MEEKSPEAK

Perception

It depends how you look at it. It’s all perception. A roaring fire can collapse a city into ashes, just as it can warm the hands of a child. The process Jesus underwent to overcome his mind, the baptism of fire, was for the benefit of us all. It was a process that made his pores sweat blood (Luke 22:42-44). Pain and anguish rattled his bones, but the outcome was freedom and perfect peace for his children to come. Hours later, we went through a series of unbearable torment, yet he did not speak a threatening word or fight back (Isaiah 53). He was tortured; He slowly died. For some, a paper cut can be excruciating and childish name-calling can even lead to suicide. We have to go back. We have to embody Jesus’s example. The trials he went through, were they good or bad?

If we focus on each cut, each scrape, and each bruise individually, then you can argue that the trials were painful and therefore bad. The Bible, however, is not a testament of his cuts and bruises alone. The death of his flesh brought everlasting life to a world where death and sin flourished. Therefore, His death was good. He did it for us as an example. He did it to motivate us to reach the end of the race – for us not to give up. The cuts, scrapes, and bruises were, in turn, good because he was accomplishing his father’s will. If we look at the bigger picture, we perceive His trials as good, glorious even. Our trials (the trials we are going through right now) are good. If we are walking with God, and all of a sudden struggles come our way, do not fear (Luke 12:32). It all depends on how you look at the struggle. The strength you may gain from the trial can benefit you in the future. Perhaps the Lord is training you for something greater to come, so he has you go through some fires to toughen you up. Perhaps He’s taking certain things from your life so that you can focus on other things that will edify you much more. Our God is the Alpha and the Omega. He’s seen your whole life already. He knows what you need and what you don’t need. Nothing is bad if you’re walking with the Lord. Nothing will harm you if you perceive everything (the trials especially) as beneficial for your soul. 

Habakkuk’s prayer

Take the time to read the book of Habakkuk. It may be one of the shortest books in the Old Testament, but its message has been resonating in my head since Tuesday.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 says, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.”

What hit close to home was when Habakkuk shouts out to the Lord in chapter 1:2, “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!” I have never shouted out against the Lord’s will or questioned his authority as openly and loudly as he did, but there are times when short streams of doubt quickly shoot through my mind during distressful times. Not doubts of his existence, mind you. I am referring to doubts of him hearing my pleas. Now this is me just thinking, but I suppose if I doubt his hearing of my cries, I am doubting his almighty omnipotence, and therefore perhaps his existence. Cannot our almighty God hear us? Of course. He hears, sees, and understands all. He’s everywhere. He penetrates the walls we barricade ourselves in and his light illuminates the dark void we’ve dug in our hearts.

I love the way Habakkuk ends his book with inspiring words. He truly realizes that God will provide. The Holy Spirit will lift us up as high as mountain tops with rejoice, but the Lord will try us by descending us down to the valley of death where we are most vulnerable. At our most vulnerable time, will we show God our face and continue to praise Him with thanksgiving in our heart or will we hide and seek refuge in temporary things? (2 Corinthians 4:18) I hope we all do the former when the time comes.

Habakkuk believed that God was going to be there for him even though his current situation looked bleak. It seemed as if Habakkuk jumped to his own conclusion in the first chapter when he doubted God’s will. What he didn’t realize at the time was that his story had not ended yet. God had a plan for him, so let’s not jump to conclusions because we’re not fortune tellers. The same goes for Job who lost it all and then gained much more after God’s trials. Cannot God provide something much better for us? Again, throughout our walk with the Lord, we will be moving from mountain to valley, from valley to mountain, until finally we move from mountain to something better: a constant state of second heaven (the state in which Jesus constantly lived).

If you’re having trouble in believing that God will help you soon, read your Bible. Read anything that you find interesting. Personally, I love to read Psalms because it’s so poetic and uplifting. It’s definitely not through posts like these that will increase your faith. It’s not exclusively through friendly conversations with your brothers and sisters altogether. Personal experiences with God can only do so much because our carnal mind still has us by its grip. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing the word of God. By reading the Bible or hearing the Word being preached by a minister, we will gain the certainty that God is there, and will be there (if we are there!) when our trials arrive. 

Like a good Samaritan

I sin every single day. I sin with my words and I sin with my actions. I sin with my eyes and I sin with my thoughts. Even the things I hear provoke me to sin. And yet, even though I am a sinner, I try not to sin. Despite my inability to fully control my mind and constantly steer it toward godly things, I try my hardest so that my mind does not derail from its path toward perfection. My mind may get off course, but I need to make sure that it somehow finds its way back on that narrow path. I am blessed, nonetheless. What fascinates me is the amount of compassion the Lord has for all of us. I wake up everyday because He allows me to open my eyes. He allows me to take my first steps out of bed. I am allowed to live. He has so much mercy and compassion for me.

Someone reminded me what my pastor once said. He said that he wishes we all had his spirit because there is nothing anyone can say that will offend him. I want to reach that level of spirituality, too. Imagine just for a second someone offending you openly and you do not have the slightest urge to defend yourself by fighting back with words or fists. Or, even yet, not feeling the slightest bit of pain or crushed to the point of hopelessness. I’ve been meditating on the concept of having compassion toward others and receiving compassion from others. It’s such a beautiful testament of friendship, or brotherly and sisterly love. It’s not easy to express at all times though. I always thought it was. “Just picture yourself in their shoes,” I would tell myself. It usually works for me now, but that’s only because I was able to reflect on my past and realize how carnal and filthy I was. Once I was able to understand that about myself, then I was able to express compassion toward others and be patient when someone’s spiritual shortcomings got the best of them. I’ve met ALL sorts of Christian people. From those people I’ve met, the one thing we all have in common is that we all sin. We’re all on the same boat – first heaven, on the same floor with all the animals, too, if we were talking about Noah’s Ark. Let’s not forget that. Because the truth is, we all fall, and sometimes when we do, we land hard on our faces. When that happens, wouldn’t you want someone to help you up? Jesus once said in John 8:7, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone…” when a crowd of men were about to stone a woman for committing a crime against Jewish law. Likewise, we commit many mistakes and sin against our Christ Jesus. Who are we to point fingers (what authority do we have as saints), if we merely are composed of dust? I want to love the way Stephen loved in Acts 7:54-60. He forgave the people stoning him to death! I’m not at that level yet. Far from it. It’s easy to say that I can do it, but when the Lord tested me last week, I saw how quickly my love for people can fade. I quickly reflected on my past and had to put on charity (1Corinthians 13:2; Colossians 3:14).

There was a time when I felt so ashamed to pray to God that I rarely did it. I was so consumed by sin that I did not think my cries were going to reach God’s ears. I would drive home quietly at night (thinking of nothing) because I knew God saw everything. I felt guilty for doing the things I did. I thought I was better off not confessing my sins to Him. I was wrong, however, to think that my God — my compassionate and merciful Jesus who heeled thousands, forgave Paul for killing Christians, forgave the filthy and corrupted church of Corinthians, and chose to die an agonizing death for millions of sinners — would not forgive me. Please read all of Luke 15:10-32. It talks about a parable Jesus shared with some “publicans and sinners”. It’s the story of a young man who ventured off into the world with his father’s money, spent it all on his lusts and desires and then was forced to live in poverty, “[filling] his belly with the husks that the swine did eat”. He feared dying of hunger so he decided to swallow his pride and come back home to his father, not as a son, but as a humble servant. He did not feel worthy enough to bear the title of ‘son’. When he came back to his father’s farm, I’m sure he expected his father to be disappointed in him. But he wasn’t. Verse 20 expresses his father’s true feelings. His father ran to him and cradled him in his arms. He knew his son lived a sinful life, he knew he made some errors, and diverged from God’s path, but instead of condemning him, he clothed him with his best robe, gave him a ring and shoes, roasted him the fattest calf and threw a feast with lots of music for him. He had so much compassion for him. I do think his father loved him this way because he was his son. But I also believe that his father was wise enough to understand how easy it was for this particular son to fall and how hard it was for him to get back up. And, I can imagine, for the father to see this son change, it must have been miraculous.

No matter what I have done in the past (because I have done stupid things), if I come back to God, with a repented heart, he will rejoice. When I sin, my mind may make me believe that I deserve to eat amongst the swine. But that is not so. When I sin, I am at a vulnerable state. Instead of hiding behind my job, my school, my excuses, I should run toward God. When I am most vulnerable my spiritual life teeters on a double-edged sword. I can tilt toward sin or God. I want to fall on God because he will clothe me with the Holy Spirit and allow me to pick myself up. I may fall again, but I will keep getting up. He will bless me with wonderful gifts to motivate me enough to move forward and feed me enough bitter herbs to keep me calling on his name. This is compassion. He has so much mercy for me. He is my good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-42). And like that good Samaritan, I need to be as compassionate as my Lord. I need to love my brothers and sisters to inherit eternal life. When I meet new brothers and sisters, I want to love them in Jesus’ name, not in mine.

That awkward moment someone assumes you’re an atheist because you sound smart.

(via pettifoggery)