Dear....
Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
Deuteronomy 8:11
Just this evening, I had a wonderful fellowship with a dear brother, and one closing thought I shared with him was on a verse that our good Lord gave me twice when He called me to step out of my comfort zone two years back. The first verse was His reassurance on my success His way if I let go and let Him.
The other verse was as above, Deuteronomy 8:11. A warning on not being distracted by my success.
And tonight, as I pondered upon the title of this sharing, to reflect the intense presence of God in my life these past twenty four hours, the same Deuteronomy was the verse that stared at me as I opened my online Bible. God affirms.
'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'
John 1:1
This was the verse I read in my quiet time in my office. Its familiar to me, and I paid scant attention to it because my very being was too engrossed by my experiencing God's guiding hands last evening and this morning.
I had two back to back meetings which I anticipated will be difficult. But thanks be to God, I have come to learn to always look to Him, and He spoke to my heart in my time of prayerful communion with Him this Tues evening, the very same words that I read again the next morning in Thursday's Daily Bread "Loving difficult people."
I had meant to read Wed's reading but inadvertently flipped the Thursday's instead.
And God is always prescient. The first flip of the Bible brought me straight into the reference verse Ephesians 4:1 for Thursday's reading, as if God has readied the page for me, and indeed He has.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:1-3
The Word of God comes alive. It is a common experience for us who seek to know His Word, to often be joyfully amazed, bemused, assured and empowered by His engaging us in conversations of the heart through His Words.
And this morning, as Singapore prepares to celebrate her 49th birthday, this was the word I read in my quiet time.
Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and anger also came up against Israel; Because they believed not in God,
and trusted not in his salvation:
Psalms 78:21-22
Coincidentally, Psalm 77 was the Psalm I was asked to read out in full for our Friday's men' prayer meeting yesterday. Psalm 77 speaks about our struggles, and God's goodness.
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Genesis 50:20
As a nation, we have come a long way. Many might have consigned to distant memory the paucity of hope we have in our early birth as an independent nation.
A still birth, our enemies had hoped. A frail child best abandoned, that was what our ex colonial Brit parents thought was most expedient. And much as we thought there was still hope with our big brother up north, the umbilical cord was unceremoniously severed.
But God not just never forsake us, but He was in control.
'...we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done...'
Psalm 78:4
We had the guiding expertise of the Israelite army in the formation of our national defense. It is a fact, and lest one forget, our neighborhood might be beguiling calm today, but history has shown that friends today can be enemies again tomorrow.
What about Mr Albert Winsemius, the late Dutch economist who played a key growth in nurturing Singapore's economic development from an entrepôt backwaters to the forefront of industrialization?
Was he a Jew? His surname and nose indicates the possibility.
Jew or not, Singapore is a miracle of God's grace.
As we look beyond today to our Jubilee year as a nation exactly a year from now, it is good to ponder upon Who is truly our God?
Mammon or our Sovereign Father in Heaven? And if it is mammon, then do continue to seek your material pursuits. But if it is God our Father Who provided our blessings, what then is His call to us? Antioch of the East?
With our strong Singdollar, enhanced property valuations, well travelled and well educated populace laced with a good organizational streak, and still credible national reputation, God has equipped us in His service.
Our response is not dependent on when we think we are ready, but rather it is about our willingness to depend totally upon Him now.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14
God blesses
Eng Hieang
9 Aug 2014
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