https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/06/all-alone

The story of Abram (Abraham) with Hagar and Ishmael and Sarai (Sarah) with Isaac as recounted in Genesis 21 demonstrates God’s love and compassion for humanity despite our human failure and fraility. Sarah couldn’t wait for the child that was promised to Abraham when he was already 75 and thus offered her Egyptian slavegirl Hagar to him to bear his heir when he was 85 (not an unusual practice then as a slave was regarded as a possession), and thus Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86.

However, Sarah sent Hagar away with Ishmael after Issac was born when Abraham was 100 as she wanted her own flesh and blood to be his heir. Abraham was distressed, but God told him not to be as He would take care of Ishmael and raise a whole nation through him. The LORD eventually sent an angel to show Hagar a water source when they were waiting to die as their water ran out in the desert.

History would show Ishmael later led to the creation of the Arab nation, and it is perhaps this action of Sarah and Abraham deserting Hagar and Ishmael that is the root cause of centuries of hostilities between Arabs and Jews until the present day. But God’s love and compassion were indeed clearly demonstrated here as even though Sarah abandoned Hagar, God protected her, and her offspring from the seed of Abraham became a prosperous and a much larger nation (in comparison to the Jews) that has been a thorn to them since ancient times.

God’s love extends to everyone, whether Jew or Arab and later through Jesus Christ, to all the Gentile nations of the world. As much as we may be alone, God will take care of us. As much as our children may not be near us or our spouse is no longer with us, God is with us. He is our shield and protector. He is our stronghold. Our fortress and the rock of our salvation! Soldier on, my dear brothers and sisters, for our goal is heavenward in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We are mere pilgrims passing through this temporal abode on our way to our eternal home, which our Lord Jesus Christ has already gone ahead to prepare for us in our Father’s vast heavenly mansion!

The message today, I believe, is that if we feel we are all alone, that the world has abandoned us, be comforted by the fact that God loves us and is compassionate, gentle and humble. Maybe we went through a devastating breakup or divorce, or our spouse or child had passed on or our children live too far away from us abroad or due to some disagreement, we left our church. There could be many reasons. As Sarah had sent Hagar and Ishmael away to fend for themselves in the desert, the LORD made sure they were taken care of. In Genesis 21:12, God told Abraham not to be distressed by Sarah’s request to send Hagar away. In verse 13, the LORD promised Abraham that He would make the son of the slave into a nation, for he was also Abraham’s offspring.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/05/god-truly-knows-us

Jeremiah 12:3 articulates something I think most of us know. That God knows us. That only He truly knows us. As much as our spouse or parents know us, no one knows us better than the Lord Himself. He knows our deepest desires and thoughts, our dreams, and aspirations. He knows our saddest and most disappointing moments, our heartbreak moments. He also knows our happiest times. Our moments of joy and happiness.

That also means that when we speak to Him, He already knows our deepest motivations. We can not say one thing and mean another when we are speaking to Him because He knows our deepest thoughts. That is why His Word is a two edged sword. It penetrates us and lays bear our souls.

But I think a good thing that comes out of speaking to the Lord is that He is able to refine us as we speak. Jesus will make our intentions clearer even to us. Thus, if we are not sincere, He will expose us and show us where we have gone astray. That will allow us to correct our motives for why we do certain things. If we do things only for show, He will expose our pretence to us. We can not pretend in front of Him. We can only be real, sincere, and genuine; for He knows if we are false and are faking it.

God knows us, inside and out. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. Our vulnerabilities, even our evil intentions. Speak and commune to Him more. As we interact with Jesus, He will cleanse us of our unholy and evil intentions and transform us from the inside. The fact that Jesus knows means we have to be completely honest and truthful to Him. Then, allow Him to change and transform us. We will become more and more like Him as we bask in His presence and commune with Him.

The message today is to spend time with God in communion, in prayer and worship. Read His Word daily. Have our quiet time with Him. Religiously guard that time. He knows us, and only He truly knows us. Seek Him out and we shall find Him. Jesus taught us before in Matthew 7:7 – Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, and knock and it will be opened.

Let Jesus refine us as we seek Him in prayer and worship lest He decides to refine us with fire by bringing us through unpleasant and precarious situations. Learn and become better willingly, so we need not learn our spiritual lessons the hard way

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/03/for-the-sake-of-the-gospel

For people who are in a relationship, finding out that your partner is seeing someone else is devastating. It applies to both men and women. I used to think that men cheat more than women as polygamy used to be accepted as a societal norm. However, polygamous relationships were a necessary evil in the past, I think mainly because of economics as women had not yet entered the workforce in a big way. In fact, during ancient times, Israelites would marry their brother’s wife and take over the responsibility for his family when his brother dies (usually from battle). Widows had a difficult time fending for their families as they were not in the workforce during those times. Times have changed, and women are now financially independent. There are many single ladies who are fully able to raise families now. Thus, I think when it comes to infidelity in modern times, both men and women are susceptible and may fall into the trap.

As broken people living in a broken world, some say, perfection from everyone is at most illusionary or wishful thinking and at worse purely aspirational. However, if we had experienced betrayal before, it does not mean we can not love or be loved again. There will be others, and not everyone will be like our past partner. Not perfect, nevertheless, but not necessarily unfaithful. It is unfair to generalise. Not all men are looking for sex only, and not all women are looking to entrap. There are many others who are sincere and have pure intentions to build the future together.

Jesus is different. He first loved us while we were yet sinners. He died for our sins while we were wretched souls. He became a ransom for our souls and sacrificed His life on the cross that we may all have life and life eternal. Do not let our past failed relationships colour our perception towards Him. In fact, our past relationships should propel us to Him as He can make right our past. He can restore what the locusts had devoured. Our past mistakes, He can heal and reinstate us physically and emotionally, even as He liberates our soul and sets us onto a pathway to eternity. Look to Jesus, perhaps with Him in our lives, He may lead us to the person we deserve, which will truly love and cherish us for what and who we are. At the very least, He will give us peace and rest and help us be the person God always wanted us to be and achieve His plans and purposes for us, conceived before we were even formed in our mother’s womb.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/02/a-refreshing-oasis

When we learnt about deserts in geography lessons in school, we learnt about mirages. It’s an illusion of a body of water in the distance but is actually a naturally occurring phenomenon caused by reflection of light. In the vast and treacherous desert of sand, every living creature is searching for that puddle of water to relieve their thrist, and such puddles exist in reality as oases (or oasis in the singular). That is why the term ‘oasis’ itself connotes an impression of tranquillity, peace, and contented satisfaction as well as a confluence of sorts, a place where everyone goes to or gathers. We have seen in nature documentaries how animals, whether in the savannahs or even tropical rainforests, gather around watering holes to drink sometimes at their peril as there could be predators lurking nearby or in the water itself.

But Psalm 1 speaks of a different kind of oasis. It’s an oasis of God’s wisdom and presence in His Word as the person whose delight is in the laws of the LORD and who meditates on His law day and night is blessed, meaning, he receives God’s favour as an extension of His grace. As animals go to an oasis to quench their thrist in the desert, believers go to the bible to satisfy our spiritual thrist and hunger and, in the process, receive our spiritual nourishment and strength. Consequently, we will be like a tree planted by streams of water and will bear fruit in season, and whose leaves will not wither; what we do will prosper. This means our faith will be strong and unwavering, and God will bless the work of our hands.

The Word of God is indeed an oasis of His wisdom and presence because the Word of God is God Himself. Christ is the Logos that existed from the beginning, the creator God, the source of all life and all things.

No matter how busy we are or whatever deadlines we have to rush, take some moments to read the Word. Read it slowly and prayerfully. Internalise and think about the Word constantly. There will be new revelations, new insights, new things, and new aspects of God that we will learn and appreciate as we read. The message today is not to neglect to read His Word daily. It must be done every day, no matter how busy or hectic our schedules are. Prioritise and do it, and we will experience His oasis of wisdom and presence for us.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/01/finding-rest-2

Today is 1st March 2023 and marks a full 9 months since I took on my new job. It has been a journey of adjustment as I was at my previous company for many years. Different work cultures from an entrepreneur-driven organisation to a government like entity, for example, with much emphasis on controls and processes but not enough on speed to market. Also, in this new job, we are embarking into a new industry.

At the personal level, we have moved down to Petaling Jaya, spending our workdays here and only returning to Seremban on weekends and holidays. Travelling time to and from work is much reduced, but running two households has its own challenges.

In terms of rest, we get better rest at our Seremban house compared to our PJ apartment as there is constant traffic noise even high up in the air. The density, of course, is high in an apartment complex and also in the bigger city, especially during rush hours. There are just so many more vehicles and people going somewhere every moment and minute. When we look out, everyone seems to be in a rush.

Thus, it is amazingly good that Jesus reminds us today in Matthew 11:28-30 to come to Him all of us who are weary and burdened as He will give us rest. He exhorts us to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, for His heart is gentle and humble, for we will find rest in our souls in Him. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. His heart is gentle and humble. He is for us and understands our situation. He will not scold us for our inadequacies, weaknesses, and shortcomings.

He will give us rest as His yoke is easy, and His yoke is light. I think what that means is that even as life still goes on as it is, we will be energised and strengthened inside us as we live our lives for Him. Further, we will find satisfaction and closure in the things we do instead of always chasing after the next deadline. Of course, with Jesus in our lives, we have eternity in our hearts, our final destination secured.

I think the message today is that if we go to Jesus today, we will find rest today and here on earth in Him, in the Father. We certainly do not want to find rest only when we finally rest in peace! That would indeed be just too tragic.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/28/a-baboon-a-donkey-and-me

In Numbers 22, we read the account on Balaam, whose donkey he was riding on, had diverted from the path and was beaten 3 times by Balaam. The donkey then spoke and asked Balaam why he had beaten it when it was the only donkey he had been riding, meaning to say, he would have no donkey if it had died and it had been a faithful and hardworking donkey all this while.

Later, the LORD showed Balaam what the donkey saw, which led it to divert its path. It was an angel of the LORD with a sword drawn, and Balaam bowed down to the angel. This episode was narrated to tell how the LORD blocked a non-Israeli prophet and diviner from cursing the people of Israel as commissioned by the King of Moab. In the end, the angel allowed Balaam to proceed, and instead of cursing, he blessed the Israelites.

The oft-mentioned spiritual principle from this episode is that if God could use a donkey, how much more could God use us as human beings? There is no denying that principle, and it is very true as history has shown how simple uneducated men were made the first disciples of Christ who spearheaded the early propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ordinary people could be turned into a powerhouse of faith by the glory of the risen Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit!

However, a note of caution. As much as the speaking donkey is both miraculous and even magical, the quest of a servant in Christ is often long and ardous. In reality, there are magical moments of the supernatural breaking into the natural in terms of miracles, signs, and wonders, and healing, but mostly, it is a mundane and long suffering life as God’s faithful.

Moses was 40 when he responded to God’s call but spent another 40 years in the fields and mountains caring livestock before he actually started his mission to bring the 600,000 Israeli men and their women and children out of Egypt into the Promised Land of Canaan. Abraham spent many years on the road, including time in Egypt due to famine, before finally settling on Canaan land. Joseph was sold into slavery and spent at least 13 years in a dungeon for a falsely accused crime before he started ascending into the corridors of power in Egypt.

Even Jesus spent 30 years as an unassuming carpenter before he started His ministry even though his birth was greeted by the star of Bethlehem, which guided the Kings from Orientland to bring Him gold, frankincense and myrrh as well as a host of heavenly angels rejoicing and proclaiming the birth of Christ, the Messiah to shepherds tending to their flocks at night!

As much as God can take whatever we have and whatever we are and turn us into beautiful sculptures of faith for His glory, it takes time and much investment on our part to be that person God wants us to be. Nothing happens overnight, and it will likely take our lifetime to achieve all that the Lord has planned for us. It will take all that we have and all that we are.

But the beauty of all that is God will be with us all the way and will bring us much further than what we could ever be if we did our best on our own. A journey of faith serving God is really heaven on earth as the LORD dwells in the midst of His people. It is Revelation 22 in the present as we serve Him and give our lives and hearts to Him. Even if He leads us through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil for His staff and His rod comfort (protect) us. Be encouraged and strive on in our service for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/27/seeing-a-need

The focus on Acts 9 is usually Saul’s conversion (he then became known as Paul) and supernatural encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus. I’m glad to read today in Acts 9 about Peter raising up Tabitha (also known as Dorcas in Greek) from the dead. This is similar to Christ’s raising up of Jairus’ daughter and also those by Elijah and Elisha of ancient times. Sometimes, when we read Scripture, we tend to skim through the events as there could be many, but raising up someone as helpful as Tabitha would certainly have encouraged many at that time. The widows who benefitted from her generous help rejoiced. But as she had died and had been prepared for burial, her resurrection must have caused shock waves throughout Joppa and was a great precursor to Paul’s later forays with the Gospel into the land of the Gentiles. Indeed, Acts 9 recorded many believed after hearing about Tabitha.

This brings me to the question some of us briefly talked about yesterday during lunch. Why did God take away young promising leaders in ministry and church? For the past two years, we have seen quite a few pastors and church leaders passing on due to Covid and other illnesses. Could the Lord have pre-warned some of them, especially those with a heart condition or even other illnesses? There is so much work still not done. If these church leaders had lived longer, more could be done. In the case of Tabitha or Lazarus, the Lord did intervene.

There is no right and wrong answer here, but I think work, especially Kingdom work, will always be unfinished, no matter how long we live, and we get weaker as we age. Also, the same principle as God’s calling for us should apply – if we don’t respond, God will raise someone else. The work will get done whether by us or someone else. Also, for the person who passed on in the Lord, it is surely better to be with the Lord than remain here on earth with the evil, pain, and suffering in our broken world. As Paul has so wisely put before, to die is gain, but to live is Christ.

The message this morning, I believe, is that the work is much bigger than us and can never be done by us alone. We do our part. We see a need, and if God prompts us, we try our best to meet the need. Jesus said before in relation to Mary and the expensive perfume she poured out for Jesus, the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me (John 12:8). In the same rein, the work will always be there, but what’s important at any one point is to meet that specific need as the Lord prompts. Thus, it’s never a waste for any servant of the Lord to die young. Perhaps God’s plans and purposes have already been achieved in that person’s life.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/26/is-it-a-sign

More often than not, when we are desperate, we clutch at whatever comes our way. I guess there is where the expression ‘clutching at straws’ came from. It is not ideal, but we don’t have much of a choice if that’s our only choice.

However, in today’s ODB life example, a job opportunity came to someone who had been laid off. Instead of grabbing at the first opportunity, he paused to ponder on the job offer itself. It appeared that the company was a little dubious and had been flagged for corruption before. So, although he needed the job desperately, he rejected the offer, believing that God would provide him with other opportunities.

The bible has the perfect example of opportunity not equating to God’s will in 1 Samuel 24:1-7. Saul, with 3,000 men, was looking for David and when Saul went into a cave to relieved himself, David with his 600 men who was hiding in the same cave had the perfect opportunity to kill Saul. Instead, David just cut a piece of Saul’s robe, rationalising that he should not take things into his own hands as Saul was anointed by God to be King. If it is God’s will that Saul be dethroned, then God Himself should decide and do it. Thus, the right thing for David to do at that point is not to kill Saul although he was presented with the opportunity. This occurred again later in 1 Samuel 28, and again, David restrained himself.

I think the lesson this morning when it comes to job opportunities to the laid-off unemployed is to listen for the Lord’s still small voice. As desperate as we are in having enough to pay our bills, we must not go for the first given opportunity unless that’s the right one. Of course, in difficult times, we mustn’t be too choosy. But neither must we be indiscriminate and take whatever that comes our way. An open door does not equate God’s will as much we may want it to be so. Both are distinct concepts, and although correlated, they are nevertheless not the same thing. This principle applies to other aspects of our lives, too, like choosing a room, a house, and especially our life partner. Always pray and seek His will in all that we do, and we will make the decision and choice.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/24/praying-in-difficult-times

Psalm 61 is an example of a prayer with petitions and yet protests. David proclaimed the greatness of God; the LORD is his refuge and a strong tower against the foe. He asked to be led to the Rock that is higher than him. Yet David also said that he is calling God from the ends of the earth and his heart is growing weary. He called on to God to hear his cry and listen to his prayer. David was not literally at the end of the earth, but because of the situation he was going through (likely at the time, Absalom, his own son, drove him out of the kingdom), he felt so far away from God. His heart was growing weary, faint, and overwhelmed. At this time, David was no longer the young man pursued by Saul but much older, around 60. Thus, he was tired, having to go through the same thing again. He was also sad and distressed that he had to face the rebellion of his own son.

I think if we are facing difficult times, we could lament and protest a little in the presence of God. Just don’t overdo it and don’t turn our backs to Him. The Lord hears our prayers and will respond in His time. Our faith and trust in Him must not waiver. We must not doubt His love for us. We just need to carry on despite the difficulty, despite the uncertain future.

I have been in my new place of work for more than 9 months now. In that period, I witnessed the excitement of being in a startup on one hand and the uncertainty of its future, on the other hand. The mother company is as conservative as it gets, originally a government department. It has, over the years, become a conglomerate, and yet its old mindset is there, and thus, there has been lots of resistance to change. But just a few days back, I was instructed to have a dotted line reporting to the group general counsel, and it may potentially end up as dual reporting. In addition, I will likely be involved in the parent’s M&A exercises. There are new complexities I need to manage if the dual reporting becomes true, but at least the security of the future is much more assured.

The message today is that we must continue to believe in the promises of God for our lives and strive to achieve His plans and purposes. The difficulties we face are just temporal. The uncertainties will be resolved. Jesus hears our prayers even if we petition and protest and lament. Be patient. Things will get better soon. The Lord God is with us all the way!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/22/be-humble-day

It is interesting to read today that humility was regarded as a weakness in the ancient world as the norm then was to proclaim our achievements and strengths. Honour (pride and respect) was the prized virtue, and thus, boasting of who we are was expected. I guess the reason is probably that the greater our honour, the more we will be respected and feared, and that will increase our chances of survival. This is especially true for kings and lords ruling large territories.

According to historians, it was only after Jesus, who was in the nature of God, gave up or did not exercise His divine attributes and became a servant to humanity and died for our sins that led to humility being regarded as a virtue, something to aspire to. Jesus Christ paved the way to show Himself as the perfect example of humility personified.

But the paradox is God loved a humble person well before Christ came into the scene as a man here on earth. In Proverbs 15:33, the LORD teaches that the fear of the LORD is the instruction on wisdom, and before honour is humility. In Proverbs 11:2, it is written that when pride comes, then comes shame. But with the humble is wisdom. Saul was proud and thought he could do as he wished when he decided to offer the offering to God instead of waiting for Samuel and see what happened to his kingdom and legacy? In fact, it was Lucifer’s pride that brought him down from heaven.

Be humble before God and men because God loves a humble heart. Why is there a need to boast when what matters most is what God thinks of us? If He thinks highly of us, isn’t that good enough? Respect, honour, and appreciation from fellow human beings will come in due course. But if those things never come, it’s not a loss if we have honoured God with our life and testimony. Before honour comes humility.