In God's Timing

Gracious and God-dependent is what make a man after God’s heart.

For the last 3 weeks, I spent a lot of time reading, meditating and studying on the Book of 2nd Samuel chapter 1 to 10. The ways David dealt with life situations are phenomenal! Everything he did is about God – HIS timing, and love for God.

While others may seek the opportunity to rise to the throne, he simply continued to wait upon the LORD’s timing! Yes, even after waiting for more than 15 years, he still insisted on waiting! Even evil doers wanted to hasten his ascension. Unlike Saul who has no heart for God, David long to seek fellowship with God. We never heard about the ark of God when Saul was king. But the moment David became king, he sought to bring the ark back to his capital. And what a procession and celebration! There is so much to learn from this man, the way he dealt with evil men, helpless man, enemies, and with God.

But there is one weakness of him at this point in time. He has a problem handling his closest subordinate, his general, Joab. Joab, a nephew of David was an excellent warrior but a brutal man.

Yes, I am learning to live by God’s timing. As I reflect my reading, I see my life always on a rush, always in a hurry. From the moment I woke up very early in the morning, it is always rushing to send the children to school, rushing to get problems solved in my job, rushing the engineers to get the design and development work done, rushing the suppliers to delivery their parts … I must confess on numerous occasions, I try to beat the traffic light. Once, I even drive across the red light :(. I just felt very lousy after that.

Teach me to wait upon YOU, O LORD!!

Looking Backward … Moving Forward :)

Suddenly I feel very old!

A few days ago, my daughter put up some very old pictures on her Facebook:


The 3 girls are the most important things God has given to me.

The pictures were 10 years old. “What have I done all these years?” Not much.

OK, maybe I have gone to the Singapore Bible College and do some serious study. OK, maybe I have done a marathon at the age of 42. Other than that, life has been more or less stagnant and waiting for the children to grow up. Church has been a routine.

Presently I am reading the Book of Second Samuel. King David started very well in this life, but ended up poorly. His family was in a mess. He finished his life poorly. This may serve as a warning to me.

Maybe I need some very difficult goals for the next 10 years:
1. Brush up my Greek
2. Read all the New Testament Books in Greek
3. Run a marathon
4. Memorise at least 100 verses, one from each book of the Bible
5. Write a book?

OK, these are written at the spur of a moment. Not sure how far I can go (?). We shall see.

Agape :))

How to please the LORD?

A thought just came to mind while reading Our Daily Bread:

Do all tasks not just as a job, but as an offering, an aroma pleasing unto the LORD.

.

Thank you LORD,

For today devotion.

I was disappointed by carelessly making quite

a number of mistakes yesterday.

You know, I have always put my best in whatever I do.

Not just for self, but for

your glory. I just could not accept the silly mistakes

I have made.

Thank you for reminding me to see that whatever

I do is an offering and pleasing to you.

Remembering this help me to be more careful and thoughtful.

Amen! :)

Avoid Unwholesome Words

“Did I blurt out those words?”

As I left the church yesterday afternoon, this question kept flashing in my mind. I was sharing my experience about my early Christian life during the workshop conducted by the Pastor that morning. I may have used un-appropriate words carelessly. Thinking about it, one Bible verse came to my mind:

“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Eph 4:29 NASB)

When I first became a Christian some 30 plus years ago, my Bible Study leader listed certain unwholesome words that were not appropriate for us to use (not just swear words and filthy words). Through the years, the list may have changed:

1. dnmaed
2. btrsaad
3. tlak ccok
4. siht
5. blul siht

(I have scrambled the in-between letters of each word). You may disagree with this list and may have your own list of unwholesome words. I like to hear from you.

I made a confession and prayed that I may be more careful with my words in future. Peace within, at last!

This morning, as I turned to Our Daily Bread,

http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2010/05/03/devotion.aspx

hmmn, the issue of proper words cropped out again. On further meditation, I realized that in this internet world, certain abbreviations can fall under the category of unwholesome words, which I only learnt about them recently:

1. WTF
2. OMG!

You may not agree with me, but I think OMG! would be breaking the third commandment of “using the LORD’s name in vain”. Ancient devoted people were always careful not to take the LORD’s name lightly.

Ponder over what I have written.

And let’s encourage one another with wholesome words. :)