The Paths less traveled#15 His Promise (16th April 2020)

Dear….

About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? (which means God why have You forsaken me?).
Matthew 27:46

With 134.375 deaths and still counting, grief and despair runs thick in the air. For the deceased as they near their last breath alone, for their loved ones from afar and for the many frontline caregivers and all involved in this daily carnage.

Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned…….
Jeremiah 16:6

It pains me from a distance, just reading some of the first party accounts. It is surreal for many of us who are in it, yet from a safe distance as of now, no different from watching the First Gulf War that brought CNN to prominence, with its on the ground coverage of the brutalities of war, screened live into the comfort of our living room.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He Who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23

At the scene of His crucification, to the many who loved Christ, deep in their grieving hearts must be this same resonating thought asked then and today in the midst of covid19, where is the Almighty God? Their faith must have been shaken as many witnessed the heart rending question that Christ asked in his last moments as recorded in Mathew 27:46..

To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. To guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1:79

God has never forgotten His love for His only Son. But His love for us His people entailed the need for Christ and all to go through the transitory darkness, before the Light of Christ rose again three days later.

And it is not that Christ forgot that He will rise again. But rather, Christ as man, is parlaying what continues to play out in the hearts of us, finite men, this shout of despair and frustration whenever our circumstances become difficult.

Queen Elizabeth II made a rare Easter message to her nation.. She said, we need Easter as much as ever. She said, As dark as death can be - particularly for those suffering with grief - light and life are greater.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
Hebrews 10:24

What is the Easter message of the resurrected Christ that God wants to convey to all of us today?

For many, death is the end and all. Hence the need to strive and strife to attain the means to partake in the illusions of the present world for life is finite. For even more of us, Christians included, death is something most rather not face, much as it is inevitable. Yet for those of us who know Christ, we will learn to move beyond our finite fears, to knowing that eternity is what He has prepared for us. And mortal death, fearful as it might seem, has no hold on us who trust and follow our Lord Jesus Christ. What is truly dreadful is what comes after death for those who do not repent and follow the Lord our God.

It is easy for God to send His angels and destroy the persecutors of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like the Jews in Moses time, many will be rightly impressed by His great signs and wonders, but sadly it will be only for the moment, for most would relapse back to their sinful non believing ways, Not realizing that there awaits all who do not believe, a permanent and dreadful darkness in perpetuity that death opens the door to and that no one can escape from without the Risen Christ.

And the Lord will strike Egypt. He will strike and heal it, they will return to the Lord, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.
Isaiah 19:22

Today, many Christians are praying that God will remove covid19 by His grace. And He will. But at His timing and way, not ours. For man’s way is finite, and the reality is that God wants to save us from ourselves, for the devil awaits our company in eternal damnation.
Covid19 is an opportunity for us to reset our lives and realign our hearts back to the Lord our God. Be still and know I am God. With the lockdown, time is what we have today, but will we use it well?

There is something so precious that the precocious us can do right now. Which is to repent, believe and seek to follow the Lord our God. For darkness is the absence of Light. And when we open our once closed hearts to Christ, His Spirit will reside within us, and this is the Light that will sustain and bring us forth, where no darkness can encapsulate.
Is this what Queen Elizabeth II meant by Light as in Christ our Lord and Life as in eternity with Him being greater than the broken grip of Satan’s hold on us through fear of death?

And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, Whom He promised long ago.
Ephisians 1:3

God Blesses

Eng Hieang
12 April 2020



An afterthought - The Word of God is true

..In the wrath of the Lord of hosts……..Every man will turn to his own people. And everyone will flee to his own land.
Isaiah 13:14

The Bible truly comes alive. It seems that what was written by man, as inspired by the Spirit of God is fleshing out today. Most might be familiar with the promise of God that He will bring the twice dispersed disobedient Israelites back to the Promised Land. What seemed impossible became a reality, with the founding of the modern state of Israel back in 1948, post the horrors of the Holocausts that provided the much needed impetus for the Jews to come together.
Today, with covid19, the world is witnessing a much larger version of a reverse migration of many back to their own lands.

All who make wages will be troubled of soul…..Neither will there be any work for Egypt.
Isaiah 19:10,15

Donald Trump and most leaders of our present world are in a dilemma. Total lockdown to save lives, or do otherwise to keep the economy going? The Egypt of many of our lives, work which many find burdensome, yet we miss the onions and the garlics that come with work.
With man, this is a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. How thrilled must Satan be that it has got the seeds of Adam cornered.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 16:25

And how it must have saddened the Lord our God when a prominent German businessman shared this view- should 90% of the population and the economy be sacrificed to save the balance 10%(and probably in his mind and that of many, the older segment of the population)?
He further justified this by stating that Western society has always been brought up on the tenet of individualism, self before community.
Society today is reaping what it sowed. The once self centered youthful generation of the past, now has become the dispensable older generation. And the same will boomerang back on our dear German businessman in the future extermination process. This test of humanity need not be failed by the finite us if we are willing to look to the Lord our God.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you…..sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:33-34

If the Word of God is alive, and it is indeed, then we do have the solution, for God has provided the answer in Matthew 6:33-34

The decisions to be made must be aligned to the will of God. Lives are precious not just because life is finite, but rather, many need the precious time to come to hear about God, know God and turn to Him. Covid19 does not discriminate by the way human society has divided herself in so many ways. Covid19 provides an opportunity for the fulfilment of both commands of God. To love Him with our all, and to love our neighbours as ourselves.
In letting go of the world and seeking God, we will experience this assurance that God will provide for our needs, for He is Sovereign and all things are subject to His will.

…..He delivered me because He delighted in me.
2 Samuel 22:20

And in that day you will say:
O Lord, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me. Your anger is turned away and You comfort me. Behold , God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid.
For YAH, the Lord is my strength and song. He also has become my salvation.
Isaiah 12:1-2