When you're dreading tomorrow.

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

Ecclesiastes 7:14

-

I guess you can say that it's quite inconvenient that God does not usually explain his immediate actions nor reveal his immediate purposes for what happens in our lives, especially when we're in dread. And it leaves us hanging over whether tomorrow might bring joy or despair—we just cannot know for sure, although it is no secret to God.

Yet it is a beautiful thing that God has revealed his ultimate purposes for his children: to be pardoned of sin, to be justified by faith through grace, and to share in the glory of our risen Saviour Jesus. It will be a day where there will no longer be any shame nor guilt nor dread nor anxiety.

So for those who are anxious about tomorrow:

1. If God is to grant you peace and blessing, then may you receive it with thanks and praise to God. 
2. If God is to grant you suffering and hardship, then may you receive it remembering that God works for the good of those who love him–that our momentary troubles are refining our faith and character to be like gold, fitting us for entry into the glorious kingdom of heaven above.
3. And in everything, pray—present your requests and thanks before God our Father in patience and in trust.

Let us fix our eyes on our home of righteousness in heaven, and let not the troubles of this life move us.

Favourite quotes:

Unhappy songs addressed to God, ftw.

Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts 
and day after day have sorrow in my heart? 
How long will my enemy triumph over me? 

Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. 
Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 
lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,” 
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 

But I trust in your unfailing love; 
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 
I will sing to the LORD, 
for he has been good to me.
-

It is a comfort to be able to read God's word to find that he understands how you feel—crap and all.

I feel indebted to the psalmists who, despite their immense angst and suffering, continued to trust in the goodness and salvation that God promised his people. And although it was not revealed to them, they would've been overjoyed to have known the mysteries of Christ, of what he has done and what he will do.

Work is cursed, though not ineffective.

Because work isn't just pain and toiling for the sake of income, but there is also a joy and excitement in contributing to our community; in flourishing a society and environment for the good of one another. Work is like tending the Garden of Eden again, only now there's people in it.

Yet even as work is cursed with pain and grief, there remains a rest that will by far outweigh our toil. So let us look forward to the day when Jesus returns to take us home to glory—where there will no longer be any curse and we will rest from our own work just as God did from his.

-

"He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed."

Genesis 5:29

Make the most of your wedding day.

Proclaim Jesus.
-

Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:31
(See Jeremiah 9:24)

It was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman.

1 Timothy 2:14 

So why didn't he say anything?

He was listening to the serpent's devilish cunning to deceive his wife. He heard how Eve misquoted the command of God. He even watched her as she began looking at the forbidden tree, as she began taking her first steps towards it, even as she began taking her first bite—he was there the whole time yet he remained silent when he should've spoken.

He could have turned to Eve and said, "Honey, this snake is up to no good! He's trying to make you think that you can gain more satisfaction from disobeying God rather than by remaining faithful to him. Take a look around us, sweetheart! This is Paradise—God made it and gave it all to us. We have no reason to doubt his goodness." Then, perhaps turning to the serpent, "Snake, get lost! This conversation is over!"

But it never happened. He just stood there, possibly afraid, and didn't say a word. Adam failed to exhibit headship. And ever since Adam, every man has inherited this same inclination to remain silent—the cowardice to let faithfulness slip rather than to uphold God's word.

But Jesus bears a different image. He is the man who did not hesitate but called out against sin—even in the face of his own temptation. He is the man of strength, of holiness and of faithfulness. He is the man we were created to be, but never were. Yet he is the man we are becoming.
- 

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

1 Corinthians 16:13 

Adapted from The Silence of Adam by Larry Crabb.

Do you like what I'm saying?

The first priority for anyone in ministry is to please God,

• not leaders
• not friends
• not those we lead
• not those we preach to
• not even ourselves

-

If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Galatians 1:10