who's boss?

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14

there was once,
i woke up from a beautiful dream.
and just nice pauline called..
so i shared wif her.

she just had to burst my bubble by telling me.
God doesn't predict the future to us..
and as usual,
her quotations from the bible ensued thereafter.

many of us are selective in our lots, aren't we?
like my parents for one.
they believe in dis fortune-telling kinda stuff.
so in yr 2000, they went.

the fortune-teller told them,
they will go through a divorce in 2003.
knowing my mum,
if you tell her something, she'll go against the odds.

so 2003 came,
my family went through turmoils.
bouts of breakups were exchanged..
emotions weren't at all positive.

but they hung on.
it was a quarrelsome year..
particularly more in 2003.
was it superstition? i don't know.

but now, my family is bonded even closer.
everybody knows each other's limits,
and somehow, we're more gracious to one another.
my parents doesn't scold me anymore..

they do nag, but not cane or scold anymore.
there's a certain level of respect for each other now.
but for my brother,
different story la!

but what i'm trying to say here is dis.
nobody can predict the future..
it is up to you!
how you want your future to be.

do we trust God, or trust our intuition?
do we trust God, or trust ourselves?
do we trust God, or trust in fortune-telling?
do we trust God, or trust friends or even parents?

we often hear what we like to hear.
i remembered once in the car,
i ignorantly asked,
"eh? i thought you all supposed to divorce in 2003?"

not to provoke any unhappy past,
but to prove my point that the fortune-teller is rubbish!
some bearded old fella sitting in a red-lit room,
what makes it so convincing that he's even sane!

and so my mum replied in relief,
"actually, if it wasn't for what the teller said,
i wouldn't be so stubborn
to prove him or my parents wrong!"

so MAYBE, the fortune-teller was anywhere close to being right.
ultimately it was my parents who defined the future.
likewise in our lives,
we choose what we like.

now the danger comes in here.
den where does it place God?
is He not Lord over our lives and decisions?
are we choosing our obstinance over God?

as surely as He lives,
God is just, at the same time, faithful!
He allows us to go through certain trials in life,
so that we might see how much we need Him!

if we were to get everything and anything we wanted,
wouldn't that make us pampered brats?
some might refute, but the bible say
'ask and you shall receive' what..

now, aren't we using the context to our own benefit?
aren't we just hearing what we like?
den again,
are we letting God be God in our lives?

friends, until we reconcile wif the fact
that EVERYTHING on earth is temporal.
we'll nvr be able to trust and submit to God fully!
accept it or not.

ray stedman put it very nicely in his devotional email.
Prosperity and adversity both come from God's hands;
a wise Father's heart has given them to you.
In the words of the hymn,

day by day and with each passing moment,
strength I find to meet my trials here;
trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
i've no cause for worry or for fear.

i like it esp when he used 'bestowment',
suddenly it seems like i'm being knighted.
the feeling of awe and chivalry.
even if its painful, its worth it! HUAH~

only because the King thinks i'm good enough,
He's sending me to slay dis certain dragon!
and the King reaffirms the bestowed knight,
that he'll haf ANY kinds of support he needs from the royalty!

that is, inter alia,
His promise to us.
He might not be seen physically,
but we haf faith that He's there watching over us!

surely the knight must've felt scared to meet the dragon.
surely doubts and fears will cloud over him..
but until he takes the first step of faith to confront it,
he'll nvr overcome it!

so for those who're going through 'trials' and 'sufferings',
blessed are you!
the Lord thinks highly of you,
and He knows you're good enough for the trial!

fight valiantly!
for the Lord of Lords is with you!
go in faith and confront it,
for the King of Kings will overcome it with you!

and for those who're not struggling,
taking life as a breeze.
time to reflect upon yourself,
and look inward.

have you been living right with God?
have you been ignoring the Holy Spirit?
have your heart turned so cold towards His calls?
have you been too caught up with YOUR OWN life?

i wanna share with the 'overcomers' dis poetry.
i could identify with it so aptly..
almost like a family-written letter,
addressed to me when i'd been abroad for a decade.

when God wants to drill a man,
and thrill a man,
and skill a man;
when God wants to mold a man
to play the noblest part,
then he yearns with all his heart
to create so great and bold a man
that all the world shall be amazed,
watch his methods, watch his ways

how He ruthlessly perfects
whom He royally elects.
how He hammers him and hurts him,
and with mighty blows,
converts him
into trial shapes of clay
which only God understands.

while his tortured heart is crying,
and he lifts beseeching hands.
how he bends but never breaks
when his good he undertakes.
how he uses
whom he chooses,
and with every purpose,
fuses him,

by every act,
induces him
to try his splendor out.
God knows what he's about.

-unknown poet

we may not know what the future holds,
but we know our God is kind.
we may not know what the future holds,
but we know His plans will surely prosper.

i'm not discounting the fact
that we should be void of emotions or desires.
surely we do!
but we should not be too consumed by our carnality!

let us strive to trust God in our ways.
that is the only way to go!
it is not gonna be easy,
but we're not alone, that i'm sure!

there may be certain friendships
that didn't quite go your way.
but trust that the Lord is using dis time,
to mould and strengthen the friendship fostered!

if its His will for the friendship to bloom,
as surely as He lives,
He will allow it to bloom in His own sweet time!
in ways that we can never imagine!

its all about the trust, my friends.
and to even haf trust in somebody.
you've gotta haf a certain r/s wif that somebody.
do you haf a r/s wif God?