Mar 2009

Beloved Evangel Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

The Sunday Times on 22 February 2009 ran a report that commented on the decline of Christianity in UK. Indeed, it is sad to see how the Church has diminished in her spiritual influence and impact on a people who are supposed to be recipients of a rich Christian heritage.

Perhaps, we are seeing a repeat of what happened to Israel in biblical history. Rev Edmund Chan, Senior Pastor of Covenant EFC, once preached on this spiritual decline of Israel as God’s people. The 1st generation knew God. Their faith was a reality. There was conviction that led to commitment in faith. A 2nd generation came but they only knew about God. Their faith was mere routine at best. It was a matter of convenience and it eventually bred carelessness. In time to come, a 3rd generation grew up that knew not God at all. Rejection to faith was their call. And that whole generation succumbed to compromise, resulting in much spiritual and moral confusion.

I was reflecting on one episode in the life of King Saul in 1 Samuel 13:1-14 recently. The Lord impressed upon me that spiritual backsliding or decline happens in small, inconspicuous steps.

The passage tells of how the Philistines were attacked by the Jonathan-led Israelites and suffered great losses. The bruised Philistines then began to amass a formidable force for a revenge strike on Israel. The people of God were panic-stricken, and they went into hiding and refuge-seeking. It was a crisis situation.

Saul was told by the Lord to wait for the prophet Samuel seven days. He was to be still and do nothing until Samuel came to him. But in a crisis situation, seven days were a long time to be inactive. Saul’s patience was eroded and his obedience was tested when he saw his own army and people running away. What if Samuel was hindered, or worse still, killed on the way? In short, further delay seemed suicidal as far as Saul was concerned. Saul then made the fleshly decision to act rather than wait—he made an offering to the Lord on the 7th day, thinking that he needed to secure the Lord’s favor before fighting the formidable Philistines.

When Samuel finally came to Saul, probably at the later part of the 7th day, he denounced the king for not keeping the command of the Lord. In other words, Saul was denounced not for acting like a priest for the Lord, but for disobeying the Lord’s word to him.
Samuel pronounced that God would take away Saul’s kingship and kingdom, and gave them to one “after God’s own heart.” However, Saul’s greatest loss was not his kingship or kingdom, but his intimate relationship with God. His heart was no longer after God’s own heart.

Indeed, Saul’s spiritual decline in small, inconspicuous degrees was glaringly exposed in this crisis situation. He viewed God as one who could be bribed to help him fight and win a war. He viewed sacrifices as magical means to success with no need for inner reverence and faith. He shifted blame on others when confronted by Samuel—his army and people were scattering, the enemy was nearing, and even Samuel himself was late. He was “compelled” to do what he did. He used his rational powers to self-validate his fleshly action. His waning confidence and trust in God surfaced his inner insecurity and instability in the face of this crisis.

What are some lessons for us as we face our turbulent times today? Here are some:

1. Beware—there’s a Saul in each of us! We need a sense of restedness in God during turbulent times. Anxiety, fear, impatience, reactiveness, blame-shifting, and self-validation are signs of a lack of restedness.

2. We need to grow in connectedness with God, resulting in confidence and trust in Him, patience to wait and be still, and ability to discern and decide with divine wisdom.

 3. How do we find restedness in God and grow in connectedness with Him? We need to first realize that the true strength of a superstructure lies in its substructure. How high we rise above a crisis depends on how deep is our inner life.   

4. The spiritual foundation of our inner life needs more time to build. But we tend to neglect it because it is the unseen component of our faith life before men. Hence, we must purposefully and intentionally guard and grow in our spiritual disciplines, take care of our relationships with significant others besides our relationship with God (e.g. with family, kindred-spirit friends, and people in church). It is very dangerous to live a Christian life like a Rambo or Lone Ranger because such alienation does not promote accountability in one’s life.

5. Competence and skills are mere human glorification if these are not an outflow of obedience and faithfulness to God. And these human efforts cannot last no matter how impressive if they are not held up by a deep life in God.

How then are we to live in a world today filled with daily news of crises and uncertainties? Before we ask God to calm what’s outside us, let’s seek Him to calm what’s inside us—our inner soul. Let’s seek God to help us work on building and growing our inner life so that He can prosper us in all that we do in His Name, and we can bless others by influencing, inspiring, and impacting them to make a difference for the Lord.

Indeed, when we take care of the depth of the life of our soul, God will take care of the height and breadth of the work of our hands.

A Fellow Pilgrim in Him,
Pastor John

Tel: 6749-2990 (O) 9789-2414 (HP) Email: johnyuencw@gmail.com