1 Samuel 4-6

I was reminded this morning how God looks for a true heart of repentance in all of us. An acknowledgment that we have been wrong (about the sins he has revealed to us personally), and to, once again, refocus our lives to the Lord our God.

The Israelites were living in sin. Even Eli, the high priest, overlooked the sins of his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. When the Israelites went to battle with the Philistines, they were losing. But this did not cause them to repent of their sins. Instead, they questioned why God brought defeat among them.

"Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Shilah, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies. So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God."

They were sure the ark would bring them victory, but they were eventually defeated. More like slaughtered. And the ark was captured by the Philistines.

You shared with me not too long ago that what God asks of us is never burdensome, because he will always provide the grace needed for us to do his will. It is when we go our own ways (not by ignorance, but by deliberately going against his will), that life becomes miserable. And all we need to do, when we are living in that miserable state, is to turn back to God and to repent of our ways, but we've experienced how hard that is to do. And so many times, we would do anything BUT to repent. We may read the bible (or just carry it around with us) and can go to church, both are good things, but if we don't repent, the bible is just a book, and church is just a building. Israelites thought the ark itself would save them. In the same way, a bible or church in themselves cannot bring us back to God. Only true repentance from our hearts can bring us back to God. And we know that there is no better place to be then to be walking with our God and being filled with his Spirit:)

Psalm 119

Every verse in this psalm talks about the word of God - his commands, statutes, precepts, laws, decrees, promise. I could see how the psalmist had such a passion and love for God's word that he wrote about it through 176 verses.

I want to share three verses. First one is "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." I think it's really easy to make this quiet time to be part of our daily routine or habit. So that we could justify ourselves saying we read the bible like a good Christian. But that is not what God wants us to do. He wants us to truly see and experience his wonderful promise in our lives. I pray that he will give us understanding so that we will meet him in a personal way whenever we read his word.

"My comfort in my suffering is this; Your promise preserves my life." "You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word." I am once again reminded that God's word, which is God himself, alone sustains my life. Because of my circumstances, I do feel that I am suffering just like many other Christians - feeling discouraged at times. But God is telling me to find comfort and put my hope in his word. Let us remember to do that from this day on. Whenever we feel down and hopeless, let us turn to God's word which is eternal.

Ruth 1-4

"Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her." But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. may the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

The story of Ruth really touched me. Her father-in-law died and so did her husband. If she cared for her own well-being and her own future, she should have left Naomi, her mother-in-law. Naomi even urged her to leave. Yet, she had this genuine compassion and love for Naomi and made a choice to stick by her side, because she knew Naomi would have no one, if she was to leave her. The amazing thing about this short story of Ruth is that by her abandoning her own life and living in order to bless Naomi, she ended up bringing greater blessing, not only to Naomi, but to herself. She eventually married Boaz and had a son, who eventually became a grandfather to David.

I know for a fact that I live a very selfish life. I lose touch with people around me often, because I'm too busy dealing with my own issues. But I know and have experienced that I'm most blessed when I have reached out to someone else, and touched their lives in some way.

We have been pretty good about being there for each other. But let's remember this day that just as Jesus gave his life for others, we are to live for others. Let's continue to pray for the people God put in our hearts, and ask God for wisdom in how to reach out and be there for others in our own personal way.