Living in Narnia

Saturday, May 24, 2003

My friend who collapsed during the field camp has recovered, thank God. And his exact words were, "thank God I recovered quickly." People say these words all the time, but in such a context, aren't they so meaningful? What do we do when our own strength fails, physical, and more importantly, spiritual? What do we do when we fall from grace? Are we willing to acknowledge that we are so weak, so wicked? "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17: 9. I believe my friend, in saying those two words, "thank God", was acknowledging something very important. He was acknowledging that even though his own strength may have failed, God never fails. Even though many times in our lives we fall, to sin and wickedness, God remains perfect. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Him, with His Word, with His light. It is we, countless times in our lives, who have failed to live by that light, by our own sheer human weakness. So let's acknowledge that we are the ones who are weak, the ones at fault, and acknowledge that God is supreme. He is the one who picks us up; He is the one who forgives us when we fall; He is the one, not ourselves, who sustains us by His grace and love. Perhaps when we have learned to live in utter dependence upon His grace and love and not our own strength; when we have learned to live humbly with our broken hearts turned towards him every single moment; then we can say together with Paul, "for when I am weak, then am I strong." 2 Cor. 12:10.

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

What A Friend We Have in Jesus


What a friend we have in Jesus,
All ours sins and griefs to bear,
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour still our refuge;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee;
Thou wilt find a solace there.

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40: 28-31

This verse could not have come, thank God, at a more fitting time- during field camp. It brought me great comfort in the midst of the insanely tough training; the words of Isaiah never seemed more pertinent. Countless times I felt "faint" and "weary", and with my eyes saw people "utterly fall". But I will be utterly honest- in the pits of physical suffering, during a 9 km route march, with the sun ruthlessly burning down on you and the field pack weighing down on your shoulders, as you struggle to even breathe while walking, the thing which kept me going was the thought of the end point, the thought of going home, and not the verse above. Was it referring to the physical body? Did Isaiah mean physically walking or running? My friend who prayed with me before the final march collapsed midway and had to be rushed to the hospital. Looking at the Bible, Moses felt weary holding up his staff during that famous battle, to the point that someone had to hold up his arm for him so that the Israelites could triumph. God did not diminish the suffering of Jesus on the cross; our beloved Saviour cried out in agony, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Our bodies have limitations, simply because they were created that way; the problem is that most of us have never discovered what that limit really is. Pushing ourselves towards that limit and beyond is a matter of our will. And eventually our bodies will give out. But even so, one day, one day, our bodies will give out.

But am I doubting the power of God? No way! In fact, if this verse was talking merely about the physical body, then I think we would have cause for concern, because like I said, eventually the body will give out. But the power of God does not end there; it would be close to blasphemy to think so. No, I believe this verse is talking about our soul. We all know that the greatest battles we fight in life are not on the physical ground but in the spiritual realm. Physical pain, no matter how deep, comes and goes, leaving little more than a memory; sometimes a very strong memory. But the spiritual struggle is the one that truly affects our lives, and more than that, is the one that will matter even when this life is over.

Doesn't this verse become so much more wonderful when we look at them in this new context? No matter what happens to us in this life, in this body, our souls, resting in God, are unshakeable! No matter what we may have to endure, and even if our physical bodies fail us, our soul has an eternal future and home in God. And this brings me on to the other verse that came as I opened me Bible during field camp-

"Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness , in a salt land and not inhabited.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Jeremiah 17:5-8

It speaks of the very same thing- an unshakeable soul trusting in God. So where do we place our trust in our lives? Do we trust in ourselves, and what we can achieve? The very same chapter of Isaiah carries this warning- "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth..." v. 6-7. Do we place our trust in others? I love my friends and family very very dearly; they are truly one of the greatest God-given blessings. But we all know that even those closest and dearest to us can fail us and hurt us, simply because we are all human. We are not perfect friends. And some of us, despite having everything we thought we wanted, have often found that there is still a void and emptiness in our heart. That void can only be filled when we place our firmest and highest trust in God. Jesus is the truest friend. He is unshakeable, unchanging, and infinitely loving. When we learn to trust in such a God, can our souls not be like that tree that Jeremiah describes?

Sunday, May 18, 2003

Do you hear the people sing?
Lost in the valley of the night
It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies
Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise

They will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord
They will walk behind the ploughshare
They will put away the sword
The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward

Will you join in our crusade
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing
Say do you hear the distant drums
It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes


Just booked out this morning after seven days of hell on Pulau Tekong and for some reason, felt like listening to Les Miserables once again. I love the musical so much because even though it is so powerful and stirring, it is as much a depiction of our lives now as it is of the French world then. Les Miserables, as the name itself implies, is a story of never-ending struggle and strife. Valjean, even after his redemption and rebirth in God, still finds himself running and running. "One day more... another day another destiny.... this never-ending road to Calvary..." Fantine is cast into the pits of misery right from the start and dies early without even seeing her beloved daughter. The revolutionaries, so hopeful and passionate about their cause, as anyone who has heard "One Day More" would know, fall hopelessly within a day. Javert, a staunch and unwavering pillar of justice, commits suicide. Eponine sings, "I'll sleep in your embrace at last..." to Marius moments before her death. And even at the end, when Marius and Cosette are to be happily married, Valjean is dying. What is the meaning in all this suffering?

Do we find ourselves often wondering why life never seems to be perfectly happy? Why, whether it be the extremes of physical suffering or just some little struggle or problem that we are facing, is there always something, a barricade, in our way? Time and time again I have believed that after some great difficulty or struggle has passed I would be finally free and happy, and time and time again I have been sorely disappointed. Something new always pops up, another turn in the road, another dark cloud in the sky. Life can never be perfect. Why? Because this is life on earth, an earth that is separated from God. An earth that long ago chose to rebel against its Creator, sinned, and henceforth created its own problems.

But the ending of Les Miserables completes the picture, and till this day, after having seen the musical three times and heard the soundtrack so many times that I can sing it front to back, never tire of listening to those words. For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies, even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise. I can without hesitation say that the past seven days in Tekong have been the toughest of my life. I saw people collapse in tears out of sheer exhaustion, people go to the point of blacking out and beyond, and myself reach physical limits that I never thought I could reach. Yet even those days came to an end, an oh so sweet end. Listen to the words of Fantine to Valjean, "Come with me, where chains will never bind you. All your griefs, at last, at last behind you." There will come a day when all our griefs, all our struggles, will be over, will be past. There will be a day where life will truly be perfect. But that day will not be here on this earth. It will be up in Heaven, with God, because that is where perfection and eternal joy lie. And our lives here, a temporary exile from where we were meant to be, are slowly bringing us closer and closer to that day, that eternity. During the field camp I say people who were close to collapsing still continuing on; it is a testimony to the power of the human spirit that God has placed in us, that we can endure everything that lies between us and that day. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Hebrews 12: 1-2. If you are feeling the burdens and difficulties of life, and you feel that life is a constant struggle, do not despair, because one day it will all end.

So let us cast away all our fears and join the crusade- the Lord's crusade. For "the night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." Romans 13:12. But this crusade will not be fought with swords or guns; it will be fought with the entirety of our lives and with love. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And not be conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12: 1-2. Onward Christian soldiers, marching on to war... no no, marching on to God.