the time of singing has come!

Labels: Bible study, contemplation

Labels: Bible study, encountering God

A heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
That's all you required of Abraham.
They say usually the two will walk down the path together.
Why did you walk alone?

What was on your mind when you passed between the halves of the animals?
As you walked along the blood-path, were you thinking about your own sacrifice?
How could you bind yourself to such a covenant, when you know surely we would fail you?
How could you tread on that path of blood alone?

You walked in our stead.
And it cost you your blood.

You took it upon yourself
to fulfil the good you have promised us.

You know we are not able
So you had to take our place
and although you know this is the path you have to take alone
you did it still for me.

You willingly walked alone
Yes...
You willingly bore the burden of the cross
alone
And blood was shed...
So that we remember

This is
Love,
Eternal,
With no beginning and no end.

You loved us since the beginning of time,
And with this same love you would envelop us
till the end of days.

"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love..." (Jeremiah 31:3)

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Inspired by Genesis 15 and the love of Jesus Christ.
See also Jeremiah 34:18-19.

Labels: Bible study, counting grace, encountering God

Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.”

And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

(Matthew 27:11-14)

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.

(Isaiah 53:7)

This was what struck me the most during Bible Study actually. How was He able to do that? How was He able to keep silent when so many things were wrongly against Him? How was He able to do that when He was in fact without guilt?

Many of us would have already started ranting to people or rambling on blogs. We feel this sense of injustice for ourselves and so we feel that it is reasonable to do so. We give justifications for our actions, saying that "aiyah, i just need to say it out then i will feel better le." Afterall we are only humans, we have our weaknesses ya....?

But Jesus was also fully man. Yet He was able to do it. I believe the crucial factor here was His focus on God's will. As I have wrote before in my previous entries, He knew what He was here on earth for. He knew these things will happen. He knew He would have to go through all of these. But, don't forget that being fully man, He feels too, like us do today. Yet, He "opened not His mouth". He kept silent, like a sheep led to the slaughter, like a sheep before its shearers.

He knows that at the end of the road, the answers will come. Not only to Him, but to all the people. God keeps track of things, and these things will be made known.

Amazing strength. Amazing stillness of the soul. Amazing peace He must have had.
I want to have all that too.

To keep silent.
Sometimes, it is the best thing to do.

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He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
(Psalm 107:29-30)

Labels: Bible study, contemplation