https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/14/deep-waters

When we think of deep waters, we think of dependency on God. This is because even if we know how to swim, we can’t in the natural swim for long in deep waters. If we could float and thread water, our strength is still not unlimitless as we are essentially land animals, not marine creatures. We will sink and do not have the ability to breathe in water. So, in deep waters, without help, we will eventually drown.

But when Solomon wrote Proverbs 20:5 – the purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but the one who has insight draws them out – he meant it in a different light. It means that we keep some things very deep inside us, and sometimes, only the wise or wise counselling can draw them out and achieve resolution, closure, and healing.

The recent passing of the well-known and well-liked Asian pop star, Coco Lee, had devastated many fans and non-fans alike. She was always so happy and jovial, always positive, always working hard. Yet deep inside her, she had issues, and those issues led to depression that ultimately took her life. Such a bubbly and sassy character, and yet she was lost and drowned in the deep waters of depression, sorrow, and sadness.

I think we should talk openly about the deeper things that bother us. Confide with someone – our spouse, a leader in our church, our cell group members, a close friend. Someone we trust. Sometimes, talking about things and bringing things out in the open liberates our hearts and prevents us from being crushed from inside out. If really there is no one, share our hearts out to the Lord. Jesus will be our listener and comforter.

As a friend and brother or sister in Christ or even as a spouse, we must never dismiss depression and its devastating effects. Never allow it to set in or take root because it could well sap one’s will and desire to live. It is dangerous, and we must allow the person we love room to ventilate and speak out. That is why it requires wisdom to draw things out from the deep waters of a person’s soul. It requires insight and wisdom. We could also pray that God will intervene. Ultimately, we need to bring those things out so that there would be closure and healing in our souls.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/13/personal-responsibility

In our faith as believers, we have personal responsibility and accountability for our actions, behaviour, and service, including for things we could have done but didn’t. On the day of judgment, we need to give an account for our lives – like for example, did we oppress or help the poor or disadvantaged? Or did we see an opportunity, and we capitalised on it to the detriment of the disadvantaged?

In the Bible, there are two last day judgments that we should be aware of. The first is the Great White Throne Judgment, and the second is the Judgment Seat of Christ (also known as the Bema judgment). The first judges unbelievers while the second judges believers. The Bema judgment seeks to reward if we have followed what Jesus said (remember Matthew 7:21?). In other words, have we fulfilled our calling in Christ and the plans and purposes of God for our lives? In fact, the whole Bible is about us following and living out His commandments.

When Paul speaks of working out our salvation with fear and trembling in Philippians 2:12, I believe that he is referring to the first, that is, we need to first make sure that our salvation is intact on the day of judgment. But if we have done our share of good works and service after accepting Christ, then those good works will surely stand us in good stead when we face Christ during the Bema judgment. All the treasures and riches in heaven that we had stored earlier will become tangible at this time. James had reminded in James 2:26 that faith without works is dead.

I think the simple message this morning is that accepting Christ is not the end game, but only the beginning to possibly an endless adventure with Christ working out His plans and purposes for our lives while we allow Him to transform us as we do not conform to the pattern of this world per Romans 12:2. There is work to be done within us, and for Christ – much work indeed! The good news is that as we serve Him and in the process we are transformed, we will sort out the first and second judgments. We will first ensure that our salvation is intact, and then we will be rewarded for our good works.

There will be a time of personal responsibility and accountability, but we will not be fearful if we have done our part. By way of an analogy, it will be like if we had prepared well for our exam, we would enter the examination hall with boldness and anticipation to do well. But if we had not prepared well, then we would be fearful, and there may be trembling within us. Put in our share of the work, and we will be good!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/12/wash-me

I think it is highly commendable that the Bible writers wrote the story of King David and Bathsheba as it is without censoring or modifying or even concealing it to put David in a better light. After all, David was and is still the pride and joy of Israel – even our Lord Jesus Christ identifies and traces his ancestry to the house of David!

What David did as an absolute monarch with power only second to God was hineous and despicable, and while David suffered the consequences for his sin (he lost a few of his sons, including Bathsheba’s first son with him), God forgave him when he repented from his sin. The Lord nevertheless loved him and continued his lineage through his son with Bathsheba, Solomon, who became the wisest King ever from Israel, and it is from this lineage (tainted as it was) that God chose to bring His only begotten son to this world to be the Lamb of God for humanity.

The story of David and Bathsheba speaks of the brokenness of the human flesh that corrupts even the greatest among us but also speaks of the forgiveness, compassion, and love of God. Psalm 51:1-7 depicts the anguish and remorse David felt when confronting God with his sin in repentance. It’s an excellent model for us to follow if we ever need to repent before God for our own sins and wrongdoing. Cleanse me, O Lord, my Father in heaven – wash me clean as snow.

We thank you, Father, for sending Jesus to this world to die for our sins that those of us who believe in Jesus will not perish but may have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus became the Lamb of God to wash us clean as snow that we are completely unblemished as we enter into His presence. The blood of Jesus is the basis for us seeing God face to face in worship. It’s all only possible with the blood of the Lamb shed on the cross of Calvary.

Know this morning that God loves us like He loved David, and if we repent and turn away from our wicked ways, He will forgive us like He forgave David. He will cleanse us to be white as snow – we need to repent and return to Him – He is gracious and compassionate and will forgive us.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/11/who-deserves-the-praise

In my view, Hebrews 3:4 sets out a very important spiritual principle that who we are and all that we have are very much blessings from God, our Heavenly Father and creator of the universe and everything in it. Thus, if we have a nice house, the LORD is the real builder of the house. As the writer of Hebrews (believed to be Paul) says, God is the builder of everything. Acknowledging and knowing that our Lord is the source of our wealth and our success in life is important to keep our feet on the ground. To make sure that we don’t get puffed up by pride. The Psalmist recognised this principle as they proclaimed in Psalm 127:1 that unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught about the rich man who tore down his old barnhouses and built bigger ones to store up wheat and his possessions for years to come – only to have his life taken that very night. See Luke 12:16-21.

If we recognise and acknowledge that all that we are and have are from God, we will feel less sad if these are taken away. It was not really ours in the first place. It also makes sharing what we have easier. If we treat our riches as blessings of God, we would be more inclined to share more of it as a way to share the blessings of God with others. In other words, so that others may also be blessed by God through us. Ultimately, we came to this earth naked, and we will also return to God naked. We came with nothing, and we will return with nothing. We can not bring anything with us when we die except our faith and the treasures we had earlier stored in heaven. Our inheritance in Christ will always be intact, but it is not of this world. So why don’t we use our earthly wealth and influence to build up our treasures in heaven? Those things are intangible now but will be tangible after the day of Jesus Christ.

Recognise, acknowledge, and know that the true builder of everything is God, and that includes everything we have and who we are today and in the days to come. Give Him all glory for the work He has done and is still doing in our lives! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord for He is good, all the time!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/10/from-darkness-to-light

I’m 55 this year, and my first exposure to John 3:16 was when I was 12. That was 43 years ago. I was corresponding with a classmate of mine after leaving town for a small town in the East Coast of Malaysia, and she always ended her letters with John 3:16. That piqued my curiosity, and although I claimed I was a Christian (as my dad was from a Catholic background), at that point, I had not accepted Jesus into my life yet.

John 3:16 remains my favourite verse in the Bible and stands as the motto for my blog – that God sent His only begotten son to the world that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. It’s a simple verse and yet so profound as it encapsulates the whole message of the Gospel in those few words.

In reading and expounding Scripture, it is necessary to read even well-known verses in context. The context of John 3:16 was a response of Jesus to a Pharisee of the Sanhedrin named Nicodemus, who was half convinced that Jesus was the Messiah but was afraid to be seen with Jesus in the open. Thus, he came in to see Jesus under the cover of darkness, in secret, away from the public to ask Jesus questions. But Jesus was fully aware of Nichodemus’s situation and predicament and told him that to enter the Kingdom of God, he just needed to believe in Him as He was sent by God to the world so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have life eternal. It is, however, in the context of that time, a proclamation and belief that needs to be made public in daylight, not in darkness. This is because it was important for Jesus that the religious authorities believe that He was the Messiah, although He knew that they were against Him and would oppose Him – in fact, they ultimately persecuted and crucified Him!

Believing in Jesus should be done in the light as we are the light of the world. We should be proud of our beliefs and take pride in Jesus as our Lord. There are, however, closed countries and societies where this may not be permissible and may actually result in death. It is understandable that there are people who need to keep their belief in Christ a secret. Nevertheless, some still take the step of faith to come out in the open despite the threats and end up dead. Ultimately, eternal life is more important to them than this temporal world. They were killed because they stood for their faith, not killing themselves while killing others for their faith. That’s the big distinction.

Thank you, Father, for sending Your only and beloved Son to the world to die for our sins on the cross that many among us may live and have eternal life – instead of leaving us on the road that leads to destruction. To those who are on that road or who may be leaning towards that, I pray that in Your grace and mercy that You will, with the power of the Holy Spirit, bring all of them onto or back onto the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Amen

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/09/a-cry-for-help

As we read Isaiah 58:1-9, I feel that the message is that we must be genuine in God. In those passages, the LORD was asking why the Israelites fast and yet oppressed the poor? It’s like saying why worship in church and sing songs proclaiming God’s goodness when we ourselves practice injustice whether at home or at work. Or our persona in church is one of righteousness, but we do evil when we leave church. At work, we backstab others or freely give out poison pills, and yet we are holy in church.

There must be consistency between our spiritual and natural lives. We must be the same person. We are who we are, in and out of church. We are the same person whether we are worshipping God or not. That’s why God said in Isaiah 58 that we can not fast and yet do not do something about injustice. This is because God is about freeing us from injustice. He is about setting the yoke free from the oppressed. He is about feeding the hungry. He is about giving shelter to the poor wanderer and to clothe the naked. He is not about turning away from your own flesh and blood. Of course, the LORD spoke about all these within the nation of Israel, their fellow brothers, and sisters in the nation. However, Jesus had made it generic when He came on the scene. This is no longer about Israel alone or the community in our church (in our present context) but mankind in general, regardless of race or religion and even sexual orientation. God loves everyone and wants to give everyone a chance to be a part of our family of God.

Of course, we alone can not be feeding the hungry or cloth the unclothed or shelter the wanderer. Jesus said before when Mary Magdelene poured out her bottle of perfume to wash His feet – the poor you will always have with you. Meaning to see that we as individuals can not solve the issue of poverty among the masses. But what we can do is not to be the oppressor or assist in the oppression. We must be genuine in our faith and allow God to truly transform us. We can not be two-faced or wear a mask in church or in worship. We have to meet God face to face in worship in our true self. Be real and consistent before God and before men. That my brothers and sisters in Christ is true transformation.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/07/chocolate-snowflake

Most of us are familiar with the story from the bible of the LORD feeding the nearly 2 million Israelites (men, women, and children) in the wilderness. They were fed with manna from heaven, and this lasted throughout their journey there of 40 years! As long as they were on the sojourn, God provided the manna. It finally ceased when they reached settled land, which was Canaan, the Promised Land. At a certain time, there was also quail for meat, but it was only for a limited period (some postulate it was only for about a year).

The manna from heaven appeared in the morning and would only last for the day. It appeared every single day except the 7th day, and there was a double portion on the 6th day. Thus, the manna that arrived on the 6th day could last one extra day. The manna was the carbohydrate provision by God for the Israelites to give them strength, and I would think consumable by their livestock. Thus, their livestock provided them with protein from their milk. Water for everyone came from the places that Moses had used his staff. It was a complete ecosystem of sustenance until they reached settled land, where they could then till the land. The whole ecosystem out in the desert was a miracle, besides the floating cloud in the day and the ball of fire by night. It was supposed to only last for 40 days but ended up for 40 years! In other words, the whole miracle was perpetuated daily for years by God for the Israelites, His chosen people!

How the LORD related to Israel is a picture of how He relates to us as the spiritual Israel. In this sense, we stand secure knowing that, like He fed the Israelites, the LORD will feed His people. We know that if we are His children, we will never go hungry. The LORD will provide for our basic needs, symbolised by the water, manna from heaven, and the quail. God will, in His special way, sustain us to live and to carry on living this life. The same way that He had liberated the Israelites from bondage and then made sure they were fed, He would do the same for us even as He had freed us from the clutches of sin.

When Jesus came onto the scene, He identified Himself as the bread of life. Jesus will thus provide for us not only physical food but also spiritual food for eternity. He is both the source of living waters and the bread of life as one day the Tree of Life will be accessible to us again as children of God. The bread of life will be there for our lifetime and beyond, not just for 40 years. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to the Father, He is the Word and the everlasting manna from heaven! His love and provision are steadfast and are renewed every morning like dew. Hold on tight and put our complete trust in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/06/hope-beyond-consequences

I have read Numbers 20:2-12 a number of times, and although I know the spiritual principle the LORD is teaching in the passage, I find it difficult to understand the motivation for Moses to do what he did in disobeying God. Basically, the story goes that the Israelites were complaining again about the lack of water for them and their livestock, and although that was a legitimate concern, their complaints bothered on cursing God. Instead of being thankful to God for liberating them from slavery in Egypt, they were complaining that Moses brought them out into the wilderness to die. Perhaps Moses was angry and frustrated with them. The result was Moses reacted, and instead of speaking to the rock as per the LORD’s instructions, Moses used his staff like he used to. Water nevertheless gushed from the rock, but this act displeased the LORD, and the consequence to Moses and Aaron is that they were not allowed to enter the Promised Land. They could only see it from afar. As for the rest of the Israelites, the consequence of their constant murmuring and disobedience was that they had to spend 40 years roaming the wilderness, and every adult that came out of Egypt died there without entering the Promised Land, except for Caleb and Joshua.

In Philippians 2:14-16, Paul wisely advised the Philippians to do all things without complaining and disputing so that they may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights of the world. This is not the same as the Israelites who murmured against God, yet the principle is that doing things without complaining is a virtue to aspire to as a testimony of the goodness of God in our lives, for us to be a light in the midst of darkness.

God has been consistent that there are consequences to disobedience and sin, as we have seen in both the lives of King Saul and King David. So much so that we could derive a spiritual principle that obedience is better than sacrifice. It goes without saying that God knows all things and thus if He asks us to do something in a certain way, we need to trust Him that He knows best and it is best that we just obey and follow. If we want to be stubborn and go our own way, then we bear the consequences.

But of course, God is love, and He still loves us despite our disobedience. Thus, even though there are consequences, He will pick us up and rebuild us if we turn back to Him. He will restore what the locusts had devoured. He will bring life to dry bones as in Ezekial 37:1-10. He will rebuild the Temple overran by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/05/mimic-jesus

There are people who like to stand out to be different. So if everyone wears shades of white, they will wear colour like maybe purple or pink. Or if, like in Malaysia, people have black hair, there are people who like to dye their hair to a shade of blonde or ginger (brunette). There is thus a pull towards individualism, but the motivation is usually self glorification. We want to be different, so we stand out to be admired, adored, or praised. So, a few drive Audis and Maseratis in the sea of Mercs and Beemers.

But in general, people conform to the majority. So, we tend to move with the crowd. In a formal setting, we will put on a suit or at least a nice shirt with a jacket even if we wear a nice pair of denims. We shave and keep our hair short, and we drive a Honda, Toyota, or a Merc or Beemer, safe choices in terms of resale value and availability of parts. Thus, in general, we try not to stand out like a sore thumb because we will draw attention to ourselves if we are different.

I guess the difference between those who want to stand out and those who prefer to blend in is perhaps the former displays positive and uplifting traits while the latter is the opposite. If we are admired, we want to stand out like having a podium finish after a race. But if we are afraid to be looked down upon or jeered or dismissed as a loser, like if we didn’t finish the marathon, we may want to hide ourselves in the midst of obscurity.

In Christ, however, we are taught not to conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we may test and approve (prove) the good and perfect will of God (the famous Romans 12:8 as written by Paul). As Christians, we should seek to stand out from the crowd so we may display God’s glory as we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Most importantly, we do not follow the crowd in terms of what they do. For example, if our peers smoke weed or gamble or vandalise, we do not join in. Or if others hook up and have casual sex, we abstain. Why? Because we live by different standards since we are of Christ.

Having said that, I think we need to be wise in what we do and how we act too. We do not need to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves and purposely stand out in a crowd just because we are believers. We will be kind to others, forgiving and compassionate, and we give to the poor, but there is no need to carry a placard to declare or boast about our good deeds. Do what the Romans do when in Rome but without compromising our standards or stand in God. Our best examples to follow are Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We will never bow down or worship another God and will always put God first. But we need to be wise and hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit on when to stand out. Wisdom, discretion, and timing are key elements in proclaiming Christ. In the meantime, blend in.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/04/unchanging-god

One of the joys of reading the Bible is to learn more about who the LORD our God is. The Bible is very much the recorded history of how God dealt and related with His people. Some of the history are recorded actual interactions during ancient times through His prophets, and some are narrated and written down by people who experienced His goodness, love, and compassion.

A characteristic of God we should be aware of is that He is unchanging. James reiterated this in James 1:17, where he proclaimed that every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming from the Father of Lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. If we are experiencing peace and joy in our lives, it’s a blessing and gift of God. Despite the struggles we face, the trials and testings, we still have peace and joy. James advises that we let perseverance complete its work as we face trials and testings (James 1:12). Not only will we be rewarded after succesfully persevering through, but we will also experience the goodness, love, and compassion of God, in parallel.

This morning, please be reminded that the God we know and love and who also loves and cares for us dearly is an unchanging God. As seen in the Old Testament, although He allowed the Israelites to be captured and exiled by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians due to their insolence and disregard for His laws, He gathered them together again and rebuilt Jerusalem and its walls. It speaks of a God who is forgiving and compassionate and because, as James rightly pointed out, He is unchanging, He is still forgiving and compassionate today.

Thus, if we are going through some struggle or trial or suffering, heed James’s call to persevere on and let perseverance complete its work. I pray that as we go through our difficult and ardous journeys in life, we will keep our faith and trust that He will see us through. That we will experience His grace and compassion like the nation of Israel had experienced in the past. That we will emerge victorious and that we are drawn closer to Him, even as we experience Him working in our life. Just remember that the God that we so love and the Lord that we love so much are unchanging. If we look to the past, whether in the Bible or our own lives, we will see that He was great. Because He is unchanging, He will be great today and tomorrow and forever more! He is faithful, and His love is steadfast and endures forever!