A Revering Encounter

Recently, a sister has been sharing her issues to me. She has finally decided to work out her faith with all seriousness; she knew she has been carrying a baggage that has been eating up her faith inside out. She also told me that she never realize it has been that way because normally, she waits for God to use someone to tell her what’s going wrong in her spiritual walk with Him.

In the book of Exodus when Moses was leading the Israelites, everyone knew Moses talked to God face to face, but as we read in Exodus 20 : 18-19 :

“And all the people saw the thundering, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak to us, lest we die.”

That sister never knew she could face God face to face as Moses did, she always thought God will always speak to her in mysterious ways that she can never understand. That’s not true at all, we have not come to call our Heavenly Father as our personal Saviour for no reason. Some of us do not know because we either lack the initiation to find out or is still very young in the faith. In her case, she was never even exposed to such possibility. For some, its exactly where the Israelites stand, they know God is there but is too afraid, “lest we die”!

Why? Because we fear change. We are only willing to change when the cost is affordable and convenient, but when it starts to cost us a lot, we’ll stop. We hate to be in corners in our lives, we want “freedom” to roam, to stop and go as we wish and live comfortably without boundaries in the name of the 3 best friends (me, myself and I ). Sometimes we rationalize and say, “It’s not like I’m entirely living my life without God, I don’t curse, I do go to church, I don’t steal and I still care for my brothers and sisters in Christ. Can you start to see the “do’s and don’t’s”?

Because we start to feel the cornering, facing God directly ourselves is not what the fear wants to work with. We want someone else to filter that for us and tell us things we hope to hear like “you’re fine, you’re doing okay etc.”

1 Peter 4 : 1

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for He hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that He no longer should live the rest of His time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”

Here we need to remind ourselves the renewing of our mind. Don’t just see the process, see the objective why God put us through such “cornering” in our lives.

Allow me to put it in a different perspective. If you want something so badly - for example being the best badminton player, do you honestly think you will mind all that pain and commitment in the practices, routines and time spent?

You wont. Why? Because the motivation to be the best, to be acknowledged by your peers, parents and relative, the feeling of satisfaction in achievement in your life pushes you through all the way.

And then when we come to know our sinfulness and how much it destroys us and making us inevitably the object of wrath without any hope, we come to know the amazing grace of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. We told Him our lives is Yours, Your glory and Your name I do my best to live my life to it.

Sadly, as young Christians, we don’t exactly understand what it really means to surrender our entire lives to Him. Thankfully, God is full of mercy and love (That’s how we come to understand how rich it is as well, though obviously it’s not an excuse to keep failing Him).

Facing God and allowing Him to change us even though its going to be very difficult and often very painful is necessary. But let our motivation be focused, we do it because we love Him. We do it because we are reminded where we were before we met the Lord. We do it because we understand and is convicted fully, that God loves us . And when you’re finally back to business with our Father, well guess what?

You’re living the faith.

No more religion, no more do’s and don’ts. If you do not understand what it means to face God in such a personal direct manner, do come for our youth retreat this March! We will be dwelling on a longer session on the spiritual discipline of meditation. If you can’t wait that long and want to be serious with God right now, you’re more than welcome to approach me directly (I’m not a guru yet so don’t expect that much out of me!)

If you’re currently stuck at where the Israelites at, I hope this post may remind you why you’re doing what you’re doing. Don’t take it the wrong way, I’ve been where the Israelites were so many times myself but I continue to strive, two steps front, one step back.

Phil 4 : 13

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

- Gary Heng

Images are taken from :

http://www.handofgod.com.au/page133.php
http://www.freefoto.com/preview/05-08-5/Cross-on-a-Hill
http://h3sean.com/subtle-compromise/
http://footstepsacademy.org/