Thoughts on Psalm 148

All Creation will praise its Creator. All that were commanded into existence, into being, will praise the Commander.

Literally everything recognizes the sovereignty  and strength of God the Creator. Except men -we seem to be oblivious to this reality most of the time. 
I will try to remember this, the next time I look up to the sky – see the sun, moon and stars, and around – mountains, oceans, trees, animals big and small, and experience the wind and rain.

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. (‭Psalm‬ ‭148‬:‭13‬ ESV)

Thoughts on 1 Timothy 4

1 Timothy 4:12 will always hold a special place in my heart as the verse that guided me during my days as a young Christian.

I’m definitely not that young anymore (though still young-ish), but today God allowed me to read this passage with new eyes and a perspective relevant to where I am now in my Christian journey.

Timothy was young, yes, but he was also a young leader of his church. Younger compared to the apostles, younger compared to many in his congregation. He must have felt a lot pressure, and had a lot of questions on how to proceed.

Paul, a good mentor, guides him. He gives him a preview of the challenges that will come and how to deal with them.

The key message I believe is discipline strengthened through training and perseverance. 

• [Train] in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine you have followed
• Train yourself for godliness 
• [Till the end], we toil and strive
• Command and teach these things
• Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching
• Do not neglect the gift you have
• Practice these things
• Immerse yourself in them
• Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching 
• Persist in this

In the end, what is this all for? 

By so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭16b‬ ESV)
Not that spiritual disciplines in itself will save us (we are saved by grace alone, through faith in Jesus), and not saying that us being spiritual will automatically save our hearers (they have to make their own decision to follow Christ).

A Christian’s spiritual discipline is of great importance to his testimony and is of great influence to his hearers.

Twist!

Chapter 2 opens with a vivid and terrifying description of a fearsome army. Greater than any army that has come before or will come after. They lay waste everything in their path. Their appearance and strength are beyond human. They are the perfect army, moving in unison and with unwavering obedience to their mission. To top it all off, it seems that even the earth, sun, moon and stars are afraid of them. Then the twist:

The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great (‭Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭11a‬ ESV)

This fearsome army is God’s army! A great misrepresentation of God is that He is a pushover – weak and without teeth. Well, it’s wrong. We forget that God almost wiped out the human race save for Noah and his family. He brought about terrible plagues in Egypt. He even commanded the Israelites to completely destroy nations.

It’s a difficult truth to accept for me because I have never experienced this side of God. I was in sin, and would have/should have been a recipient of God’s wrath — if not for Jesus. God is both of great power and great love.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (‭Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬b ESV)

God, being holy and just, needs to uphold his character. God does not want people to perish, that is why He gave a way – THE Way. But we have to make the decision ourselves to return to God.

(crosspost at medium.com)

Yesterday I got — quite uncharacteristically — frustrated. Frustrated that I had to fix problems. Granted, it was for people I care deeply about (family) and for people I work for/with, so it’s well within my expected responsibilities. I also knew what needed to be done and the steps to do it, so it’s not unfixable. I just… got frustrated.

Writing this now is painful for me. Like I said, it was quite uncharacteristic of me to (1) turn down an opportunity to help, (2) be frustrated. I guess I have some bad days too.

At the latter part of the day, out of nowhere, God reminded me of my recent study of the book of Numbers. I was reminded of how the Israelites would go to Moses often to complain and bring their issues. By my limited knowledge, I know that Moses got frustrated once — and that did not go well for him at all.

The rest of the time, how did Moses react to the problems raised to him? He would turn to God. I didn’t, and that was what was wrong with my mindset yesterday.

I am not the problem-solver. God is the problem-solver. How silly of me to think that I am capable of fixing the issues that come to me. God is the giver of wisdom. How did I forget about that?

Looking forward, I am excited with this changed mindset. This is so much more effective, and less stressful.

Problems brought to me are actually opportunities for me to bring glory to God. That’s how it’s supposed to be.

(crosspost at medium.com)

Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the Lord, and these are their stages according to their starting places. (‭Numbers‬ ‭33‬:‭2‬ ESV)

At the command of the Lord, Moses wrote regularly about their journey. Generation upon generation people were blessed with this writing, even thousands of years later. What a wonderful encouragement to press on and continue to write about my own spiritual journey.

My journal is most definitely not in the same league as Moses’, but it serves a similar purpose — to remind us about God’s goodness, faithfulness and great love.

It’s interesting that the Israelite journey is marked by stages of camping then setting out. Camp, Set out, Camp, Set out, Camp, Set out, repeat. I wonder if this has parallels on our own spiritual journey?

Of course, we know that after all the camping, and moving, and fighting, and stumbling, and repenting, and worshiping, eventually they will reach the land of promise. In God’s time, so will we.

(crosspost at medium.com)