The Paths less traveled#14 Nineveh revisited(29th Mar 2020)

Dear


People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
Luke 17:27

Less than a month plus back, the US equity markets were stratospheric, and investors were literally out on the streets in the celebratory mood of America truly being great again, at least in the financial markets. President Trump was basking in his making America great again, and looking forward to reelection come Nov this year.

Today, after an intense battering, matching the brutality of past major crises, yet being different with its quicksilver pace, making the teutonic 1990s Asian Crisis which took 4 year to fully unfold, seem like a slow crawl. The clairvoyants who once were promoting the roaring bull, today are changing their tune and propagating the possibility of a new Great Depression setting upon our cowered world.

Come, My people enter your chambers. And shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself, as it were for a little moment. Until the indignation is past.
For behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.
Isaiah 26:20-21

The Word of God is indeed alive and active(Hebrews 4:12).

And indeed with the widespread global shutdown, it seems most are taking heed to the wisdom of Isaiah 26:20. But the true refuge that will give us the peace of heart is not our physical abode, but rather a communion of the spiritual, with our Spirit God.

God is the only source of comfort and grace. He is with us, even as He allows us to go through the refiner's fire, and covid19 is just one of a series of shaking the world needs to undergo, for hearts to turn back to God, before Christ returns.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good….
Isaiah 1:16-17

Rare is the world in unison, but once again, we seem to be heeding the command of our Lord in Isaiah 1:16-17, at least for the portion in bold, to be hygienic. What truly matters, is the state of our hearts?

He answered, A wicked and adulterous generation asked for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah.
Matthew 12:19

Nineveh and Jonah, these were the two names impressed upon my heart, as our good Lord roused me from my sleep at 4am. Troubled I was to what it mean’t?
Most will be familiar with the story of Jonah, the fish that swallowed him, and the repentance of the once wicked city of Nineveh.
What has it got to do with the great Australian super bushfire, the now rampant Covid-19, and likely new and bigger black swans in the near future?

Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
Ecclesiastes 8:1

Jonah knew God. Yet he chose to run away from His command. For the many of us who are now forced to curtail our many activities that once took us away from time with God, will you not use this time to reflect upon your walk as a believer, and become a true follower of our Lord Jesus Christ? The days of the Sunday Christian are symbolically over, with physical attendance at Church temporarily suspended, but we individually are the temple of God, and we can be in communion with Him wherever we are, every moment of our life.

Like Jonah, many of us ran away from following Him and led lives our own way. Now like Jonah, he was stuck in the belly of a fish, many of us are now increasingly hemmed in. Will we not use this time well with our Lord?

The once wicked people of Nineveh put on their sackcloths and went on their knees in repentance. God wants to save us from eternal damnation. The present shaking from covid19 will end, for God is not out to destroy us. But will those who do not know or do not want to know God be willing now to turn to Him? This includes many of us professed believers, but whose lives do not reflect the command of our Lord God.

The governments of the world in all bravado declared war on an invisible and dynamic enemy, Covid19 by throwing finite resources, based on menś 'finite understanding.

China as of now seems to have succeeded, at great costs and collective sacrifice but is truly covid19 eradicated but merely held in abeyance before the next wave?
Has Chairman Xi managed to protect his godlike stature in a godless party?
The West has replaced God with the god of self centeredness. Will they be able to save themselves from themselves?


He provides rain for the Earth, He sends water on the countryside
Job 5:10

Without God in the equation, these efforts will come to nought. No different from the minisculity of mens’ efforts in the overwhelming Australian super bushfire of a month back.

Men acknowledged the saving grace of nature, but few attribute it to our Creator Who is sovereign of all.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/theoval/2016/02/04/how-presidents-pray-prayer-breakfast-eisenhower-obama/79786384/

Prayers have been banned in US public schools since 1963.
The picture of Vice President Michael Pence and his Covid-19 response team gathered in prayers is encouraging. President Eisenhower when he was in office initiated the annual breakfast prayer meeting on the first Thursday of Feb. A tradition that lasted for many decades till now, but God looks at our hearts, not our postures. Has the American leadership of the past decade acknowledged God in name only but not in the heart? Only our Lord knows.

With the Divine intervention of our Sovereign God, will the virus just mysteriously disappear, like a raging tempest that simply petered out in a wisp?
The hard pressed Aussies can attest to the wonders of a few days worth of intense rain, without which, it is very likely the super bushfire would not just be still burning, but possibly engulfed the major cities of Australia?

Is this truly the grace of God in action, or just simply as many will attribute to just a fortunate turn in the weather or the nature of nature itself?

He says, be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the Earth.
Psalm 46:10

Much as we should close the doors of our home to let covid19 pass us by, it is time to open our still closed hearts to God. And God is love. And the way to know God is to show love to our fellow men and women, in times like this where selfishness defines the old us, and selflessness should be the new us, refined by the Holy Spirit of God.

And interestingly, a transformation of our behavior to Christlikeness is the solution to stopping the spread of covid19. For covid19 thrives in an environment of selfishness and arrogance.

Covid19 is the crucible in which God refines us. If we are willing, we will come out of it stronger in our faith, ready for the day when Christ returns. For when He does, there will no longer be any further shaking to bring us to our senses, for by then, we are either with Christ in eternity or in eternal damnation(Matthew 25:46)

But till then, how many more crucibles of fire would you want to be subjected to before you would be willing to go on your knees in repentance and turn to God, like the once wicked people of Nineveh?



God Blesses

Eng Hieang

28th Mar 2020