and know. If we are still as calculative and manipulative, who is Christ to us and to those around us? If we are still as difficult and uncompromising as ever, how have we transformed in Christ? Our lives are letters from Christ, written in tablets of our hearts by the Spirit of God. We reflect the glory and persona of God.

The rigours of the corporate world require us to be who we are. It’s not true if we are in Christ. The discipline of the trade needs us to be hard and difficult. It’s not true if we have Jesus. We are not defined by our environment or our business or our trade, but by God. We must become the person God wants us to be, not the person shaped by our environment, our work, our upbringing, education, or even our family. We are letters written by Christ by the Spirit of God that are seen and known by all. Our persona must thus be that of Christ.

https://odb.org/2023/09/01/gods-epic-story

The age-old question of why there is evil in the world when there is God can be answered simply – man is given the will to make his own free choice, and the natural precedes the spiritual. In other words, the world is made in such a way that there are natural laws in play at all times, and that includes the free will of man. So why did God not intervene when there is poverty, hunger, and starvation? Why did God not intervene when there are diseases and affirmaties that killed millions?

13 years ago, I came face to face with this question when my lay pastor and close friend passed on from a heart attack. He was 40 and had never done a full medical examination before. He was not well, and his GP did an ECG and found out he had a congenital heart condition. He was actually fit and exercised regularly. The doctor prescribed for him to be immediately admitted, but the hospital concerned refused as he did not have a heart attack. He collapsed while leaving the hospital and was in a coma for a week. We asked why God did not warn him to undergo a medical examination all those years? Perhaps the Lord did, and perhaps he had ignored the promptings. But most importantly, our life is our own responsibility. We can not ignore natural laws.

Jesus said before that we ought to be afraid of Him, who may destroy both our body and soul. But in the discourse in the Upper Room just after the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples that although they may find trouble in the world, He has overcome the world.

The message this morning is that we should not be too concerned with things that are beyond our control. The eradication of poverty and the elimination of hunger are matters in the realm of governments. China has been successful in this over the past few decades. In a Netflix program on Blue Zones (highest concentration of centenerians), it was found that the ability to determine things within our control is one of the keys to longevity of life. Like how our sheep or cattle should behave, rather than concern ourselves with climate change or global warming or why is evil in the world?

Ultimately, we are responsible for where we are headed after we pass on from this world. Jesus has settled that for us – He has overcome the world. He has died for our sins. But we still have the will to decide whether to follow him, the world, our selves, or some other person or diety. It is a choice each and every one of us has to make. No one is exempted.

https://odb.org/2023/08/30/freedom-on-the-path

The first impression we get when we read Isaiah 26:7 is that if God makes our paths smooth as the righteous, it means that our lives will be trouble-free. It then becomes a sort of contradiction as life itself is never smooth. We know. There are ups and downs, valleys and mountain tops. Exhilarating experiences and disappointing moments. Joy and sadness. As believers, we are not exempt from the exigencies of life.

I think when God says that He will make the paths of the righteous smooth, He meant it more in the spiritual sense. Someone once said that if we determined in our hearts to seek the Lord, He would be found. The Lord will make sure that we will find Him if we seek Him. You can actually read this in Jeremiah 29:13 – you will seek Me and find Me if you search Me with all your heart.

Having persevered through doing these commentaries over the past few years, I have experienced this in my own life. There were times when I struggled, but recently, I found that picking out the message the Lord wishes to convey became easier, and that’s true even when preparing for a sermon. The Lord helped me not only with the Scriptures to preach from but also the flow of the message. I saw that working in a senior pastor’s life 6 years ago, and I’m now experiencing it first hand myself.

I believe if we seek Him with all our hearts, He will make our spiritual paths smooth. It will still be step by step, but the steps will be smooth. We will see breakthroughs in our ministry. Maybe we will find power in our prayers and insights into the spiritual realm. Perhaps we will start moving in word of knowledge and may have a prophesy to encourage someone or provide a direction for someone at crossroads. Or the Lord may give us a vision or a dream and the ability to interpret it accurately like Joseph. Basically, it’s a glimpse into the spiritual realm.

In other words, life will be as challenging as ever with its ups and downs. But our spiritual walk with God will be smooth. That’s really wonderful since our ultimate quest in life is the eternal life to be lived with our Lord in the new heaven and earth, the new Jerusalem!

https://odb.org/2023/08/29/when-youre-weary

We often read about or use the expression, “rest in peace,” or RIP when we offer condolences to the family of the departed. RIP is also common as an epitaph. The reason I guess is that when one dies, all worldly matters are of no concern anymore. He ceases to participate in the affairs of this world. His body has stopped functioning, and in time to come, his body will become just bones in the ground. It is true whether one is a beggar or a king, a peasant or a billionaire, or even a former prime minister. Whether he was at peace with himself or the world before he passed is now irrelevant. He is resting in peace, in the sense that he is no longer a part of this world. He may be remembered as a piece of our memories and ongoing history, but he has departed from this realm.

But is the dead truly at peace? What happens to his soul and spirit, the part of a dead person that lives on although his body is gone? As Christians, we believe that our spirit and soul return to God when we die. In the New Testament, Jesus uses the expression ‘asleep’ to denote human death, and it is true because their spirit and soul are asleep while waiting for the day of Jesus Christ.

Jesus declares that only He knows the Father and those whom He chose to reveal (see Matthew 11:25-30). He then goes on to call those who are weary and burdened to go to Him, for He will give us rest. Take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, for He is gentle and humble in heart. He will give us rest.

True rest, even on this earth, in this busy world can only come from knowing Jesus. Living life is both tiring and burdensome. Life is such that for most of us, we can not stop and rest, or we may drop the ball. We need to be attentive all the time and keep on working, lest there is no food on the table, or using the British expression, there is no bacon to bring home. It’s a continuous push, but we don’t want to only rest in peace when we die, with our boots on the ground. We want that peace now, and only Jesus can give us that peace and that rest in our souls as we learn from Him, for His yoke is light, and He is gentle and humble in heart. True rest now can only come with the assurance of eternal life as whoever drinks of His living waters will never thrist. Those who believe in Him, though they may die, they will live as He is the resurrection and the life.

Until our final destination is secured and we live in the centre of God’s will, fulfilling His plans and purposes for our lives, conceived before the foundations of the world, we will not have true peace and rest while on this earth or even thereafter.

https://odb.org/2023/08/28/losing-everything

One of the scariest books to read in the Bible has to be the book of Job. Just reading chapter One will send shivers down our spine. We shudder at the thought and sight of seeing Job losing everything in an instant. His family and all his possessions. From a person with mostly everything to someone with nothing. But the beauty of Job is that he never once cursed or blamed God for what happened to him. In fact, he continued to worship the LORD. His attitude was straightforward, the LORD gave, and the LORD took away (Job 1:21). Some argue that it was not the LORD who took but Satan. Nevertheless, Job’s attitude is correct, it doesnt matter because, in the end, all that he has is God’s and God-given.

Also, it was Job during those ancient times who already proclaimed that in the end, he would stand with his Redeemer, although his skin is destroyed as his Redeemer lives! He could articulate the idea of the resurrection of our bodies on the last day, even way back then. See Job 19:25.

I think the biggest lesson we could apply from today’s ODB is to do what Cesar did when he lost everything. He asked God to show him the way forward, and he simply started all over again. The source of everything on this earth is still God. If we follow Him and listen out to His voice and look beyond the natural into the spiritual realm with eyes of faith, we will be able to start all over no matter how bad our situation is. In our current context, it could be our lifelong work at our workplace, and we have just been laid off. We may thus have to start all over again in another organisation, building new contacts and networks and establishing our credentials and credibility all over again. Or circumstances may have led to us migrating aboard or moving to another city, and we now need to start our ministry all over again in a new church.

We do not wish for Job’s situation, but if it ever happens, stay true to the course in our faith, seek God for the way forward, and start all over. Jesus taught before that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains (Matthew 17:20-21). Clearly, Jesus was using hyperbole to convey His message, but its meaning is simple – what we need is faith in God, just a little, and it could actually do wonders!

https://odb.org/2023/08/27/dealing-with-disappointment

King David wanted to build the Temple for God and had prepared the building plans based on what God had impressed upon his heart. But God told him that he would not be building it because, as a warrior, he had blood in his hands. Instead, his son, Solomon, will build it. Thus, in front of the congregation, David passed on the building plans to Solomon and told Solomon that the LORD would establish his kingdom forever if he is unwavering in carrying out the LORD’S commandments and law. It was a major disappointment for David, and yet David is still remembered as the greatest King Israel ever had, and his reign is the golden age of Israel. Jesus was proud to trace His ancestry to the house of David.

Earlier in Numbers 20, Moses and Aaron were also faced with a major disappointment after God barred them from going into the Promised Land because Moses didn’t speak to the rock as God had instructed, but instead struck the rock twice with his staff. Moses, for some reason, was disobedient, although he had done an excellent job leading the Israelites for the past 40 years until then. His legacy nevertheless remains as Moses is still remembered as the Father of the Old Covenant. The law as it was set out in the Pentateuch.

There will be disappointments in our spiritual walk. We thought we could do more for God, but the Lord has others in mind for the tasks ahead. In David’s case, God wanted Solomon to build the Temple. In Moses’s case, God wanted Joshua and Caleb to lead the second generation of Israelites, who were raised in the wilderness, into Canaan.

If God chooses someone else for the way forward, we will be disappointed, but God still loves us and still appreciates and cherishes all that we had done for Him in the past. Our Lord is not like our human masters. He doesn’t forget us just because He has someone else in mind for the tasks ahead. We are disappointed and sad, but as God still loves and appreciates us, let others run the next stage. Be like David and Moses. In the end, the LORD preserved and kept both their legacies and made sure they were remembered for generations to come.

https://odb.org/2023/08/25/what-a-friend

The shortest verse in the Bible is found in John 11:35, “He wept.”. Just two words and yet so powerful. It is evidence that Jesus is truly human, although He is God. In the story of Cain and Abel, God was so upset with Cain for killing Abel that He cursed the ground vis-a-vis Cain that Cain the farmer became a wanderer for the rest of his life, not able to toil the soil anymore. But here, in the case of Lazarus (Mary and Martha’s brother), Jesus wept after Lazarus died. By the time Jesus reached their home, Lazarus had passed away for 4 days already, meaning to say, the decaying process of the human body had long started. Yet, Jesus could turn back the clock by reversing the process when He resurrected Lazarus from the dead.

Imagine you have a close friend, and he is so full of potential. Then you see him wasting away his future by indulging in the vices. You counsel and warn him, but your words fall on deaf ears. You will be really sad and disappointed. Maybe you’ll weep too. For me, the fact that Jesus was overcome by emotion and wept means that He has feelings like any other human. That also means that if we are failing in our walk with Him, He will be saddened too. He, like the angels, will cheer for us to do our best so we may continue in the race and finish it.

Jesus is emotionally in touch with us, He is invested in our walk of faith, in our fulfilment of the Father’s plans and purposes for our lives. After all, He died on the cross for our sins as the Lamb of God. We must always do our best so as to not disappoint or make Jesus sad, the same way we want our parents or spouse to be proud of us in the things we do in the natural. Discard those bad habits. Get rid of those destructive behaviours. Carry on with life but walk in the path of righteousness towards life eternal.

Know that as He wept on Lazarus’s death, Jesus will weep if we stray away from God. Jesus is emotionally invested in our lives. He is our friend as much as He is our Lord and Saviour. In our distress, go to Him in prayer and worship. Let Him calm our souls and bring us back to Him. He is indeed our peace and the river of living waters that whoever drinks of Him will never thrist again!

https://odb.org/2023/08/24/openhearted-generosity

Having a heart that is both open and generous is not only Christ-like but also Godly. These are attributes that Paul speaks about in Romans 12:2 on not conforming to the pattern of the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we may prove (test and experience) the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.

When we are open to possibilities, especially to God, and have a generous and sharing nature, God will pour out His spiritual blessings upon our lives. It is counterintuitive, like it’s better to give than to receive. It’s like if offered something, it is natural to want to take all or the most we can, but strangely, if we take a little, we will have more and more in time to come. In the natural, we want to take the most we can because we are uncertain that the opportunity will come again, but if we are open and generous, God will bless us with more and more over time. That is the true blessing in the spiritual realm. It’s like the more we give, the more we will receive over time and perhaps throughout the span of our lives.

Thus, by way of illustration, it is better to receive RM1,000 a month than a lump sum of RM100,000. The latter may spoil us and cause us to stray, and although the former is uncertain, it may increase over time if God blesses us. That is why in some countries, if we strike a lottery, we may choose to take a monthly or annual payout rather than a lump sum. The reality is that many ended up losing their fortunes within a few years, but with a monthly stipend or annuity, we will be kept comfortable for years to come and maybe even to our next generation.

To preserve our legacy and inheritance in Christ in the spiritual realm, Paul teaches in 2 Timothy 6:1 to fan into flame the gift of God in Timothy that is in him through the laying of Paul’s hands upon him. Not only is our spiritual walk a long game, but it is important to have our spiritual giftings to last the longer term in our lifetime, and that includes our blessings from God. We need to always have a long-term view in all things that will last our lifetime so we may remain faithful to our Saviour and Lord until our last breath. Our ultimate goal in life is to appear before Christ with Him affirming us that we have done well – good and faithful servant, welcome to your rest!