Weeks 45 & 46 (09) - Blessings of Divine Guidance

On 18th November, the Queen of the United Kingdom delivered her Speech to the nation. Written by the government, the Queen's Speech sets out the legislative agenda for the year ahead and is the centrepiece of the state opening of Parliament. Each session of Parliament begins with this royal address, and usually takes place in November, and covers the following year.

The ceremonial trappings surrounding the speech make the event one of the high points of the parliamentary calendar, unrivalled in its spectacle and tradition despite some of the more arcane practices having been toned down in recent years. The Queen normally attends in person at the state opening of Parliament and delivers the speech from the grand throne in the House of Lords.

The decision over what to put in or leave out of the Queen's Speech is a politically crucial one, usually the subject of months of political wrangling within government as ministers and lobby groups fight for their favoured measures to win a slot in the crowded legislative agenda. A Cabinet committee - which includes the leaders of the Commons and Lords, the chief whip and chief law officers - helps decide on its content, with the prime minister having the final say.

This year’s Queen Speech is the last one before the General Election in May/June 2010. The Conservatives have been tipped to win the next election, ending 13 years of Labour government. The Speech was seen as a Labour election manifesto which started with “the government's overriding priority is to ensure sustained growth to deliver a fair and prosperous economy for families and businesses, as the British economy recovers from the global economic downturn. Through active employment and training programmes, restructuring the financial sector, strengthening the national infrastructure and providing responsible investment, the government will foster growth and employment……….”

I sense that the UK is moving into a very interesting era. A Conservatives win with a big majority is by no means certain. A majority of a few seats will make policies passing into laws difficult, especially policies on finance and the economy. This may lead to the International Monetary Fund getting involved in the UK finance policy making process!

No matter which political party comes to power in government, I feel secure to know that my future is in God’s Hand.

I feel secure because “Your hands made me and formed me…... May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word. I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant. Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause; but I will meditate on your precepts. May those who fear you turn to me, those who understand your statutes. May my heart be blameless towards your decrees, that I may not be put to shame.” [Ps 119:73-80 NIV]

I really appreciate King Solomon’s attitude towards God when “…..He said: "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth — you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way….When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and confess your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their fathers. When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray towards this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land that you gave your people for an inheritance. When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel — each one aware of his afflictions and pains, and spreading out his hands towards this temple — then hear from heaven, your dwelling-place. Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of men), so that they will fear you and walk in your ways all the time they live in the land that you gave our fathers……When they sin against you — for there is no-one who does not sin — and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly'; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray towards the land that you gave their fathers, towards the city you have chosen and towards the temple that I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling-place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you. Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” [2 Chron 6:12,14,24-31,36-40 NIV]

I foresee a time of challenging of our faith going forward, as the end approaches. But we shall not fear but give “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort……” [2 Cor 1:3-11 NIV]

Only the wisdom of God will see us through the difficult time ahead. Indeed the wisdom of God has been trying to get our attention. “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: ‘How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no-one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you — when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." [Prov 1:20-33 NIV]

Amen and amen!

Weeks 43 & 44 (09) - Blessings of Divine Guidance

Today (9th November) marks the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. World leaders are gathered in Berlin to celebrate the occasion.

Walls were traditionally built to protect against invading enemies. The most famous example is the Great Wall of China. But in a modern era, walls are often built to separate and divide communities of different ideologies such as the one in Berlin (between communism and capitalism) and the one in Gaza (between Jews & Muslims).

But more and more, walls are coming down. Communities are encouraged to live together in harmony. Through education, the younger generations are more tolerant of differences and they learn to respect people of different racial, social and religious background. It appears to be a good and healthy development. But, behind the scene is a hidden agenda that is subtle and sinister!

Interestingly the “green” agenda has also been used to bring people of different religious background together. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations, recently attended a faith-and-ecology celebration in Windsor Castle, where he told an audience of gorgeously attired Bahais, Buddhists, Christians, Daoists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Shintos and Sikhs that “you are the leaders who can have the largest, widest and deepest reach” when warning people about climate change. Religions, he said, had established or helped to run half of the schools in the world; they were among the world’s largest investors; and the global output of religious journalism was comparable at least to Europe’s secular press.

Deception can indeed be very subtle. In the name of saving the planet, good-hearted faithful and unfaithful are joined together to advance an agenda allowed by God and keenly pursued by Satan to achieve what will ultimately be a One World System. Do not rejoice when it happens!

This is why preaching “Jesus as the only way to heaven” will be increasingly unpopular and difficult. Anything seen to divide and alienate communities will be isolated and destroyed (Islamic extremism is one example that the world is joining hands in eradicating). Only the power of God can help the Gospel and His Kingdom advance until the full number has come in [Matt. 24:14 & Rom. 11:25]. The key is to ask God to “……teach me your decrees. Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free. [Ps 119:25-32 NIV]

For those who are still weary with sorrow, be encouraged to know that one day true peace and harmony will come when we get to heaven. Just like the time when the Israelites no longer had to wander in the desert, "Since the LORD, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem for ever, the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles used in its service.”……They were……to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD. They were to do the same in the evening…..” [1 Chron 23:25-32 NIV] There will be no more wandering (in the spiritual desert) in heaven where we will experience rest in the Heavenly Father.

While we are on this side of eternity, the only division we should avoid is division in the Body of Christ. Apostle Paul did not mince word when he told the Church of Corinth that “In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you….No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval…….For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognising the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick…….But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment… [1 Cor 11:17-34 NIV]

Therefore, “pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you. Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, teaching you true and reliable words, so that you can give sound answers to him who sent you?.... [Prov 22:17-29 NIV]

Amen and amen!