Dear...
This message was written in one inspired day. But once finished, I dithered as to whether this is truly the will of our Lord, or should I sending you #38 "From revolution to devaluation." The latter took me one week of pondering, and though I finished it, yet I did not feel led to mail it, much as I have placed it on the blog at http://john-4-23-24.blogspot.com/ for the past few days. Also a new experience for me for I have always mailed before I place on the blog.
And on new experience, should it be #38 or #39 that should be sent out, I asked the Lord for guidance and at the press of my Iphone Bible, our good Lord brought me to Deuteronomy 32:44-52"
Interesting because
- Deuteronomy forms the bulk of my Bible reference today for #39 and that was from my Bible at the office and it is no coincidence that at home, I am brought to the same chapter
- And this particular section of Deuteronomy deals with the moment that the Israelites were about to cross over into the promised land and how Moses got the chance to see but not enter the promised land.
> 'For thou shalt see the land before thee, but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel."
> Deuteronomy 32:52
>
> May indeed the words that now follow in this sharing speak to your heart, that you ponder upon your own journey with our Lord. And if you do feel, do visit the link at
> http://john-4-23-24.blogspot.com/ to read #38 From revolution to devaluation." This is still work in progress much as it is completed??
>
> And on old experience, took me half an hour to get this mail link up. Always in points of significance, my computer always act up, and every mail was working except this particular sharing. Had to use my iphone to reforward the mail to my Mac. Indeed, we wrestle against principalities. Thank our Sovereign God for His grace.
>
> God Blesses
> Dear..
>
> ‘The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people.’
>
> Deuteronomy 7:7
>
> Modern day Israel is a nation formed when the Jewish Diaspora that survived the horrors of the Nazi Holocausts during World War 2 finally had the impetus to gather together as a nation to ensure that they will never be treated as unwanted guests of often hostile host countries that will turn against them and their defenseless families.
>
> ‘If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I, how can I dispose them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them; but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharoah, and unto all Egyptians.’
>
> Deuteronomy 7:17-18
>
> A country Israel might be, but it was a tumultuous birth with growing pains as this small nation was smacked right in the midst of a much larger and hostile Arab neighborhood. Yet, indeed, as in Deuteronomy 7:7, God has sheltered His chosen people and has not just ensured their survival through four major Arab Israelite wars, the last in 1973, but prospered modern day Israel, much as paradoxically, it is one of the few countries in the Mid-East that has no oil. Do take time to read the historical accounts of the Yom Kippur war and see how God’s miraculous hands are still at work in modern times(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Invasion_of_Israel).
>
> ‘A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey…..’
>
> Deuteronomy 8:8
>
> It has been 37 years since the Yom Kippur war. And except for a few skirmishes, Israel as a nation has been at peace. Of course, with the current turmoil in the Mid-East, it is likely that the uneasy peace of the past 3 decades is coming to an end, and that the world is likely to witness a renewal of the Arab Israelite conflict in the near future.
>
> Is this part of God’s plan? Is there a reason for His allowing Israel to be put through the pains of war again, a war that they might actually lose initially?
>
> ‘Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him.’
>
> Deuteronomy 8:6
>
> A dear friend just invited me to join him on a trip to Israel. I have never been there and it is probably the last opportunity to go before regional conflicts will make it that much harder to visit. As of now, it will be correct to say that I do not have a good on the ground feel of present conditions in Israel. But from what I read, the morals and once much vaunted discipline of this miracle of a nation have loosened tremendously as exemplified by the scandals at the upper echelons of power and the lifestyle of its people. And the recent skirmishes in Lebanon has debunked the invincibility of the Israelite military.
>
> Israel is already in the promised land. Their ancestors were taken out of the bondage of Egypt. But needed another 40 years of wondering in the desert to get their relationship with God right. Sadly, they forgot that after some time and ended up being a diaspora for years before the present state of Israel was founded in 1948.
>
> ‘Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day. Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein’
>
> Deuteronomy 8:11-12
>
> Does the Israelites need another painful reminder of the need to be faithful to God our Father?
>
> Just as the geopolitics start to tense up for Israel, it is also prescient that they have discovered a major gas field off their coast. This will once productive possibly make Israel not only energy independent, but possibly be a major energy exporter. Should not God be punishing them for their errant disobedience instead of rewarding them? An interesting thought, but let’s take time to examine our own lives as the Gentile children of God, for technically, we the Gentile Christians are the 13th tribe of Israel, God’s chosen
>
> ‘And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names….’
>
> Exodus 28:21
>
> These past few years for me have been one great journey in the desert with our Lord and indeed the desert is where one hears God better. I have been far from obedient, but thankfully God corrects, forgives and sustain my very being. I have come to believe that the time in the desert for me and those who love the Lord, is nearing its end and that it is time to enter the promised land. Does it mean that I am about to meet my maker and depart this difficult world? I think not yet, but rather, it is about meeting God on Earth His way and the days of reticence as driven by one’s carnal understanding is over. It is time to truly follow and smell the flowers of God’s grace on the paths He has already laid for those who seek to follow Him and respond with belief to the truth of the gospel. The world being sinful is still difficult till Christ returns, but life for us need not be. Sounds pretty utopic and indeed, if it is mere bravado or idealism, this will not sustain. And indeed just a few days back, I was telling our good Lord that I don’t want to go through what the faithful Job went through. But the truth is that all of us will go through the different shades of life’s circumstances, the difference being, we should not be like Job, who though stayed faithful, lingered a bit longer than he should before acknowledging the Sovereignty of God. To enter the promised land, you must believe from the heart and translate that into responsive obedience.
>
> ‘Then, Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that Thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee.’
>
> Job 42:1-2
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> ‘And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends, also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before…….so the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning…’
>
> Job 42:10,12
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> God Blesses
>
> Eng Hieang
>
> (9th Mar 2011)
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