When You Sin, Where/Who Do You Turn To?

1Samuel 12:20-25 "Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of His great Name the Lord will not reject His people because the Lord was pleased to make you His own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away."

Who ever said that the Christian Walk was going to be easy? I mean, we were even promised that it was going to be difficult. One of the things that's so evident in our life that makes our Walk so difficult is the struggle with sin. It is the very thing that placed the Son of God on the Cross to take our place in death just to set us free. You see, the more we take in to understand the reality of the danger of sin, the more we really struggle against it, and all the more we should allow what Jesus did on the Cross to take effect on us. This brings me to the verses God’s led me to.

(verse 20)
One of the things I remember most when I was real fresh in my Walk, and I am still very young in Christ, is that I can really tend to overestimate my capabilities as a believer, and underestimate the grace of God. When the Israelites realized the danger their sins could cause them, they practically panicked. However, Samuel encouraged them all the more not to turn from the Lord. I can honestly tell you that the devastation I felt when I stumbled actually caused me to worsen my relationship with Him the more I focused on it. Living with and for Jesus is not based on our emotions, I can tell you that. We serve Christ regardless, because He loves us regardless.

One of the real beautiful things about living with Christ in us is that even though we still sin, so long as we keep coming back to Jesus, we no longer live for sin; we're no longer dead in it, but we’re dead to it, and alive in Christ.

(verse 21)
One of the things that's so evident when it comes to us human beings is that we're really drawn and made to worship something. Things that are other than God come in the form of money, a job, a person, a figure, nature, a gadget, a celebrity, artists, musicians, makeup, computer games, pornography, computer fads, drugs, liquor, self, relationships, etc. But I tell you that anything we turn to which isn't God (even if we think that it is God) is an idol. All idols are worthless and incomparable to the Creator of all you know and see.

(verse 22)
It is really amazing how God is still faithful whichever point we've reached in our life. If you read 2Timothy2:11-13, it says in the first two parts that if we die and endure with Him, He will reward us greatly; if we disown Him, He will also disown us; but the thing in this verse that really captures me most is the fact that He will remain faithful even in our faithlessness. But that's just who God is. He's the Author and Finisher of our faith. He won't stop pursuing us just because we've stop our pursuit of Him. He's the God who won't give up! As unfathomable as it may be, He chose to create us for His purpose, and continues to love us unendingly, immeasurably, and unchangingly.

Before any of us came to know Christ, He wanted us to start a relationship with Him. Once the starting's done, He wants us to keep going, despite the fact that we keep on stumbling. Wherever we are in our relationship with Him, He still wants to meet us right where we're at and to keep pushing forward.

(verse 23)
This one goes out to those who have accountability to someone you're discipling, or even to the friends you have around you. You won't always be in good weather when it comes to leading and guiding people in their life as believers. Even the friends we have who talk to us about their concerns. It could come as a challenge to lead them in the way that is good and right. It shouldn't be our own perspective of what is good and right that we teach, but God's. If you read the whole Psalm119, you can really see how powerful God's Precepts are. His Word declares His sovereignty over all which is created, so there's no one else we should really point anyone to except God.

(verse 24)
God's grace, faithfulness and mercy should cause us to respond to Him with fear and service. Now, fear and service really go hand in hand. There is no service when that righteous fear and recognition of One Who's in authority is absent. If the fear is absent, it's most likely that God's not the One the service is rendered to. Furthermore, fear of the Most High can't really be called "fear" if it does not cause you to serve. If you read Hebrews12:3, it tells us of Jesus' zeal for the glory of God by bringing man back to Himself even if it meant opposition from the ones He came to save.

(verse 25)
Samuel here cautioned the Israelites of God's wrath against sin. Here in the old testament, disobedience to God meant quick deaths to many. But all the time, when God spoke of His wrath and anger against His people, Israel, He's always extending mercy to them, and opening up a door for them to repent. God also extends mercy to us at this very moment. Sadly, a lot of people take God's grace as a licence to sin. They tell themselves it's okay to sin because God's already forgiven, and that nothing really "bad" has happened to them, and God hasn't punished them yet, so it's still okay. It is never for our own selfish pleasure that God had to free us from sin. In fact, sin is so filthy that it took the merciless slaughter of the Son of God just to take it away from us so that we will be cleansed of it, and be made pure to enter His presence.


So do not turn from the Lord, even when you think yourself too unworthy. Fact is, you were never even worthy to begin with. Do not replace God with anything in your life. Idols are worthless. Keep going back to the Cross, because although God knows everything about us, He is still pleased to make us His own. Let's lead each other back to Christ with prayer and encouragement. Lastly, everything about God should cause us to fear and serve Him.

I'll Praise You in this Storm

Lately, it's been raining here in my humble home town (city actually, but town sounded a lot better), Dumaguete. Oh, and it's not just the ordinary rain we're experiencing here. It's constant weather changes throughout the day, like it would be scorching hot at 8am, and then at 11am, it would be real cloudy, and then it will eventually rain at noon, and sometimes at night, we experience heavy thunderstorms. It kinda reminds me of a vision God gave me not too long ago, along with a great lesson from what has become my life verse.

Okay, so it was like this. I was just browsing around youtube, trying to find cool videos, when I stumbled upon a vid from a Casting Crowns concert of the song Praise You in this Storm. Mark Hall (lead vocals) told this story about the band meeting this young little girl whom was later discovered to have lung tumors. She eventually died. The miracle in this tale was that all the mother could say about her loss was that her little girl was God's gift, and that God had every right to take that precious gift away. I've had my share of great struggles and pains, and God just wanted me to know something. Here's my vision:

I was placed in a small rowboat

I was in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight

Everywhere led to nowhere

I was lost

Just when I thought things couldn't get much worse,

Storm clouds came in and turned the whole sky gray

I was terrified

I knew paddling out of the way of the storm was just useless

The rain poured down,

The wind blew hard,

The waves crashed,

Lightning flashed across the sky,

And the roar of thunder drowned out all sounds

I was just about to give up when I noticed someone

It was God!

And He was with me!

I looked at Him, and He looked right back

Things were vague as ever

He didn't seem like He was doing anything

The storm seemed to grow worse and worse

I was holding onto the boat for dear life

I then dared to ask,

"God, I know You're here

And I know You're doing something,

But what is it?"

God just looked at me

His eyes just filled with love and compassion

He said nothing

Hours passed

And the terrible storm continued

My arms were weary

And just when I was just about to let go,

The storm stopped

The sun began to shower its warm beams at the earth again

With just one swipe of God's hand,

I was instantly warm and dry

I turned around, and low and behold,

I was on land, sweet land

I then turned to thank God,

But He disappeared

Still I knew He never left

The vision ends here, and I realized what God tried to tell me. It's that He may choose to put us in either fine weather, or something a lot more challenging, or He could take away something dear and precious to us. You can ask Him a thousand questions about what He's doing, when it seems like He's not doing anything at all. But He will never leave you. Yes, He may choose to reveal to us why we're experiencing such storms, or what He's doing while we're in them when it seems like nothing's happening, but when He chooses not to reveal such reasons, it's because He wants us to know that we have our faith to count on that He's actually doing something while we're in trouble, and that He will never lead us in a situation we can't handle. He may choose to calm the storms in our lives, or He might choose to just ride 'em with us, but either way, blessed be the name of the Lord.

"The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, but blessed be the name of the Lord."

- Job 1:21b

Can't Handle the Dead

Truth be told, I love animals. I hopelessly fall under the spell of any puppydog eye (given that it actually came from a dog), and I just can't seem to get away from any species, except spiders, because I'm super arachnophobic. I can handle snakes, lizards, praying mantises, dogs, cats, turtles, doves, fish, rodents, and the like. But something that involved and animal, our home and the dead opened my eyes to two verses that I like. 

Here at home, we have had a serious rodent problem for a while. The rat's been chewing off some of our things and hoarding pencils, batteries, and other small objects behind the microwave oven, not to mention the occasional food robbery. 

        Last night,  I (finally) decided to set up the mouse trap for little Whiskers (the mouse’s nick). It was a real conflicting experience for me coz I knew I was going to kill something that had a face, but if I had to choose between having my closet raided and demolished by a mouse and setting up the trap, then setting up the trap wins hands down. Besides, God gave humans authority over animals ("whew!"). 

        So last night, I set up the trap and placed it near the microwave oven, and just left it there. At midnight, while watching TV, we (the family), heard a loud snap in the kitchen. I knew exactly what the sound was, and the three of us (me, mom, and brother) rushed toward the kitchen and saw what got caught in the miniature bear trap. I tell you, it wasn't a mouse that got caught, but a big, fat, R.A.T. (rodent accountable for turmoil)! I have no problems whatsoever with rats (except ones with rabies), but when I saw the thing, squirming around with all that is left of its strength to free its head from the trap, I honestly didn't know how to react. All I knew that there was a vermin in on the counter, dying. We all just decided to wait until Whiskers finally laid down his life. 

        So a few minutes passed, and we finally decided to take the little (and by little, I mean freakishly huge rat) guy out. When we approached the dead thing, it turns out that none of us wanted to do the job. I had no idea what was in my family's minds, but all I knew was that someone had to do it, but nobody wanted to. I can honestly handle most anything BUT spiders and the dead! I really hate it if I'm made to bury or throw away a dead animal (e.g. cat, chicken, toad) that died in our yard, especially if the carcass was swarming with flies and smelled like rotting flesh.

         Anyway, going back to the subject, we took turns using the garden tongs to relocate the trap and the mouse. My mom went first, and was only able to move it a few inches closer to the edge of the counter. I took my turn, but I noticed that the moment I tried to do the job, I couldn't move my arm. Only my hands were alive at that moment, so I suggested that I would be the one to control my hands, while she was to one to control my arm, and it worked! We placed Whiskers in an orange plastic and decided to throw him out the next day and placed him somewhere outside the house.

         Okay, so on the next day, when my mom headed out the door with two other plastic bags covering her hands, I knew exactly what was on her mind. We had to separate the dead rat from the trap before we had to throw him out. My mom tried to separate Whiskers from the trap but was unable to because when she opened the hinged part of the trap, it took the rat's face along with it, so she panicked! So that neither of us would be able to see the dead rat, we placed it back in the plastic. My mom would open up the trap while I held the dead rat from outside the plastic. Everything felt numb. To top it off, I got a glance at his blood! Maybe I just watch a little too much horror movies, or sci-fi, I just don't know. All I knew a while ago was the situation freaked me out.

         I asked help from God, thinking, "God, please help us with this!" After that, nothing felt different, and I felt like I didn't have any access to God's presence, but I had to believe that He was there. I even thought, "Oh sure, leave us alone while we handle the dead rat. Thanks for the help!" (hahahah), but I knew He never left.

         Eventually, we got his bloody head out of the trap, and placed him in three plastic bags and placed him somewhere where we will never have to see him again. Bye bye Whiskers!

         The little shenanigan taught me a little something. It's that "for the sake of His great name the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own (1Sam12:22)." God "loves us too much (Hosea11:8b)" to leave us in fear.

('~')v