The Paths less traveled#16 Reset, Realigned, Restoration (13th May 2020)

Dear….

..Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the Earth was founded?
He Who sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in…
Isaiah 40:21-22

Our Universe, the Milky Way galaxy, our Solar System…..these are things too far remote for most of us to pay attention to, when we have enough on Earth to deal with. Not much of a science student, I vaguely recall learning about this subject back in school, but science and I are not a natural fit, and I was glad to consign it to the deep recesses of my memory, even more distant than the unfathomable farthest reaches of our Universe. But God has impressed upon me these past few days to spend time to read more into this subject of astronomy, and more specifically, the spiritual experience of some of the astronauts and cosmonauts who had the privilege of surveying the wondrous limitless canopy of the Heavens, of which our planet is but one small little blue dot.

Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to Him Who rides the ancient skies above, Who thunders with mighty voice. Proclaim the power of God….
Psalm 68:32-34

This morning, I had my epiphany moment with our Lord. Imagine God looking down upon us on Earth. Instead of a beautiful well crafted Earth, the only known inhabited place in the wide expanse of His Universe, that was specially created by Him, for Him to spend time with His children, we who are created in His likeness, for us to enjoy and yet be good stewards of this expanded Garden of Eden. It saddens God to see a sinful, disobedient people, like ants engaged in endless strive and strife, in lusts, and in the whole myriad of sins, in sullying the lovely tapestry that He has created, never paying attention to what is above them, the vast Universe and her Creator, our Creator.

Like one of the astronauts in his moment of awe and wonder in space, aptly described the foolishness of us humans, scurrying about in our finite lives, engaging in wars to conquer, in what is a small little piece of real estate in the context of the vast unfathomable canopy that God has created, His Universe.

Even I, am the Lord, and apart from Me, there is no saviour
Isaiah 43:11

A pause button has been pressed it seems. And many do not like it, much as it has been a welcome breather for our long suffering Earth, for pollution has eased, and the animals get to reclaim some of their territory.

A reset? A time to pause, reflect and realign the way we live, our relationships and the entire meaning of life? For where will we be, when our finite life ends? A question that only truly hits home for most when the certainty of death becomes inescapable. But should it not be different, that while we are still breathing, would it not be better to take time to know our Creator better, to thank and praise Him for all that He has given us?

It seems for most, it is more about regressing back to what was the norm, pursuing after the provisions, with nay a thought for our Creator, before all were forced to standstill for the moment.
Much as the world seeks to ease the lockdown, as economic realities begin to precede mortality concerns, the afterlife and our relationship with our Creator is definitely not on the agenda for many.

What if the hope for reversion to the recent past before the onset of Covid-19 fails to materialize or worse, a 2nd wave of the insidious invisible enemy reprised itself in an even more damaging and longer lasting manner?

The prayers for many of us who acknowledge the Sovereignty of God is for Covid-19 to go away. There is nothing wrong with this prayer, for the toll on life and suffering is real. But should we not take a step back and ask God for His wisdom upon us to have a better and deeper understanding of His will, in this present scheme of things?

Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland…
Isaiah 43:18-19

Realignment and Restoration
Most of us are creatures of habit. Why fix it when it is not broken? Even if it is, most prefer to be within the prison of the known comfort zone. But God loves us too much to allow this spiral towards eternal damnation. Our lives have been derailed, albeit temporarily, most hope. But God is looking for not just a mindset change but more importantly a realignment of our hearts to Him, before Christ returns. That will entail bringing us to an environment that our cumulative and collective past experiences and wit might be no more than flailing hands, where only the omnipresent God will be our source of comfort and dependence upon.

Persecution can cause either growth or bitterness in the Christian life. Response determines the result.
(from opening introduction to 1 Peter )

A vaccine will come. But it will take time. Any deviation from the necessary time factor for proper trials will not just be harmful, but likely to prolong this battle with Covid19. How will we deal with this next 18 to 24 months? The usual self serving way of fear, anger, pride and selfishness based on the fallen dna of Adam, or do we take this as an opportunity to look to God, and let His Spirit lead us the way He had meant for Adam and Eve, before they sinned?

In choosing to follow Christ, God will restore us His people, Earth His abode for and with us to her rightful place in the canvas He has painted in the Heavenly realms.

上帝应许会陪伴你度过难关

...When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablazed…
Isaiah 43:2

….He will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

Not to go on this path of restoration while there is still time will lead to the inevitable serious consequences of the final cleansing of the one and only blemish, us on this beautiful canvas that God has created.

The great day of the Lord is near - near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter….That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish…..
Zephaniah 1:14-15


God Blesses


Eng Hieang
13th May 2020


An afterthought - Who created God??

Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form, there was only a voice.
Deuteronomy 4:12

Whenever one hears a Christian testify of their encounter with God, the non-believer or believer but non follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, will find it difficult to fathom, for where is the visible evidence of this seemingly so personal encounter?
Yet for us who seek after our Lord and have been blessed to have a relationship with Him, we can empathise and affirm that indeed God speaks to us, but not through our natural senses, because God is Spirit, and it is our spirit man that is in communion with Him.



You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape…… And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars - all the heavenly array - do not be enticed into bowing down to them..
Deuteronomy 4:15-19

Man, from the day Adam and Eve sinned, inherited this need to look at all things based on their fintie understanding. A result of ingesting the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Much as that desire to seek after God has never left us, the flawed man now needs to have a god that is definable and in the main, can be visualized and conceptualized by our finite understanding.

To know the one and only true Divine God, we need to let go of what Adam obtained out of his disobedience. The need to understand and instead, reverting back to the original relationship that God intended for man when He created us. Resting in Him and letting His Spirit lead us.
Does it then mean that we will become stupid, no longer using our finite understanding?
No. Because what we give up, God more than provides us with His infinite wisdom.

...the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him…
Deuteronomy 4:7