Chance…Coincidence…or God’s timing?

Our church celebrated its 15th anniversary by having a family day where all our outreach churches, and satellite area churches also attended.  Part of the festivities were the giving out of door prizes.  All those who attended registered and were given corresponding numbers, and if their number was picked the holder of the number won the prize.  We do this to bless everyone who attends – I mean, who doesn’t like winning prizes, no matter how small they are?

There was one prize – a cash prize of 500 pesos.  The number was picked, and it belonged to a lady member of one of our satellite area churches.  And when her name was announced as the winner she started to cry where she was sitting.  She came to get her prize, and there were tears of joy.  It was obviously an unusual way of expressing joy in winning such a simple door prize.  So we asked her to testify.  This was what she said:  on that day her daughter needed to buy school supplies that would have cost her 520 pesos.  She was praying where the amount would come from.  And then she won the prize.  After she got the prize, another member came and gave her the 20 pesos.

Wow.  Coincidence?  Or was this God’s working?  Did He orchestrate the whole event to make this woman get the amount as a prize?  By the way, I forgot to mention that there was another number that was picked for that prize, and the person wasn’t there, and so we had to pick another number…hers.

I do not believe in coincidence, bad luck or good luck, or arranging things or doing things to make circumstances go our way.  I simply believe that there is a God who provides for us in simple ways, normal everyday circumstances, and even in miraculous ways.  And it may look like coincidence, but it isn’t.

Or is it just in the heart?  An atheist will claim it was coincidence, good luck.  Another will claim he did something to make it happen, that it was “fate”, that it was meant for him.  I choose to believe in a God who is alive, active, working and moving in my life in all circumstances.  It is to Him that we give all glory.

Proverbs 16:33  The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

He Knows Us

My car broke down the other day.  It just wouldn’t start.  I called a friend who knows a lot about cars, and asked him to pass by and help me find out what was wrong with it.  Sometimes, just a little tinkering with the engine fixes the problem.  Sometimes.  This time, it didn’t.

He came back with a mechanic.  Instinctively his hands started going through different parts of the engine, checking this and that, making sure that every part was working as it should.  And then he found out the problem.  But even as he started fixing this problem he also started checking other possible problems, until he eventually found a bigger problem – one which, if I had continued using the car, would have brought a much bigger and expensive problem that what I had then.

Thank God for mechanics, good mechanics, who know exactly what they’re doing!  We can tinker around the engine, troubleshoot a little as to what the problem is, but only a good mechanic will know exactly what should be done, and more even.

Psa 139:1  For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
Psa 139:2  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
Psa 139:3  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Psa 139:4  Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

In this psalm David was not saying “Lord, you are searching me and getting to know me”.  He said “You have searched me…know me”.  The Hebrew word for “search” is used for miners searching for gold, looking under every stone, every inch of the wall.  That’s who much the Lord has searched us – every nook and cranny!

The psalm continues and gives more evidence of how much God knows us:

Psa 139:13  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
Psa 139:14  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psa 139:15  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Psa 139:16  your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Even when we were still in the womb of our mother God already knew us.  He created us, He made us.  As early as those days every day ordained for us were already written.

Shouldn’t we be trusting Him to check our lives and find out what is wrong, what deep problems we may have and what solutions we need?  Should we not be allowing Him to lead and guide us in life?  Should we not have confidence in Him, in what He is doing to shape our lives.  Should we not believe that He knows what is Best for us?

Foolish Heart

I think I was just plain hungry!  I was browsing through the internet news sites, and saw this article in the Inquirer:  http://globalnation.inquirer.net/2672/reviving-the-%e2%80%98bicol-express%e2%80%99

The title:  REVIVING THE BICOL EXPRESS.  And I thought it was about food!  It immediately brought to mind the bicol express served in one of my favorite restaurants here in Bacolod.  But, alas, when I clicked on the page it was about the PNR reviving their train ride to Bicol from Manila.  Hahaha…anyway, congrats to the Bicolanos, the train ride from Manila to Bicol has been revived!  Me…I’m still hungry, and writing this blog.

Wow, the power of hunger.  It can fool around with our imagination!  Have you ever made the wrong decision because you were hungry?  Maybe you ate too much, or ordered food and forgot to check how much it would cost.  When we follow our appetites, without thinking, many times it leads us to do things we probably would not normally do. (ok, I have to confess – while writing this I paused, went down to the small store beside our ministry center and bought a 12 peso snack that would usually cost 9 pesos in a supermarket – something I wouldn’t usually do.  But, I was hungry!).  The power of hunger!  The pull of desire.  It can influence you to do things.  Unless, of course, we learn how to harness it’s power, and seek a stronger influence to conquer it. 

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

It’s true, isn’t it?  The heart – with all of it’s emotions, desires, wants and needs, is deceitful.  It will deceive us into doing anything and everything just to fulfill whatever desire or emotion that we have tucked away in it.  Many of us, if not all of us, have been “victimized” by the desires or feelings of our foolish hearts.  (Ok…I can hear some of you singing the Steve Perry song…foolish heart hear me calling, stop before you start falling).  Maybe it was hunger, a need, a love for someone, a crush…whatever our hearts felt many of us have fallen prey to it, and we ended up doing foolish things.

And, so, we need to be careful not to easily, and quickly, heed the pull of our hearts.  If our hearts are deceitful then who can we trust?

Jeremiah 17:10  "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

Instead of trusting our heart, we should be trusting the Lord.  He alone can really search our heart and examine our mind, and lead us into the right conduct, the right life – a life that He will reward.

We should be careful not to allow our emotions or feelings to lead us.  It must always be the Lord.  So the next time we feel “hungry” for something, or even someone, let us first surrender our heart to the One who examines our hearts and minds, and who can lead us to the right path.

May 21? You Never Really Know…

Ok…I was going to post an article from one of my favorite Christian writers and preachers, Greg Laurie, on why tomorrow (May 21) is not the Judgment Day, as this one weird, attention getting, pastor claims.  It’s funny because this guy once predicted that last September 6, 1994 was judgment day.  Obviously he was wrong.  And he will be wrong again tomorrow.

Anyway, as I was about to post the article, I was going to write on the “what’s on your mind” box above the article and say “I’ll see you tomorrow, and on Sunday, for sure!”.  And I did write it, but right after I paused, and thought…hmmm – how sure am I that I will see all my “friends” tomorrow or on Sunday.  Not that I believe the prediction of May 21 – I don’t!  But this fake pastor being wrong does not make the coming of our Lord any less true!  As sure as our Lord ascended into heaven, for sure He will return for His people, and to bring judgment on the earth.

Acts 1:11  "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

But it’s not going to happen with all of this publicity.  And, most especially, with all the focus on this fake pastor.  When all of us are ushered into eternity, when we are in His presence, there will be no one else we will be boasting of except our Lord.  No one else will get the credit, no one else will be thanked, but God.  The attention this fake pastor is getting is a confirmation that our God is not glorified in what is happening.

But this doesn’t mean it’s not going to come at 11:59pm of May 20, or at 12:01 of May 22.  That’s the whole point – we don’t know, we won’t know, and the Lord will not reveal it to us.  Why?  God doesn’t just want us to be ready and expect His coming, He wants us to LIVE expecting Him to come, ready to stand before Him, any time, any moment.

Mat 24:42  "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
Mat 24:43  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
Mat 24:44  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

That’s why the Lord never told, and will never tell.  He wants us to keep watch.  Not like we’re all keeping watch if May 21 is the day, but keeping watch over our lives, living a life ready to see Him anytime.

You see, it’s not just a “judgment day” that we must be ready for.  We must be ready for any occasion, any moment, any day or hour when our Lord will just suddenly take us home to be with Him.  Our Lord is going to take us like a thief in the night.  And the whole point of our not knowing when is that He wants us living in readiness and expectation and hope every moment of our life.

So, if this May 21 prediction moved you to check your heart just to be sure, then it’s God’s way of telling you that there’s something to be changed in there, and we better not wait for another prediction before allowing Him to move in our hearts.

And so I ended up posting this message:  “I’ll see you tomorrow, and on Sunday – for sure!  But, at the same time, you never really know…”.  We don’t really know, right?  Isn’t the Christian life exciting?  Keep watch…Be ready…every moment.  And not with fear, but with hope and expectation in our hearts that the One who died for our sins is coming back to take us to be with Him…forever.

Friday the 13th?

I have a friend who is a resident doctor in a hospital in Manila, assigned to the Pedia section, who posted this in her facebook wall:  “Thank God it's Friday the thirteenth! No one wants to give birth. No scheduled c-sections and the mommies are trying to hold the babies in until this day passes”.  It was a day of rest for her, while for the superstitious it was a tense day holding the babies from coming out, for fear that bad luck would befall their babies, or them, because they gave birth on Friday the 13th!

Being superstitious is actually as tiring as those soon to be mothers trying to hold back their babies.  If you think a certain day will bring “bad luck”, then you end up being tense, always on the look out for something bad to happen.  A superstitious person tires himself/herself into making sure she does things correctly, or positions rooms and tables correctly, or whatever else he has to do, just to make sure things go his way.  It’s tiring, tense, stressful.  Why not just sit back, relax, and leave the whole day – your whole life, in the hands of a sovereign and loving God.

That’s why I’m not superstitious.  Not because it’s not allowed in our church or religion, but because there is no room for superstition in a heart that puts its trust in a sovereign and loving God.

Being sovereign means that you are in control.  It’s hard to live in a life that is controlled by chance, or by “fate”.  It is more comforting to know that your life is in the hand of Someone who is in control.  Just take a look at the whole Bible.  From Genesis to Revelation notice the control, the hold, of God in the lives of His people – Israel and the Church.  Even if bad things did happen, eventually everything else fell into place.  There is a peace that fills the heart of someone who trusts in a God who has everything planned.

Even in our personal lives God works the same way.  Look what it says in Psalm 139:

Psa 139:13-16  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.14  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.15  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,16  your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Check out the last verse – ALL the days ordained for me WERE WRITTEN IN YOUR BOOK BEFORE ONE OF THEM CAME TO BE!  Talk about control!  What will happen tomorrow, next week, next month, has already been written!

So what about those bad days, the not so nice circumstances that come our way – does God actually want those things to happen to us?

Rom 8:28  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

He causes ALL THINGS, good and not so good, to work together FOR GOOD.  That’s how loving God is.  He will mix all circumstances, the sweet and sour, salty and bland, and make sure that it all comes out for our good!  Now that’s a loving God!  He is wise enough to know that trials and hardships also work for our good, and loving enough to make sure they all end up for our good.  At least for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  Instead of depending on good luck charms, practices and beliefs, why not entrust your life to God and allow Him to have His way, to work out His plan in your life?

Luck?  No such thing – for me.  Friday the 13th, black cats, feng shui, oro plata mata…don’t need them.  I have a God.  He holds my life.  He knows me by name.  Each day, each moment, is His.  I rest in Him.

Jer 17:7  "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
Jer 17:8  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."