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)

But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. (‭2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ NIV)

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Was blessed to have an opportunity to do an impromptu message at EDGE to close off our study on 2 Peter 1:3-11 .

It was definitely God who gave the inspiration for the illustration. It wasn’t just a message to the kids, it was mostly God’s message to me. In fact, probably the reason it was so easy for me to talk about it was because it is exactly the story of my Christian life.

“Many of us try to live our Christian life blindfolded.”

We forget that Jesus has set us free, has forgiven us of our sins, and has given every thing we need for a godly life (v.3) through his Spirit.

Our part is to make every effort (v.5, v.10) to increase our faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (v.5-7).

I love the last part of the illustration, when we finally realize we don’t have to be nearsighted and blind (v.9), we are more effective and productive (v.8) in our Christian life. We can go to Jesus without stumbling or fumbling along the way, and receive a rich welcome into His eternal kingdom (v.11)

(crosspost at medium.com)

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (‭Psalm‬ ‭147‬:‭3‬ ESV)

We usually associate a broken heart in the romantic sense —unrequited love — but we know that this goes beyond that. Because people are inherently sinful, people are going to get hurt, whether physically or emotionally. And God can heal both kinds of wounds.

What else can God do?

• He builds up nations and peoples
• He gathers outcasts
• He manages the universe
• He lifts up the humble and grounds the wicked
• He manages nature: from the clouds to rain, to grass, trees, and animals, to snow, frost and hail, to the winds and the waters
• He protects us
• He blesses our families
• He brings peace
• He brings provisions
• He has made himself known to us

What is the only logical response? Sing praises! It is good, pleasant, and fitting (v.1) To trust and to obey. He loves us and he desires for us to put our hope in Him.

(crosspost at medium.com )