Desiring to Obey

One of my favorite moments when I’m on a local flight is when the plane has landed.  The stewardess welcomes everyone to the city where we landed, and gives a few more instructions – please don’t open your cellphones, and do not unfasten your seat belt until the fasten seat belt sign has been switched off, and the  plane has come to a stop.  Clear as daylight.  But, while the plane is still taxiing (is that a right spelling?  Or word?!) to the arrival area you begin to hear cellphones ringing.  And the moment the plane stops, even before the fasten seat belt sign has been switched off, people start standing up and getting their bags in the overhead bins!  And I always begin to smile when that happens.  What’s funny is, even in a short flight, of around 30-40 minutes, people are rushing to get out of their seat and leave the plane!  It never fails, and it always brings a smile to my face.  And I notice how people are looking at me, still sitting down and waiting, probably wondering what the heck I’m doing waiting for the pilot to switch off the seat belt sign!  And I can just imagine the feeling of frustration of the fight stewardesses who give the instructions, and see how everyone just disobeys them.

You actually see it everywhere – people living as if there are no laws.  We cross the street where we want to, jeepney drivers pick up and drop passengers where they want to.  We live lawless lives – as if there is no law.

Sadly, there are many people, so called “Christians” even, who live as if God has no laws.  We know we’re not supposed to lie, and yet we do.  We know we’re not supposed to commit adultery, and yet we cheat on our spouses.  We know we’re not supposed to covet, and yet we live for what our eyes and hearts desire.

In Psalm 40:8, David proclaimed -  “I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart”.  God doesn’t want us to live lawless lives, as if there were no laws and commands that He wants us to follow.  He wants us desiring to do His will, and obeying them.  And He has given us the grace and power to obey, through the regeneration of our hearts, and the transforming work of the Spirit through the Word of God.

Psa 95:6-8  Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7  for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…

So, when the Holy Spirit prompts your heart to obey what you have read or heard from His Word…Just do it.

James 1:22  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Blurred faith

My usual habit every morning is to have breakfast, and then with the last gulp of water take all my vitamins, and other maintenance medicines I need for the day.  I am so used to it that most of the time I just go to the other end of the table, where all our medicines are, and just reach out for the capsule or tablet I need to drink - even if I am not using my glasses!  This morning I realized how I "blindly" just get the medicines I believe are mine and drink them.  I am so used to how the packaging looks like, or how the capsule looks like, I don't have to really use my glasses to recognize them.  Of course I am hoping that one day I do not accidentally drink the wrong medicine!  I call this "blurred faith".  It's not that I'm blind, and I can't see the medicines I'm taking - I just see it with blurry vision, and my being so used to it gives me faith that I'm taking the right one.

I immediately related it to our faith in God.  Let's admit it - none of us really know God 100%.  Paul the apostle wrote about that:
1 Cor 13:12  Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Now, he says, we see but a poor reflection of God.  If you're wondering why his example was "as in a mirror", which usually shows a good clear reflection, we need to understand that mirrors then were not as polished and clear as ours today.  Today our concept of the things of God, and of God Himself, are poor reflections of who He actually is.  We don't see the fullness of God yet.  We know Him and His ways in part, not in full.  But one day we shall see Him face to face.  One day we shall know Him completely - in eternity.  But now, in this life, we only see a blurred reflection.

Yet, this blurred faith we have in God is all we need!  God allows us a glimpse of who He is in order that our faith in Him might increase.  And the more we learn, the more we know, the more we realize who our God is, the more our faith is strengthened.  And the more our faith is strengthened the more we desire to know of Him, about Him.

This "blurred faith" that we have allows us to reach out for Him, call on Him, and rely on Him in all circumstances of life, and it brings the result we desire - His answering our prayers and desires.

We may not know much, but what God has revealed to us in our hearts of Himself is enough to give us the "mustard seed faith" to believe and call upon Him.  That grace is all we need.

1 Pet 1:8  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

Disconnected

Our electricity at home was disconnected today.  What a hassle it was to spend a few hours without electricity and all the benefits that it brings with it.  We were disconnected not because we couldn’t pay the bill, but because I didn’t pay the bill on time.  My bad habit is usually to go past the due date of the bill and wait for the notice of disconnection, which usually will give around 2 to 3 days before they actually cut off the electricity.  Well, it just so happened that, for some reason, the notice of disconnection did not arrive.  And this morning, lo and behold, the Electric Company “Disconnectors” were knocking on our gate.

Again, what a hassle the discomfort of not having electricity brings!  No television, no internet connection, no electric fan or air conditioners to beat the heat!  And I was “inis” (irritated…I wonder if that’s the right English translation) at myself because anytime I could have paid the bill, and yet I decided to just follow my habit (which I now call “bad”!) of waiting, waiting for something that did not come.  And so, for a few hours, I suffered the consequence.  I am almost 100% sure that when the next bill comes I am going to pay on time!  Hahaha!  (Now I can laugh – the electricity’s back!).

This reminds me so much of how the “bad habit” of sin leads us to suffer the consequences, and how it is so important for us to be “connected” to the Lord always!

Psa 95:6  Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7  for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, 8  do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, 9  where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. 10  For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways." 11  So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my rest."

We all have the “bad habit” of following our own evil desires, instead of listening to how the Lord wants us to be living.  When we do that we end up suffering the consequences of sin.  God doesn’t want us in that situation.  He wants us resting in Him, with Him, walking in His ways.  This is why He tells us “if we hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”.

Let us let go of those bad habits of sin, and through His strength live in His righteousness, that we may enjoy the benefits of His salvation, of His grace.  Let’s not wait for sin to “disconnect” us from the benefits of righteousness.  Instead let us keep walking with the Lord, keeping our eyes on Him always.

What aids us in this desire is worship.  As we bow down and recognize our Maker, our Shepherd, our hearts become open to hearing His voice, and are softened to obey His Word.

So, come, let us worship and bow down, listening always to the voice of our Shepherd, that we may not make the wrong decision to sin, and end up suffering the consequences.

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?