Helpless Righteousness

The corruption in our churches and in our communities deserves punishment severe than that of the ancient Israelites of Eli's time received. However, let us pray that God will be compassionate to us and hear our intercessions for our people.

We may be people who fear God and honor God. However, there may be stages in our lives when we may be so helpless but just watch the judgment that falls on his people, unable to do something in the matter. Noah was a righteous man. God allowed him to do something in the situation of gross sinfulness. He could at least save his family and few animals. Abraham could save his nephew Lot and his daughters. However, Eli did not have that favor from God.
Eli was not bad. He was a priest who served more than 40 years in the sanctuary of God in Shiloh. Though he did not have any revelations from God (at least in the near past) he knew how to respond when God speaks to his people. Young priest Samuel did not know how God speaks and did not know the formal words of responding to God (1 Sam 3:7). Eli advised him, "... if he calls you, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening'" (1 Sam 3:9).
It is wrong to assume that Eli did not do anything about the sins of his sons. He did counsel them and even warned them (1 Sam 2:22-25). He tried to stop them but he could not. They went ahead on the road to destruction and he had to watch helplessly they drive past him.
Worship of God was central to Eli's life. The Bible makes it very clear that the cause of his sudden death was neither the news of the defeat nor the death of his sons. It was the news that the Philistines captured the ark that broke his heart and lead him to his death. "When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy" (1 Sam 4:18).
He was thus a man who had a passion for God and his people (see how he deals with Hannah). He did not approve sinful ways even of his sons. However, he lived in a particular juncture in the history of Israel that God dealt with them severely and he could not do anything about it.
There is only one wish that we can make. That is to ask God that he will hear the prayers of his people and do not judge our nations, and our communities according to our sins. The corruption in our churches and in our communities deserves punishment severe than that of the ancient Israelites of Eli's time received. However, let us pray that God will be compassionate to us and hear our intercessions for our people.

Don't Let Hatred Overtake Love

To have a mind of Jesus is to see the needs of the people and meet them, but not to ponder on their weaknesses and looking for ways to correct them.
Last week in Pune a six-year-old girl over run by a car bled to death on the busy street of the city. She lay there for two hours bleeding while the mob gathered at the accident site was engaged in assaulting the driver. Nobody cared about taking the girl to the hospital because they were busy punishing the "sinner" driver. By the time the girls parents arrived at the scene, she was lying there dead in a pool of blood.
The mob typifies the behavior of the contemporary world. Love and compassion are over taken by hatred and a false sense of justice. The crowd is more interested meting out justice by punishing the offender while the great need for that helpless girl was not justice but compassion. She needed a Good Samaritan who will rush her to the hospital and save her life. The crowd was keen on taking one more life than saving another. The careless driver has to be arrested and handed over to the police; probably he should not be allowed to drive again if he cannot drive safely. However, that should not be at the cost of a young life.
We raise our voice against unjust economic and social systems and are doing all that we can to change them. However, while we wait for the systems to improve there are thousands of lives that will continue to live in those conditions. What they need is practical involvement, something to be done to change their life before they die their untimely death.
Jesus' focus was on the need of the people and not on eliminating the sinner. He came to eliminate sin and not the sinners. When the woman caught in adultery was brought before him, he let her go. The Jews wanted to kill her. They eliminate sin by eliminating the sinner. Jesus eliminates the sinner by eliminating sin. That's the difference! The Jews and the disciples ignored the needs of the people. However, Jesus would feed them when they were hungry, heal them when they were sick, calm the storm for them.... He was never overtaken by hatred but he was steeped in love.
To have a mind of Jesus is to see the needs of the people and meet them, but not to ponder on their weaknesses and looking for ways to correct them.

Do not Fret, but Focus on God

Trusting in God, and delighting in God's work we overcome the possible fretting over the enemy. We need to commit our ways to god and just be still; leave it to God to do the rest. In sum, turn our attention from the enemy to God! Do not fret but focus on God!
There are hundreds of reasons that make us fret. People whom we are dependent for our own performance and effectiveness fail us causing frustration and discouragement. There are people who are keen on frustrating us every turn of the road. These are people who are carriers of disappointments, anxiety, worries, discouragement, etc. They themselves may not be anxious, worried or discouraged. They carry it to others or cause others to be tormented. They are like mosquitoes that carry parasites that cause Malaria, but the mosquitoes themselves do not catch Malaria! A child of God may waste a lot of time unnecessarily fretting over things that these people do.
The advise of the psalmist is not to fret! "Do not fret because of the evil men or be envious of those who do wrong" (Psa 37:1). The simple reason is that they are not there for ever. "For like grass they will soon wither. Like green plants they will soon die away" (Ps 37:2). No one can cause a child of God worry permanently. All that they can cause are temporary distractions. So we should not get distracted!
So what are the children of God do instead of fretting? They are advised not to even glance at the enemy but to turn their attention to God. Put in another way, instead of fretting over what the enemy does or can do, focus on God. There are certain verbs that occur in this advice: "trust" (37:3); "delight" (37:4); "commit" (37:5); "Be still" (37:7), all in relation with God. Trusting in God, and delighting in God's work we overcome the possible fretting over the enemy. We need to commit our ways to god and just be still; leave it to God to do the rest. In sum, turn our attention from the enemy to God! Do not fret but focus on God!

Singing among the lions

Can anyone sing when surrounded by hungry lions? We may have situations like this when we are surrounded by enemies and there is no time to sing or to think of singing. However, the psalmists will sing in such situations.

In Psalm 57:7-8, the psalmist says,
"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn."
Here we see the psalmist excited to sing for the Lord. He resolves that he will make music for God. Then he goes on to invite his own soul to get up from the slumber it has fallen into so that a new song can issue forth from his inner being. His instruments that have been put aside for a while is also exhorted to wake up from their sleep and join him in the singing. Most amazing is the resolve to awaken the dawn! Usually dawn comes in its own time. People and animals awake at the dawn. It is the dawn that awakens world not the other way round. However, the psalmist who would like to sing a song for God cannot wait for the dawn to come in its own time. He would rather like to ask the dawn to come a bit earlier than usual so that he can start singing for the Lord. He just can't wait!
The psalmist's enthusiasm to sing for God is unparalleled; it is rather unexpected. The situation that he has described in the previous verses is not one that helps one to sing. In verse 4 he describes the severity of the situation that he faces as, "I am in the midst of lions, I lie among ravenous beasts-men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp arrows." It is not an easy situation and not one to sing to the accompaniment of stringed instruments like harp and lyre. The reality of the situation that he goes through has nothing really to contribute to such joyful singing. It calls for lamenting.
However, though the situation is worrying and one that burdens his heart, there is another aspect of his life that makes him sing. It is his faith in God who will rescue him from the all the troubles that he goes through.  It is the faith in a God who "sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; God sends his love and his faithfulness" (v. 3). It is the faith in God who rescues us from all malice and wicked plans of the enemy that makes a song reside in our lips. The psalmist's focus is on God who rescues him and not on the enemy's who vainly try to destroy him.

Being Loved by Jesus

Jesus showed the "full extent of his love" by becoming a servant for his disciples. Sometimes out of false humility we refuse to be loved by Jesus. Life could be full of small and big things where Jesus shows his love for us. To love Jesus is one thing, but it is equally important to accept Jesus' love showed on the cross and also the love he shows everyday in our life. It is wonderful to have a loving relationship with Jesus.

The act of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples is considered as part of his teaching on serving each other. I would not contend on that. however, there is still another side that we ignore in that incident. The Gospel of John chapter 13 verse 1 says, "having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love" (NIV). This sentence is the introduction to the feetwashing that follows.

The act of washing the feet of his disciples was act of his love. If we go by the NIV translation "the full extent of his love" (other translations: "he loved them to the last") it means that this act is the climax of his acts of love. Throughout his earthly ministry Jesus was involved in acts that showed his love for God's people. Though cross is where God showed "so loved the world" (John 3:16) Jesus earthly ministry was acts of his love. Cross is God's expression of his love for the world which includes the disciples, however, washing the feet is the expression of his full love to his friends the apostles who were gathered in that room for the Passover meal.

However, Peter was not willing to let Jesus to wash his feet because he misunderstood the purpose of what Jesus was doing. For Peter, Jesus should not do what a servant or an inferior person usually do. Jesus' reply is remarkable: "Unless I wash you, you have no part in me" (John 13:8b). Jesus was using the tactic of mild threatening which friends usually use. That sentence is the words of a friend begging another friend to let him show his love.

Jesus showed the "full extent of his love" by becoming a servant for his disciples. Sometimes out of false humility we ignore and sometimes refuse to be loved by Jesus. Life could be full of small and big things where Jesus shows his love for us. To love Jesus is one thing, but it is equally important to accept Jesus' love showed on the cross and also what he shows everyday in our loves. It is wonderful to have a loving relationship with Jesus.

God's Deadly Silence!

For a believer in Christ the relationship with God is a living relationship because it is a relationship with a living God. This living relationship is possible because God and the worshipper are always in talking terms. The worshipper talks to God in worship, prayer and meditation. And God responds in various ways: sometimes by giving them great joy in his presence, sometimes by answering prayers and sometimes by endowing them with the "peace that transcends all understanding" (Phil 4:4) in order to pass through difficult patches in their life.

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God's word creates! That's what we learn from the first chapter of Genesis. Peter summarized the whole thing in just one verse: "But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water" (2 Peter 3:5).

God speaks because he is the living God. He speaks to guide his people, to tell that what is going to happen, etc. False God's cannot speak or reveal themselves to their followers because they are dead. Psalm 115 describes what is dead gods like:

"But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them" (Psalm 115:4-8).

For a believer in Christ the relationship with God is a living relationship because it is a relationship with a living God. This living relationship is possible because God and the worshipper are always in talking terms. The worshipper talks to God in worship, prayer and meditation. And God responds in various ways: sometimes by giving them great joy in his presence, sometimes by answering prayers and sometimes by endowing them with the "peace that transcends all understanding" (Phil 4:4) in order to pass through difficult patches in their life.

However, there are times when this relationship turns to a monologue. At times we don't hear God speaking to us. The psalmist in Psalm 28 is going through that experience and he expresses his fear in verse 1: "If you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit (meaning: grave)." Many times we don't care when we haven't heard from God! However, a person like this psalmist cannot afford to live without hearing God's voice daily. I wish I had this longing for the voice of God and dependence on a living and speaking God.

Waiting for God's Mercy

"For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," says the LORD your Redeemer" (Isa 54:7-8)

God is a holy God. The earlier chapters of the Book of Isaiah present the awesome holiness of God (chapter 6). Since God is a God of wrath and justice he punishes sin and wickedness. God sometimes may use ungodly people to punish his own people who are disobedient. That was the role of Assyria, Israel's political enemy who brought the Northern Kingdom of Israel to destruction. God described Assyria as the rod of His anger (Isa 10:5).

That's only one side of God. The other side is that of a merciful God. Years later, after he inflicted punishment upon his people at the hands of the pagans, he raised up another pagan emperor to show kindness to them. That is Cyrus the Persian Emperor whom God describes as His anointed (Isa 45:1). Hitherto only specially chosen leaders of Israel were called "anointed". But now here is a pagan king who does not know God is called his anointed, because he is going to be instrumental in showing God's mercy to his people.

Isaiah 54:7-8 portrays this picture of God's punishment and kindness in a graphic way. His mercy has overtaken his wrath. He has abandoned them but only for a while.

Though this verses are the story of a nation's abandonment and their reinstating, it has a personal dimension as well as the story of this young man tells. Probably many of us may be able to relate to this story as well.

He had come to the seminary from a not so well-to-do family. In the seminary he goes through a nervous breakdown. All his plans to complete studies, get married and then get ordained into ministry are foiled. To add to the misery the seminary advises him to take a break. An year goes by and then he joins the seminary again to find that he had to get regular help of a psychiatrist and go on his studies on a slower pace. He had to see his class graduate without him. His juniors also passed before him. Finally, his day came and he graduated. However, he was told that, knowing that he has a history of psychological illness, his church is not really willing to trust him with a church. Long internship begins; finding a marriage partner for a person who carries the stigma of mental illness was difficult in his culture.

However, he gets married much later in life than his friends. It was a long wait. The church finally is convinced that he is fully healed. Now, in a few weeks time he will be ordained into the ministry of his denomination. He decided to print Isaiah 54:7-8 on the top of the invitation card: " For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back." He has crossed the lines over to the compassion field. What God has done in his life is certainly an encouragement for all those who are waiting on the other side of our existence under God's wrath or negligence (whatever you would like to call it) to cross over. The waiting may be long, but it will certainly not be futile.